How to increase MySQL connections(max_connections)?

If you need to increase MySQL Connections without MySQL restart do like below

mysql> show variables like 'max_connections';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| max_connections | 100   |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET GLOBAL max_connections = 150;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> show variables like 'max_connections';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| max_connections | 150   |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

These settings will change at MySQL Restart.

For permanent changes add below line in my.cnf and restart MySQL

max_connections = 150

From Increase MySQL connection limit:-

MySQL’s default configuration sets the maximum simultaneous connections to 100. If you need to increase it, you can do it fairly easily:

For MySQL 3.x:

# vi /etc/my.cnf
set-variable = max_connections = 250

For MySQL 4.x and 5.x:

# vi /etc/my.cnf
max_connections = 250

Restart MySQL once you’ve made the changes and verify with:

echo "show variables like 'max_connections';" | mysql

EDIT:-(From comments)

The maximum concurrent connection can be maximum range: 4,294,967,295. Check MYSQL docs

I had the same issue and I resolved it with MySQL workbench, as shown in the attached screenshot:

1. in the navigator (on the left side), under the section "management", click on "Status and System variables",
2. then choose "system variables" (tab at the top),
3. then search for "connection" in the search field,
4. and 5. you will see two fields that need to be adjusted to fit your needs (max_connections and mysqlx_max_connections).

Hope that helps!

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