Problem regarding external access of a SQL database on a web hosting server

I have been told that i cannot access my sql database which is on my webhosts server except for direct access for php scripts on the website.....are they allowed to do that? and what reason would they have from stopping me to connect to the database from home PC.....and i may be a newbie here....it is possible to connect to a SQL database on a webserver from home isnt it???? or am i going mad


Thanks for your time

Urtle

>> it is possible to connect to a SQL database on a webserver from home isnt it?
Yes it is. However, this involves giving the SQL server a public IP address so that people can connect to it from the outside. Several hosts choose not to do that because
(a) Small time ISPs only have a couple of public IP addresses to work with and don't want to use one up for the SQL server.
(b) Putting an external IP on the SQL server exposes the SQL server to hack attempts from the outside -- A recent SQL server worm spread across the internet through unpatched Microsoft SQL servers that had public IP addresses.

Of course, they could still set up their firewall to only allow connections from specific outside addresses to their SQL server, but this will require that your home IP address is static and also that they take the trouble of setting up the firewall correctly.

Luckily there are many hosting companies that will let you manage your sql db remotely. I'd hate to try do take care of my sql server with only web-based tools.

TableEditor from http://www.2enetworx.com/dev/projects/tableeditor.asp is an asp application for managing databases on your server. phpmyadmin works with mysql db's.