• Under /etc/mysql, copy my-medium.cnf as my.cnf. (available template files are: my-huge.cnf, my-large.cnf, my-medium.cnf and my-small.cnf. my-medium.cnf is more than enough for small database such as “chemical”)

• Edit my.cnf: replace “skip-locking” with “skip-external-locking” to avoid warning message like “'–skip-locking' is deprecated” ( ref). Update: for ver5.5.27, it is already “skip-external-locking” by default.

• Install an initial database. (i.e., create the required user databases and put them in the right places)

sudo mysql_install_db --user=mysql

• Add “yxue” to “mysql” group by editing /etc/group.

• start mysql server. At this point, you should be able to run “mysql” from command line and get welcome information

sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld
sudo /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld start

• setup a password for the Mysql root user

sudo su mysql
mysqladmin -u root password <new-password>

• Note: the default database folder is “/var/lib/mysql/”

mysql -u root -p
mysql> use databackup;
mysql> help #get help information
mysql> show tables; #show tables in current database

mysql> select * from datbak;

mysql>