Installing MySQL

To install MySQL, connect to your Virtual Private Server via Telnet or SSH as root and do the following:

% vinstall mysql

This installation program installs all the necessary files for you to run MySQL.

To start the MySQL daemon from the command prompt, you can do so using the following command:

/usr/local/bin/safe_mysqld --pid-file=/usr/local/var/username.pid

You will want to add the previous line to your /etc/rc.start file so that MySQL starts up whenever the server reboots.

While the the MySQL daemon is running, the mysql.sock file will be stored in your /tmp directory.

The mysql Client

To use the mysql client, connect to your server via SSH or Telnet and type:

% /usr/local/bin/mysql -u root

This command will start the MySQL client as the root user. You can add more users by following the directions in the MySQL Reference Manual:

• MySQL Documentation: 4.3.5 Adding New Users to MySQL

The MySQL client is designed to be able to report errors in numerous languages. While this does not affect the way you use MySQL, having the error messages in your native language could make understanding the errors easier. For more information, see the following:

• MySQL Documentation: 4.6.2 Non-English Error Messages

To make starting MySQL easier, you can create a file with all your start-up options instead of having to type in all the different flags at the command prompt. To do this, create a file in your ~/etc/ directory called my.cnf. The contents of the file would look like this if you wanted MySQL to report error messages in Japanese:

[mysqld]
language = japanese
default-character-set = ujis

Documentation

Manpages are available and can be accessed by typing the following during a telnet or SSH session with your Virtual Private Server:

% man -M $HOME/usr/local/mysql/man mysql

There is also a considerable volume of documentation on the MySQL web site:

• MySQL Online Documentation