I am installing a script for a friend and need into the database. They have sent me the password, host (localhost), etc., however, I don't have a url of where to go to log in. Most of my experience with databases has been conducted online. Is there a standard url where I could gain access to this database (MySQL 5) ? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
You'll have to contact the host for that information and they may, or may not, allow you to have direct remote access. If they don't provide this they should at least provide you with some sort of web-based tool such as PHPMyAdmin to manipulate the database. If they don't provide either method then they might do the work for you themselves if you send them the relevant information - although they may charge you. If they won't do any of the above I'd say it would be time to move host because that's a situation that you really can't afford to live with. How is the database being backed up at the moment? If you (or your client) isn't backing up the database regularly you have a situation that will go pear-shaped one day.
Your host must be providing you the control panel. Ask your friend about it. There should be a link to access phpMyAdmin from your control panel.
Actually off server connections may be disabled or blocked. I know we disable them on our servers as a security measure and then have the firewall as well. We do have one server that does it but it's a non net ip address that only a single public server can see and it has a direct connection anyway between the two. Still though you would have to contact your host to get this resolved.