Moving wp-config.php outside of root?

In all my single site wp.org installs I can move the wp-config.php outside of the public_html folder so it is not accessible. In my new multisite install if I try to move wp-config out of the root, it throws an error:

This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can’t contact the database server at . This could mean your host’s database server is down.

* Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
* Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
* Are you sure that the database server is running?

Is this just a caveat with a multisite install? If I have to keep the wp-config in the html_public, I’d imagine that limiting access through .htaccess is the way to go?

Thanks all. What a great journey!