Install MySQL

 MySQL Server & Client Installation

# rehash

Add the following line to /etc/rc.conf to enable mysql on boot:

# echo mysql_enable="YES" >> /etc/rc.conf

You can start the MySQL daemon with:

# cd /usr/local ; /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe &

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

***NOTE*** The password CANNOT contain the following characters: !'@

if I wanted my MYSQL root password to be new_password , I would use the following commands.

# mysql -u root mysql

it is now going to give me a new prompt.  At that prompt, I type (or paste)

UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password') WHERE user='root';   

then I enter

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

and then

quit

and I am back at the # prompt.

That will allow access from the localhost.  However, to allow root access from outside the localhost, we must 'grant' that access.
First, logon to mysql using # mysql -u root mysql -pnew_password or just don't 'quit' from above and add the following:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO root@"%" identified by 'new_password' with grant option;

hit enter

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

hit enter

quit

and you are back at the # prompt.

Now, lets test this all out to make sure it works.

reboot the system with the following command

# shutdown -r now

when the system comes back up, log in as yourself.  The $ prompt means you are NOT a super user (su).  Become a super user by issuing the su command as follows.

$ su - root

now type

# ps -ax|grep mysql

You should see something similar to this

34620  p0- I      0:00.01 /bin/sh /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-extra-file=/var/db/mysql/my.cnf --user=mysql --datadir=/var
34640  p0- S      5:35.68 /usr/local/libexec/mysqld --defaults-extra-file=/var/db/mysql/my.cnf --basedir=/usr/local --datadir=/var/
40310  p0  S+     0:00.00 grep mysql

if all you see is the last entry ( grep mysql ) and no other jobs listed, mysql is not running and you need to figure it out before continuing to the next article.