I got Couldn’t connect with these settings
connect ETIMEDOUT error while connecting to mysql which is hosted in google console.
I followed the document of n8n like the following:
The server Host: public IP address of cloud sql.
The Database name: the database name I created for the project
A User name: root
The Password for root user.
The Port number: Default TCP database port number, which is shown in google console.
What is the error message (if any)?
Couldn’t connect with these settings
connect ETIMEDOUT
Please share your workflow
(Select the nodes on your canvas and use the keyboard shortcuts CMD+C/CTRL+C and CMD+V/CTRL+V to copy and paste the workflow.)
@ellen2026 ETIMEDOUT means Cloud SQL is blocking the connection, not n8n. Go to your Cloud SQL instance → Connections → Networking → Authorized networks, and add 0.0.0.0/0 to test, then lock it down to n8n cloud’s egress IPs once it works. Public IP alone does nothing without whitelisting the source.
One extra thing I would check is the network design, not only the MySQL credentials. Since you are using n8n Cloud and Google Cloud SQL, make sure the Cloud SQL instance is actually reachable from the public internet and not only through private IP. If it is private IP only, n8n Cloud will not be able to connect directly. Also, n8n Cloud source IPs may change, so relying only on an IP allowlist can be fragile. A more stable workaround is to create a small Cloud Run or Cloud Function inside GCP that connects to Cloud SQL privately, then call that service from n8n over HTTPS. That way, n8n talks to your own API endpoint, and the database stays protected inside GCP.
Welcome to the community @ellen2026! Great first post with all the details laid out clearly.
In addition to what @achamm and @tamy.santos shared, one more thing to check on Google Cloud SQL: by default, Cloud SQL MySQL may require SSL for public connections. If SSL is required but you’re connecting without client certificates, it will drop the connection silently and show up as ETIMEDOUT.
To verify:
Go to your Cloud SQL instance in GCP Console
Under Connections, check if “Allow only SSL connections” is enabled
If yes, either disable SSL enforcement (for testing) or enable the SSL Mode option in n8n’s MySQL credential settings
Also, if you’re on n8n Cloud, double-check the exact n8n Cloud egress IPs here: Cloud IP addresses | n8n Docs and add those specific IPs to your authorized networks instead of 0.0.0.0/0 (which is a security risk in production).
I ran into the same wall and it drove me up the wall for a while. Double checking my Cloud SQL public IP and adding my machine’s IP to the allowed list did the trick. I also had to restart the instance before the changes kicked in, which felt odd but worked. If you’re using a service account, making sure it has the right Cloud SQL Client role saved me some hair pulling.