In order to be able to connect to MySQL remote server using encrypted connection overt TLS1.2 you will need a .pem certificate of CA. You can obtain the certificate here: https://dl.cacerts.digicert.com/DigiCertGlobalRootCA.crt.pem (DigiCertGlobalRootCA.crt.pem) Read more here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/mysql/flexible-server/how-to-connect-tls-ssl Here is a PHP sample for connection with SSL to MySQL encrypted connection on TLS1.2: self::$mysqli = mysqli_init(); //self::$mysqli->options(MYSQLI_OPT_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT, true); self::$mysqli->ssl_set(NULL, NULL, "DigiCertGlobalRootCA.crt.pem", NULL, NULL); self::$mysqli->real_connect(host', 'username', 'password', 'database'); // , 3306, MYSQLI_CLIENT_SSL); //self::$mysqli = new mysqli('hots', 'username', 'password', 'database'); self::$mysqli->set_charset('utf8'); return self::$mysqli; Here is the full certificate for M