You might encounter the error message: “phpMyAdmin – Error #1040 – Too many connections” when you work in the phpMyAdmin interface.

This probably is something you don’t have to worry about that much. It is likely a temporary issue with your database and reloading the page should solve the issue. However, if this error is one you see often it might be time to take action.

SSH into your server and execute this command;

sudo nano /etc/my.cnf

We will edit the my.cnf file which can be found in the /etc/ directory of your Linux webserver. Change the value of max_connections to something higher than you have now, such as 250:

max_connections=250

Alternatively, you can also change this value through MySQL.

mysql> SET GLOBAL max_connections = 250;

Now, restart the MySQL database so the changes take effect:

/etc/init.d/mysqld restart