MySQL

A few years back I'd written a few tutorials to get a local PHP and MySQL development environment up and running with MacPorts. Much has changed since then, and while I've updated my development environment, I hadn't bothered to update the tutorials. This post aims to bring things up-to-date.

7/18/09 - Having trouble starting MySQL on system startup? Rob Wilkerson shows how he gets around the issue.

4/2/08 - UPDATED - Replaced symlink to MySQL socket with proper MySQL configuration file settings. Thanks Doug!

10/20/07 - UPDATED - Added full path to aliases, thanks Joel!

10/7/07 - UPDATED - Clarified +server option and executable names, thanks Thom!

I decided to move my MySQL server installation from the server I installed from MySQL.com to macports. Why? I believe MacPorts will simplify future upgrades. I'd also like to keep my LAMP installs in the same location. If you haven't already, install and configure MacPorts. Here are the steps I'll go over:

• Intall MySQL 5
• Create the initial MySQL databases
• Options for starting MySQL
• Confirm that MySQL is running
• Set Basic MySQL Security

I've been meaning to backup my sites' databases for quite some time now. Today I was finally overcome with guilt and the fear of something going horrible wrong, so I finally decided to put a backup script into place. My hosting provider provides backups, and fortunately I've never needed to request a restore. You may ask "Then why are you worried about backups?". The answer is simple—there are some things you should count on in this world–things will go wrong from time to time. Yes, my hosting provider is a reliable and stable company providing a reliable and stable hosting environment, but things can change, and one should always be prepared.

Every now and then, a single CMS post may vanish or a forum user's posts are accidentally deleted. No worries, right? That's why we make backups. If you have an active site with lots of users posting content, loading a backup is probably not practical. So, load up the latest incremental backup and select the records you need, and do it easily with MySQL's SELECT INTO OUTFILE and LOAD DATA INFILE.