Connect Your Application to a Managed Database

Databases on Vertra Cloud require TLS and a client certificate: a password alone never connects. This guide takes an application from “no database” to a verified connection, with the secrets kept out of your code.

Before you start

A paid plan: Free doesn’t create databases.

Enough free RAM: 1,024 MB for PostgreSQL, MongoDB and MySQL; 512 MB for Redis.

Step by step

Create the database

In the dashboard, click New Project, choose Database and pick the engine. It’s ready when its status turns Online.

Collect host, port and password

All three are on the database page. The port is unique per database: never assume 5432, 27017, 6379 or 3306.

Download the certificates

In the Certificates tab, download the three files and rename them to something stable:

Downloaded	Rename to	Role
`certificate-<id>.crt`	`certs/db.crt`	client certificate
`certificate-<id>.key`	`certs/db.key`	client key
`certificate-<id>.pem`	`certs/db.pem`	CA file

Ship the certificates with the application

Put the certs/ folder in the project you upload. If you deploy from GitHub, add certs/ to .gitignore and upload the folder through the application’s Files tab instead: the key authenticates as you and must never live in a repository.

Store the credentials as environment variables

In the application’s Config tab, add:

DB_HOST=<host>
DB_PORT=<port>
DB_PASSWORD=<password>

Restart the application so the process sees them.

Connect

Read everything from the environment. PostgreSQL with Node.js:

const fs = require('fs');
const { Pool } = require('pg');

const pool = new Pool({
  host: process.env.DB_HOST,
  port: Number(process.env.DB_PORT),
  user: 'postgres',
  database: 'postgres',
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
  ssl: {
    ca: fs.readFileSync('certs/db.pem'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('certs/db.crt'),
    key: fs.readFileSync('certs/db.key'),
    rejectUnauthorized: true,
  },
});

pool.query('select 1').then(() => console.log('database ok'));

The same pattern for Python, MongoDB, Redis and MySQL is on the Databases page.

Test from your machine first

The connection works the same from your computer, which is the fastest way to tell a code problem from a credential problem:

psql "host=<host> port=<port> dbname=postgres user=postgres password=<password> sslmode=verify-full sslrootcert=certs/db.pem sslcert=certs/db.crt sslkey=certs/db.key"

Troubleshooting

Connection refused or timeout

Check the port on the database page and that the database is Online.

SSL or certificate errors

TLS must be on, and the three files must be the current ones. After Reset Certificates, the old files stop working: download them again and redeploy them.

Authentication failed

Copy the password again; after Reset Password, update DB_PASSWORD and restart the app. MongoDB also needs authSource=admin in the URI.

ENOENT: no such file certs/db.pem

The path is relative to the process’s working directory, the project root. Check the folder exists in the Files tab.

​Before you start

​Step by step

​Test from your machine first

​Troubleshooting

Before you start

Step by step

Test from your machine first

Troubleshooting