Updating Mysql database from a remote computer

The database will be created on a local computer and it only needs to be transferred to the server (it's a read-only database when it's on the net). The problem is that the database itself isn't located in directory, where we could access it with Ftp client and simply owerwrite it with the new version. Is it possible to connect via a IP number instead 'localhost' like this: mysql_connect("100.10.20.30","username","password") and then update record by record. It should be slower but our main interest is to get the data to server. Are there any free servers where this can be tested? Thanks, Marko.