# Auth via External DB **URL:** \ **Category:** App Configuration\ **Created:** [November 5, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724 "2015-11-05T19:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mohammed\_Imran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Mohammed\_Imran](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Mohammed_Imran)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/1 "2015-11-05T19:17:22Z")
I am using DF 2.0 in Amazon instance. I have RDS which has mysql DB. How can i store users, roles and all DB operations in my external DB… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Irwin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jonathan_irwin/32/461_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Irwin](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jonathan_Irwin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/2 "2015-11-06T14:09:23Z")
HI there, I think that I am having the same issue as Mohammed. I am new to DreamFactory and there is something I don’t quite understand. I already have a users and user roles table in my external DB that I would like to use to authenticate users against - is this possible? Do I have to use linked keys? If someone could point us in the right direction that would be great. Thanks in advance - and sorry if I am hijacking this thread instead of aiding it… ---
**Author:** ![Mohammed\_Imran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Mohammed\_Imran](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Mohammed_Imran)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/3 "2015-11-09T11:17:47Z")
Any answers that can help me ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Irwin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jonathan_irwin/32/461_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Irwin](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jonathan_Irwin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/4 "2015-11-09T12:50:27Z")
Above where I said “linked keys” I meant lookup keys. I think the answer can be found using those - at least that is what an intro video seemed to suggest. I think that you really need to let DreamFactory handle the users table and then you can have your user data in another column in your own DB. I am still figuring this out myself so I will keep you posted when I figure more out but I hope that can at least help a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![formerstaff](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/formerstaff/32/1133_2.png) [@formerstaff](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/formerstaff)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/5 "2015-11-09T13:56:15Z")
If the original question is just using an external db for the system db, that is pretty simple. In the root directory of your install there is a .env file. You will need to edit this file. By default the database section looks like this: ``` ##------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ## Database Settings ##------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DB_DRIVER=sqlite DB_HOST=localhost DB_DATABASE=dreamfactory DB_USERNAME=df_admin DB_PASSWORD=df_admin DB_PORT=3306 ``` Change the driver to mysql and fill out the rest of the information according to your specific database. Then you will need to re-run the setup. You can do this from the command line. Navigate to the root of the install directory (where the .env file is). Clear the cache: ``` $ php artisan cache:clear ``` Then run the DreamFactory setup (this runs migrations, seeds the database, and sets up the admin user.) ``` $ php artisan dreamfactory:setup ``` Restart Apache (or whatever your web server is running.) ---
**Author:** ![formerstaff](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/formerstaff/32/1133_2.png) [@formerstaff](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/formerstaff)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/6 "2015-11-09T14:02:07Z")
as far as @Jonathan_Irwin’s question I don’t believe this explicitly supported, though you may be able to make it work. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Irwin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jonathan_irwin/32/461_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Irwin](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jonathan_Irwin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/7 "2015-11-09T15:59:34Z")
Hey Drew Thanks for the reply. In fact I think that the info above will really help me out. I’m not desperate to move the other fields to my own external DB, but it is nice that I can manage them in another remote DB… ---
**Author:** ![Mohammed\_Imran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Mohammed\_Imran](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Mohammed_Imran)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/8 "2015-11-09T16:43:51Z")
Thanks @drewpearce This is what I was looking for. Great 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Irwin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jonathan_irwin/32/461_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Irwin](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jonathan_Irwin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 8:01am UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/10 "2015-11-13T08:01:10Z")
Hi again, Am I right to assume that using sqlsrv here with the right credentials would allow me to install the system db to a remote MS sql server? After trying for a while I can’t get past this error: SQLSTATE[01002] Adaptive Server connection failed (severity 9) edit: I see [here](https://github.com/dreamfactorysoftware/dreamfactory) that it is supported. Are there any more steps to get it to work? The db is accessible remotely ---
**Author:** ![jeffreystables](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jeffreystables/32/173_2.png) [@jeffreystables](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/jeffreystables)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/11 "2015-11-13T13:58:28Z")
No, Microsoft SQL Server is not supported for the DreamFactory system DB. [Forum link here.](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/azure-availability-set-and-scaling-dreamfactory-using-sql-server-as-configuration-db/1714/11?u=jeffreystables) Note that the ‘sqlsrv’ option has already been removed from the DreamFactory setup command. We had just neglected to also remove it from the readme. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Irwin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/jonathan_irwin/32/461_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Irwin](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jonathan_Irwin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/12 "2015-11-13T14:01:23Z")
Cool, thanks for letting me know… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jeffry\_Reed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Jeffry\_Reed](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/Jeffry_Reed)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/auth-via-external-db/1724/13 "2016-09-11T19:25:41Z")
Hello, is there any update on the possibility to authenticate based on existing username/password store in external RDMS? Is this possible with lookup keys? It would seem that this should be possible one way or another, just not sure how. thanks