phpmyadmin install & login headaches

So, I'm adding phpmyadmin to a new server. I don't use it, but my designers do, so this is my first run in with it. I got it up and running without any problems, but I've hit a wall when it comes to logging in to the db.

it works just fine if I set authentication to config, and enter a valid username and password in the config.inc.php file, but as this will be a somewhat open server, I need authentication to be set to cookie. It seems e开发者_StackOverflowasy enough, but using the exact same user credentials that worked in the config file, every time I try to log in it boots me back to the login screen.

I'm using a mysql db on a remote server, but the user I'm using has the correct access, and I've tested using sequel pro and a bash shell, both connected without any issues.

I can't seem to figure out what's causing this, and I'm not getting any errors back from phppmyadmin.

The server it's on is running php 3.5, and the server it is connecting to is running mysql 5.1, in case that helps.

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I understand you are trying to connect to a server different from the one that hosts phpMyAdmin, right?

Looking at the documentation about authentication I see a posible thing to check when using cookie method:

If you want to log in to arbitrary server see $cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] directive.

So, althought it doesn't say so explicity, I understand you need to set that parameter in this case.

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When you use "config" authentication type, the user's "username" and "password" are the ones you have chosen in the config file.

When using "cookie" authentication type, phpMyAdmin asks for mysql users, so when logging in to a specific database schema, you should log in in phpMyAdmin with a username/password which has privileges on that db in mysql.

In config.inc.php don't forget to put some random string in $cfg['blowfish_secret'] if you intend to use cookie authentication.