Ruby, mysql connection failure - mysql

Question

I am trying to connect to a mysql db with a ruby script. The code looks like
def self.connect_to_db()
db_params = self.get_db_connection_params()
begin
connection = ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(db_params)
puts "Successfully connected to DB"
self.verify_connection(connection)
rescue Exception => e
puts "Error while connecting to DB: #{e}"
end
end
def self.verify_connection(connection)
begin
puts "Verifying connection.."
q = "select * from users;"
#result = connection.connection.execute(q)
#result.each(:as => :hash) do |row|
puts row["name"]
end
puts "Verified"
rescue Exception => e
puts "Error while verifying: #{e}"
end
end
but iam getting exception:
Error while verifying:
com.mysql.jdbc.exceptions.jdbc4.CommunicationsException: Communications link failure
The last packet sent successfully to the server was 0 milliseconds ago.
The driver has not received any packets from the server.
The database exists on a different host.
I am able to connect to the db using mysql client through command line.