title: Connecting to external mysql database using Java
body: <p>I am trying to connect to a external database , but it seems that i may be making a mistake on the way i am putting the DriverManager connection, this is the first time i am connecting using this driver, Can you please point me in the right direction? thank you (might be something wrong on the getConnection call)</p>
  
  <pre><code>Class.forName( "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" ) ;
  
         // Get a connection to the database
         Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection( "jdbc:mysql://cs.cis.can.edu;databaseName=mar200;user=utest;password=utest" ) ;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Error</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>SQL Exception:
  State  : 08S01
  Message: Communications link failure
  
  Last packet sent to the server was 0 ms ago.
  Error  : 0
  </code></pre>