diff --git a/manifests/database.pp b/manifests/database.pp
index e9915dd..d4708af 100644
--- a/manifests/database.pp
+++ b/manifests/database.pp
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 # @summary Manage XDMoD databases
 # @api private
-class xdmod::database {
-  include mysql::server
+class xdmod::database inherits xdmod::params {
+  if $xdmod::params::db_host.match(/'localhost'|'127.0.0.1'/) {
+    include mysql::server
+    } else {
+    include mysql::client
+  }
+
 
   Mysql::Db {
     ensure    => 'present',
     user      => $xdmod::database_user,
     password  => $xdmod::database_password,
-    host      => $xdmod::web_host,
+    host      => $xdmod::db_grant_host,
     charset   => 'latin1',
     collate   => 'latin1_swedish_ci',
     grant     => ['ALL'],
diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 33185a2..7e48b7b 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -66,6 +66,10 @@
 #   AKRR database password
 # @param web_host
 #   FQDN of web host
+# @param db_host
+#   FQDN of db host
+# @param db_grant_host
+#   host part when assigning db grants
 # @param akrr_host
 #   FQDN of AKRR host
 # @param scheduler
@@ -291,16 +295,17 @@
   Variant[Stdlib::HTTPSUrl, Stdlib::HTTPUrl]
   $appkernels_package_url                     = $xdmod::params::appkernels_package_url,
   String $xdmod_supremm_package_name            = $xdmod::params::xdmod_supremm_package_name,
-  Variant[Stdlib::HTTPSUrl, Stdlib::HTTPUrl]
-  $xdmod_supremm_package_url                  = $xdmod::params::xdmod_supremm_package_url,
+  Variant[Stdlib::HTTPSUrl, Stdlib::HTTPUrl] $xdmod_supremm_package_url     = $xdmod::params::xdmod_supremm_package_url,
   String[1] $php_mongodb_version = '1.16.2',
-  String $database_host                   = '127.0.0.1',
-  Integer $database_port                   = 3306,
-  String $database_user                         = 'xdmod',
-  String $database_password                     = 'changeme',
-  String $akrr_database_user                    = 'akrr',
-  String $akrr_database_password                = 'changeme',
-  String $web_host                        = 'localhost',
+  String $database_host          = '127.0.0.1',
+  Integer $database_port         = 3306,
+  String $database_user          = 'xdmod',
+  String $database_password      = 'changeme',
+  String $akrr_database_user     = 'akrr',
+  String $akrr_database_password = 'changeme',
+  String $web_host               = 'localhost',
+  String $db_host                = $xdmod::params::db_host,
+  String $db_grant_host          = '%',
   String $akrr_host                       = 'localhost',
   Enum['slurm','torque','pbs','sge'] $scheduler = 'slurm',
   Optional[Variant[String, Array]]
diff --git a/manifests/params.pp b/manifests/params.pp
index 5a9567e..7e15204 100644
--- a/manifests/params.pp
+++ b/manifests/params.pp
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
   $sender_email       = "xdmod@xdmod.${facts['networking']['domain']}"
   $apache_vhost_name  = "xdmod.${facts['networking']['domain']}"
   $portal_settings    = {}
-  $hierarchy_levels  = {
+  $db_host            = 'localhost'
+  $hierarchy_levels   = {
     'top'     => { 'label' => 'Hierarchy Top Level', 'info' => '' },
     'middle'  => { 'label' => 'Hierarchy Middle Level', 'info' => '' },
     'bottom'  => { 'label' => 'Hierarchy Bottom Level', 'info' => '' },