Chapter 4. Database Administration

For the most part, MySQL is low-maintenance software. Once you have installed MySQL, it does not place heavy administrative demands on you. It is not, however, maintenance free. Typical MySQL administration tasks include:

• Installation

• Configuration and tuning

• Access control

• Logging

• Backup and recovery

• Table maintenance

We cover some of these topics in detail in other chapters—installation in Chapter 2, performance tuning in Chapter 5, and access control in Chapter 6.

You may find this chapter helpful even if you are not the one responsible for the administration of your MySQL server. Knowing about database administration can help you diagnose problems before you have to approach your database administrator.

To perform many administrative tasks, you must have administrative access to MySQL. (We describe access privileges and how to set yourself up as the MySQL database administrator in detail in Chapter 6.) You will additionally require administrative access to your operating system—root on Unix systems, Administrator on Windows NT/2000/XP—to perform a number of tasks.^[1]

^[1] On Mac OS X, you must enable the root user to gain root access. As of now, there is no way to manage the MySQL operating system needs by supplying the password of a user with administrative privileges.