Essential MariaDB and MySql Administration Tips on Linux

A collection of useful MariaDB and MySql administration snippets and configuration settings for use on home Linux Systems.

Installing MySQL or MariaDB and Creating Root User

Installation MySql or MariaDB (a fork of MySQL) is as easy as typing in these commands.

sudo apt-get install mysql-server python-mysqldb php-mysql

MySQL 5.7 changed the secure model so that now MySQL root login requires a sudo-level execution. This means that root can no longer be used for web logins via PHP. The simplest and safest solution will be to create a new user and grant the required privileges.

sudo mysql --user=root mysql

Run the following commands, replacing some_pass with the desired password.

CREATE USER 'lonewolf'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'lonewolf'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Now you should be able to log in with this user.

MySql to Listen on all ports, not just localhost

If you want remote MySql administration on the server just edit the file /etc/mysql/my.cnf, find and comment out the line bind-address = 127.0.0.1: This will allow any computer access to the mysql server, so it should be used with care.

Restart MySql on Linux

You can restart the MySql server by entering the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

Reset User Password

From time to time it may be necessary to reset the password of a MySql user. Here's how to do it. You will need to log onto the server using an account with root privileges, either on the MySql Administration  GUI or through an application such as phpMyAdmin.

You can reset a password by executing the following SQL statement, after updating it to match your given username and password.

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('MyNewPass') WHERE User='MyUsername';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

MySql Backup Database

Using the command line you can easily back up a database to a SQL file.

mysqldump -u <username> -p <password>  database_name > backup-filename.sql

MySql Restore Database

Just as easily as backing up a database to a SQL file, you can restore it to the server using this command:

mysql -u <username> -p <password> database_name < backup-filename.sql

Schedule Daily MySql Backup with Cron

We can add these commands to a crontab job to run at a specific time of the day to create automatic backups.

sudo pico /etc/crontab

Add this line and change it accordingly

0 0 * * * root mysqldump -u root -pMyRootPassword --all-databases | gzip > /media/backup/mysql

The 0 0 * * * says run at 0 hours and 0 minutes each day, run the command as root and send the output to gzip in the directory /media/backup/mysql.