DBeaver Series - Part 2 - Connecting to Database

In my last blog post on DBeaver series - Part1, I was confused why my custom database was not shown on the DBeaver, even though I have connected to the localhost server.

After trying few things, I realized that connections in DBeaver is per database.

So here is how you create a connection to new database.

In DBeaver, in the tool bar, click on the new connection icon (or you can use File > New menu items to do the same).

You will be presented with new connection dialog box:

Select the type of the database you want to connect. I have selected PostgreSQL. Then click next.

Connection settings dialog box opens:

Note that this is a very complex connection setting dialog box with hundreds of configuration settings. However you only require to configure very few things for default connections.

Settings dialog has for 5 tabs.

• Main
• PostgreSQL
• Driver Settings
• SSH
• SSL

We only consider "Main" tab in this blog, in future date we will discover what other settings are.

In "Main" tab, first thing you need to specify is "Server", i.e. which server you are going to connect to. You can do this via two way:

• Host - specify host name and port as separate settings
• Url - specify the connection as Url

Interestingly there is "Show All Databases" tick box in there, we'll tick this and see what will happen.

As host, you need to specify host name, database name and port number.

In Authentication section, we select Database Native mode. Other options are not considered in this blog post scope.

As authentication parameters, you need specify user name and password. You have the option to save the password.

Once you done with all you settings, click on the "Finish" button.

If all settings are correct you will be connected to the database:

Note that since we ticked "Show All Databases" box, connection shows all databases, but you can only connect to the database you specified.