Yes you connect from your desktop to the server with Navicat Also means you are more secure since PHPMYADMIN has a history of vulnerabilities and less to run o

Yes you connect from your desktop to the server with Navicat Also means you are more secure since PHPMYADMIN has a history of vulnerabilities and less to run on the server, so your database server can run mysql and nothing else (well maybe stunnel for encrypted connection to your app servers)