Connecting Altium and MS Office to MySQL on AWS

This workflow outlines how to set up a 64-bit MySQL environment on AWS RDS for direct access by remote 64-bit client applications, including Altium and Microsoft Access or Excel.

---

Step 1: 64-Bit MySQL ODBC Driver Setup

System Requirements & Prerequisites

• Operating System: 64-bit Windows (10/11 or Windows Server).
• Application Bitness: Both MS Access (Office) and Altium Designer must be 64-bit installations.
• Core Dependency: Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributable (x64) (vc_redist.x64.exe).

Installation & Verification Workflow

1. Install VC++ Redistributable: Confirm Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributable (x64) is installed under Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
2. Download Driver: Download the 64-bit MSI package (e.g., mysql-connector-odbc-8.4.x-winx64.msi) from the official MySQL download page under Windows (x86, 64-bit).
3. Run Setup: Complete a Typical or Complete installation to deploy myodbc8w.dll to C:\Program Files\MySQL\Connector ODBC 8.4\.
4. Verify Driver Registration: Press Win + S, search for ODBC Data Sources (64-bit), select the Drivers tab, and confirm MySQL ODBC 8.4 UNICODE Driver is listed.

---

Step 2: AWS RDS MySQL Database Provisioning

Configuration Settings

• Engine: MySQL 8.0 or 8.4 LTS on AWS RDS.
• DB Instance Identifier: parts-db-instance
• Master Username: username
• Public Access: Yes (enables remote client connectivity without a VPN).
• Security Group Rule: Inbound TCP rule on Port 3306 set to Source 0.0.0.0/0 (Anywhere-IPv4).

Verification

Run the following command in Windows PowerShell to verify port connectivity:

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName parts-db-instance.c123456789.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com -Port 3306

No EC2 Instance is Required 

AWS RDS is a fully managed, standalone database service. Because you set Public access to Yes and added an inbound security group rule on port 3306 for 0.0.0.0/0, your remote applications (MS Access, Altium Designer, and MySQL Workbench) connect directly to the RDS endpoint over the public internet.

You only need an EC2 instance if you choose to place the RDS database in a private subnet and route traffic through an SSH jump box / bastion host rather than exposing port 3306 directly. Since you are using direct DSN-less connections over SSL with a complex password, no EC2 server is necessary.

---

Step 3: MySQL Workbench Installation & AWS Handshake

Installation

1. Download the MySQL Workbench (64-Bit) MSI installer for Windows.
2. Execute setup and complete the installation wizard.

Connecting to AWS RDS

1. Open MySQL Workbench and click the + icon to add a new connection.
2. Set Connection Method to Standard (TCP/IP).
3. Set Hostname to your AWS RDS Endpoint URL and Port to 3306.
4. Enter your Username and click Store in Vault... to enter your password.
5. Under the SSL tab, set Use SSL to If available or Require (leave CA file paths blank).
6. Click Test Connection and save.

To verify the active session encryption status, run this query in Workbench:

SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher';

---

Standard DSN-Less Connection String

Use this single DSN-less connection string format across 64-bit MS Access and Altium Designer (.DbLib):

DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 8.4 UNICODE Driver};SERVER=your-db.c123456789.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com;PORT=3306;DATABASE=parts;USER=username;PWD=Your#Complex_P@ssw0rd!2026;OPTION=3;PERSIST SECURITY INFO=True;