Root level Access not available for DSM-Deployed Databases

Products

• VMware Data Services Manager for VCF

Issue/Introduction

• When deploying MySQL (or other databases) through DSM, only an admin user can be created during provisioning. After deployment, users are unable to access the database root account.
• Some applications may request the database root password during initial setup, leading to questions about whether the root credentials can be retrieved or accessed.
• Users may also observe that they can connect to the database through tools like pgAdmin, but still cannot obtain elevated (root-level) access.

Environment

VMware Data Services Manager 2.2

Cause

This behavior is by design. Databases deployed via DSM run as containerized services, and the underlying Photon OS functions only as a Kubernetes worker node.

Because of this architecture:

• Root database access is intentionally restricted for security and isolation.

• The root password is not exposed, accessible, or retrievable.

• Only the admin user created at deployment is meant for tenant-level operations.

• Tools such as pgAdmin provide standard DB connectivity but do not grant additional privileges or bypass these restrictions.

Resolution

Use the admin user created at deployment for all supported database operations.