This is on VPS\Centos server. The MySQL server is pre configured.

I am running the Java application on Tomcat

My Java web application is not able to connect to the MySQL server.

I get an error -
"Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused"

I suspect this to be a configuration problem rather than a coding problem- hence I have posted this on ServerFault
And yes, The same web-app is able to connect to MySQL on a different linux box

This is the URL that I provided to my Java application (note- it assumes default port)

url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/pickupgames"

My first suspicion was that I am running on a non-default port
So I tried to find the port where mySQL server is running

I tried every trick mentioned in http://serverfault.com/questions/116100/how-to-check-what-port-mysql-is-running-on
But no luck !

SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'PORT';
This shows port 0

netstat -tlnp doesn't show mysql at all

/etc/my.cnf It has no port entry

telnet localhost 3306 Doesn't connect

And in case you are wondering if mysql server is running at all or not It is And I know for sure, because I have been able to login using the mysql command Also

# ps -ef|grep 'mysql'
root 31839 27662 0 00:49 pts/3 00:00:00 grep mysql
root 32452 1 0 Apr02 ? 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking
mysql 32504 32452 0 Apr02 ? 00:00:06 /usr/libexec/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --user=mysql --pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid --skip-external-locking --socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking

Please note the --skip-networking parameter
Does this have something to do with the issue ?

Any explanation why I cant connect to mysql server on port 3306 by telnet?

Or why it docent show up under netstat?

Any suggestion on whet I should try next ?