Hostname

Hostname is the address of your MySQL server.

In most website, the address of your MySQL server is localhost, which means your MySQL server and your web site reside in the same computer.

In some websites, MySQL server is installed in a different computer. If so, the address of the computer is the hostname you need to enter. It could be something like "www.aaa-bbb-ccc.com" or maybe just an IP address like "111.222.111.222"

To figure out your hostname, you can try phpMyAdmin, which is an administration program for MySQL server. In most websites, you can access phpMyAdmin from your website admin panel such as Plesk and cPanel.

The following picture shows the front page of phpMyAdmin.

You'll find the hostname at the right upper corner of the picture.

When you are not sure about your Hostname, ask your website administrator.

If localhost is your Hostname, then set it in the configuration file like shown below:

$cfg["db-hostname"] = "localhost";

Username and Password

A pair of Username and Password specifies a MySQL account which allows the script to access MySQL. In most websites, you can create a MySQL account from your website admin panel such as Plesk and cPanel. If you are not sure about where you can create a MySQL account, ask your website administrator.

Let's suppose your Username is myusername and Password is mypassword. Then set Username and Password in the configuration file like shown below:

$cfg["db-username"] = "myusername";
$cfg["db-password"] = "mypassword";

Database

Database specifies the name of the database you will use. An important thing to remember is that this database should already exist in your MySQL server. If you haven't created an empty database, please do so now. You can create an empty database from your website admin panel such as Plesk and cPanel. If you are not sure about where you can create an empty database, ask your website administrator.

The name of database could be anything. If you name the database as mydatabase, then set it in the configuration file like shown below:

$cfg["db-database"] = "mydatabase";

Summary

To set up configurations for scripts that use MySQL, you need to enter the four values : Hostname, Username, Password, and Database. These values are unique to your website and MySQL, so you can't just copy it from a book. Some good approaches to obtain the information about them are: a) check out your website admin panel such as Plesk and cPanel b) ask your website administrator.