How To Install MySQL on Linux

Most of the Linux distro comes with MySQL. If you want use MySQL, my recommendation is that you download the latest version of MySQL and install it yourself. Later you can upgrade it to the latest version when it becomes available. In this article, I will explain how to install the latest free community edition of MySQL on Linux platform.

1. Download the latest stable relase of MySQL

Download mySQL from mysql.com . Please download the community edition of MySQL for your appropriate Linux platform. I downloaded the “Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 RPM (x86)”. Make sure to download MySQL Server, Client and “Headers and libraries” from the download page.

MySQL-client-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm
MySQL-server-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm
MySQL-devel-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm

2. Remove the existing default MySQL that came with the Linux distro

Do not perform this on an system where the MySQL database is getting used by some application.[local-host]# rpm -qa | grep -i mysql mysql-5.0.22-2.1.0.1 mysqlclient10-3.23.58-4.RHEL4.1 [local-host]# rpm -e mysql --nodeps warning: /etc/my.cnf saved as /etc/my.cnf.rpmsave [local-host]# rpm -e mysqlclient10

3. Install the downloaded MySQL package

Install the MySQL Server and Client packages as shown below.[local-host]# rpm -ivh MySQL-server-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm MySQL-client-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:MySQL-client-community ########################################### [ 50%] 2:MySQL-server-community ########################################### [100%]

This will also display the following output and start the MySQL daemon automatically.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER ! 

To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands: /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password' /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h medica2 password 'new-password' Alternatively you can run: /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation which will also give you the option of removing the test databases and anonymous user created by default. This is strongly recommended for production servers. See the manual for more instructions. Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script! The latest information about MySQL is available at http://www.mysql.com/ Support MySQL by buying support/licenses from http://shop.mysql.com/ Starting MySQL.[ OK ] Giving mysqld 2 seconds to start

Install the “Header and Libraries” that are part of the MySQL-devel packages.
[local-host]# rpm -ivh MySQL-devel-community-5.1.25-0.rhel5.i386.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:MySQL-devel-community ########################################### [100%]

Note: When I was compiling PHP with MySQL option from source on the Linux system, it failed with the following error. Installing the MySQL-devel-community package fixed this problem in installing PHP from source.configure: error: Cannot find MySQL header files under yes. Note that the MySQL client library is not bundled anymore!

4. Perform post-install security activities on MySQL.

At a bare minimum you should set a password for the root user as shown below:[local-user]# /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'My2Secure$Password'

The best option is to run the mysql_secure_installation script that will take care of all the typical security related items on the MySQL as shown below. On a high level this does the following items:

Change the root password
Remove the anonymous user
Disallow root login from remote machines
Remove the default sample test database[local-host]# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation 

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current password for the root user. If you've just installed MySQL, and you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank, so you should just press enter here. Enter current password for root (enter for none): OK, successfully used password, moving on... Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL root user without the proper authorisation. You already have a root password set, so you can safely answer 'n'. 

Change the root password? [Y/n] Y New password: Re-enter new password: Password updated successfully! Reloading privilege tables.. ... Success! By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a production environment. Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y ... Success! Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network. Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y ... Success! By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed before moving into a production environment. Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y - Dropping test database... ... Success! - Removing privileges on test database... ... Success! Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far will take effect immediately. Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y ... Success! Cleaning up... All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MySQL installation should now be secure. Thanks for using MySQL!

5. Verify the MySQL installation:

You can check the MySQL installed version by performing mysql -V as shown below:[local-host]# mysql -V mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.25-rc, for redhat-linux-gnu (i686) using readline 5.1

Connect to the MySQL database using the root user and make sure the connection is successfull.[local-host]# mysql -u root -p Enter password: Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 13 Server version: 5.1.25-rc-community MySQL Community Server (GPL) Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer. mysql>

Follows the steps below to stop and start MySQL[local-host]# service mysql status MySQL running (12588) [ OK ] [local-host]# service mysql stop Shutting down MySQL. [ OK ] [local-host]# service mysql start Starting MySQL. [ OK ]