Some providers (e.g. Akamai/Linode) only accept SSL connections to their managed databases while other providers (e.g. DigitalOcean, AWS Lightsail) accept SSL and non-SSL connections. SpinupWP will now configure new sites to use SSL connections to external databases. This means you can now use an Akamai managed database with a site created by SpinupWP whereas previously it wouldn’t work.

To enable SSL connections to an external database for existing sites you can add the following lines to your site’s wp-config.php file:

define( 'DB_SSL', true );
define( 'MYSQL_CLIENT_FLAGS', MYSQLI_CLIENT_SSL );

If you followed our guide for setting up a managed database with DigitalOcean or AWS Lightsail, you can rest assured that the connection between your site and database was within an internal network and therefore has been secure all along. Still, we recommend adding an extra layer of security by enabling SSL connections.