forcing tcp/ip connect when connecting to localhost

[Ben Peter]

Hi all,

can I force the mysql clients to use a tcp/ip connect if connecting to
'localhost'?

This need stems from the following situation:

I have an ssh account and a mysql DB on one host at my isp. The db can only
be accessed from 'localhost', not from any other.

I use an ssh tunnel to forward the local port 3306 to my isp machine:

ssh -L 3306:localhost:3306 user@stripped sleep 10m

ssh binds only to the localhost interface (127.0.0.1). So now I need to
connect to 127.0.0.1, but through TCP/IP instead of using sockets. 

Any idea?

Thanks in advance,
Ben

-- 
Ben Peter
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