I’m encountering an issue with EF Core when trying to verify a database connection. The error message I’m receiving is:

Object cannot be cast from DBNull to other types

This is the relevant code throwing the error

public bool VerifyDatabaseConnection()
{
    try
    {
        using (var db = new CarrierIpsContext())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Attempting to open database connection...");
            db.Database.OpenConnection();
            Console.WriteLine("Database connection opened successfully.");

            Console.WriteLine("Executing test query...");
            db.Database.ExecuteSqlRaw("SELECT 1");
            Console.WriteLine("Test query executed successfully.");

            db.Database.CloseConnection();
            Console.WriteLine("Database connection closed successfully.");
        }

        return true;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Database connection failed");
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        Console.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace);

        return false;
    }
}

In the console I can see the following

Attempting to open database connection...
Object cannot be cast from DBNull to other types.

It also states the problem is coming from this line

db.Database.OpenConnection();

I have verified that my database credentials are correct and from the same servers CLI I have successfully connected and performed operations on the remote database

Here is my context

internal class CarrierIpsContext: DbContext
{
    public DbSet<CarrierIp> CarrierIps { get; set; }

    private static readonly string connectionString = "Server=x.x.x.x; Database=somedb; Uid=someuser; Pwd=somepassword;";

    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
    {
        optionsBuilder.UseMySQL(connectionString);
    }
}

Relevant Info:

• Mariadb: V10.11.6
• Packages
  • MySql.EntityFrameworkCore: V8.0.2
  • Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore: V8.0.6