Connecting from php app to ssl mysql

[TheRebellion]

I am attempting to create a connection to my database that I have set up with SSL. It is saying "Cannot make a connection to the database" 

The error in the apache log is as follows:

[Sun Aug 03 02:27:59.418655 2025] [php:notice] [pid 176919] [client 71.244.230.195:62660] Database Connection Failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2006] MySQL server has gone away

The error in mysql log is as follws:

2025-08-03  2:27:59 8 [Warning] Aborted connection 8 to db: 'unconnected' user: 'unauthenticated' host: 'web2.dataguy2020.com' (This connection closed normally without authentication)

I have created a .env file that has information as follows:

APP
APP_NAME=MyApp
APP_ENV=dev
COMMUNITY_NAME="Community Name"
CONTACT_EMAIL="[email protected]"
CONTACT_PHONE="555-555-5555"

#Database
DB_HOST="domain.to.sqlhost.com"
DB_PORT=3306
DB_NAME="databseName"
DB_USER="username"
DB_PASS="password"

#Database Connection Certs
DB_CA="/path/to/cacert.pem"
DB_CERT="/path/to/cert.pem"
DB_CERT_KEY="/path/to/key.pem"

My classes/Database class is as follows:

<?php
require __DIR__ . "/../vendor/autoload.php";
use Dotenv\Dotenv;
class Database {
    private PDO $pdo;
    public function __construct() {
        $parentDirectory = dirname(__DIR__);
        $dotenv = Dotenv::createImmutable($parentDirectory, '.env');
        $dotenv->load();

//      echo "<pre>"; // Use <pre> for formatted output in a browser
//foreach ($_ENV as $key => $value) {
//    echo "$key = $value\n";
//}
//echo "</pre>";


        $dbHost = $_ENV['DB_HOST'];
        $dbName = $_ENV['DB_NAME'];
        $dbUser = $_ENV['DB_USER'];
        $dbPass = $_ENV['DB_PASS'];
        $dbca = $_ENV['DB_CA'];
        $dbcert = $_ENV['DB_CERT'];
        $dbkey = $_ENV['DB_CERT_KEY'];
        $dsn = "mysql:host=$dbHost;dbname=$dbName;charset=utf8mb4";

        $options = [
            PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE            => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
//            PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC,
            PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES   => false,

            // SSL/TLS options
            PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA       => $dbca, // Path to CA certificate
            PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CERT     => $dbcert, // Path to client certificate (if required)
            PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_KEY      => $dbkey, // Path to client key (if required)
            PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT => false // Verify server's SSL certificate
        ];

        try {
            $this->pdo = new PDO($dsn, $dbUser, $dbPass, $options);
            //$this->pdo = new PDO($dsn, $this->username, $this->password, $options);
            $this->pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
            $this->pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE, PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
        }
        catch(PDOException $e) {
            //Handle connection errors
            error_log("Database Connection Failed: " . $e->getMessage());
            die("Could not connect to the database.");
        } //end of catch

    } //end of function
    public function getConnection():
    PDO {
        return $this->pdo;
    }
} //end of class

At the bottom of my index.php I have the following as I am using this as a test

<?php
    include_once ('classes/Database.php');
    $db = new Database();
    $pdo = $db->getConnection();
    if ($pdo) {
        echo "Database Connection was successful";
    } else {
        echo "Database Connection has failed";
    }
?>

What shows up in the browser is "Database Connection has failed"

In /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d I have configured both the server the client. They are both using the same certificates as they are connection from the same server for now. I am looking at expanding the number of database hosts. 

The 50-client.conf has the following information

[client]
# Example of client certificate usage
ssl-cert = /path/to/cacert.pem
ssl-key  = /path/to/key.pem
ssl_cert = /path/to/cert.pem
ssl-cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
tls_version = TLSv1.2

The 50-server.conf contains the following information

ssl_ca = /etc/mysql/ssl/chain.pem
ssl_cert = /etc/mysql/ssl/cert.pem
ssl_key = /etc/mysql/ssl/privkey.pem
require-secure-transport = on


#ssl_cipher="DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES128-SHA"
ssl_cipher="ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384"
tls_version = TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3

When I attempt to run the following error I get the following error: 

 mysql -h localhost -u #username --ssl-cert=/path/to/cert.pem --ssl-key=/path/to/key.pem --ssl-ca=/path/to/cacert.pem

ERROR 2026 (HY000): TLS/SSL error: tlsv1 alert unknown ca

 

Other key things to know is that I created these certs with certbot. I am not sure if that is what is the cause of these errors or not. I am doing the following

ssl_cert = cert.pem that is generated

ssl_ca = fullchain.pem that is generated

ssl_key = privkey.pem that is generated

Any assistance would be great!

 

[TheRebellion]

I am uaing mariadb 11