Gateway v7.9.9 errors when connecting to new MySQL v8.4

We are in the process of upgrading from v7.9 and MySQL v5.4 to v8.1 and MySQL v8.4. We still have two gateways left and one of them is accessing some of the new MySQL v8.4 server(s), which is where we get these errors:

"Cannot create PoolableConnectionFactory (Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client)"

MySQL >v8.0 has deprecated native passwords so I've looked at setting MySQL to allow native passwords (what MySQL suggests):

I put "mysql_native_password=ON" in the "My.ini" file but the MySQL service fails to restart afterwards.

I was wondering if there is something I need to do to get Ignition v7.9 to use SHA2 authentication with v8.4.

You could try using a new MySQL (or MariaDB) JDBC driver on the 7.9 gateway:

You might have to thread the needle a bit to find a JDBC driver that's new enough to support MySQL 8 but old enough to run on Java 8 (required by the 7.9 Ignition gateway). There might also be 'additional connection properties' updates needed in the DB connection settings in Ignition.

Thanks for the information. The following information was also very helpful. What I think really made the difference was his step #4!

Step #4 said to " Reinitialize the database connection". I've seen faulted DB connections in the past be fixed with a simple "reset" (disable/enable). Maybe this should be an option on the DB Connections page?