MySQL connection checks

After months of not being methodical i finally sorted out my connection problems with win64 client to win32 mysql server. A great post by Michael Kay sums up the checks to run through though i didn't particular understand the netstat check. I'll have to read up on that.

To quote Michael;
10060 is the error number not the port so no need to open that up on the firewall.
3306 is the standard port for connecting to mysql.
Check that skip_networking isn't on by running SQL Query
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE "SKIP%"
locally to the machine... If it is ON then turn it OFF. This can only be done in the config file and just means commenting out the skip_networking line. Also check that the port for networking is 3306 while your there.
Also check that mysql.sock is listening on 3306 using netstat from a console on the machine locally.
Check your firewall allows port 3306 to connect to your machine. This will depend on the firewall your using.