code: def connect(self):
          
          self.log.debug('starting the ``get`` method')
  
          dbSettings = self.dbSettings
  
          port = False
          if "tunnel" in dbSettings and dbSettings["tunnel"]:
              port = self._setup_tunnel(
                  tunnelParameters=dbSettings["tunnel"]
              )
  
          # SETUP A DATABASE CONNECTION
          host = dbSettings["host"]
          user = dbSettings["user"]
          passwd = dbSettings["password"]
          dbName = dbSettings["db"]
          dbConn = ms.connect(
              host=host,
              user=user,
              passwd=passwd,
              db=dbName,
              port=port,
              use_unicode=True,
              charset='utf8',
              local_infile=1,
              client_flag=ms.constants.CLIENT.MULTI_STATEMENTS,
              connect_timeout=36000,
              max_allowed_packet=51200000
          )
          if self.autocommit:
              dbConn.autocommit(True)
  
          self.log.debug('completed the ``get`` method')
          return dbConn
docs: connect to the database
  
          **Return:**
              - ``dbConn`` -- the database connection
  
          See the class docstring for usage