2.1. MySQL Installation Overview

This chapter describes how to obtain and install MySQL. You can choose to install MySQL Enterprise or MySQL Community Server:

• MySQL Enterprise is MySQL AB's commercial offering for modern enterprise businesses. It includes MySQL Enterprise Server and the services provided by MySQL Network.

• MySQL Community Server is for users who are comfortable configuring and administering MySQL by themselves.

If you plan to upgrade an existing version of MySQL to a newer version rather than install MySQL for the first time, see Section 2.4.16, “Upgrading MySQL”, for information about upgrade procedures and about issues that you should consider before upgrading.

If you are interested in migrating to MySQL from another database system, you may wish to read Section A.9, “MySQL 5.0 FAQ — Migration”, which contains answers to some common questions concerning migration issues.

2.2. Determining your current MySQL version

To determine the version and release of your currently installed MySQL installation, there are a number of options.

• Using a command client (mysql), the server version of the MySQL server that you are connected to will be shown once you are connected. The server version information will include community or enterprise accordingly.

  For example, here is the output from a MySQL Community Server edition installed on Linux:

  Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
  Your MySQL connection id is 6
  Server version: 5.0.27-standard MySQL Community Edition - Standard (GPL)
  
  Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
  
  mysql>

  Below is the output from MySQL Enterprise Server on Windows:

  Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
  Your MySQL connection id is 2
  Server version: 5.0.28-enterprise-gpl-nt MySQL Enterprise Server (GPL)
  
  Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
  
  mysql> 

• You may also determine the version information using the version variables. Both the version and version_comment variables contain version information for the server you are connected to. Use the SHOW VARIABLES statement to obtain the information you want. For example:

  mysql> show variables like "%version%";
  +-------------------------+------------------------------------------+
  | Variable_name           | Value                                    |
  +-------------------------+------------------------------------------+
  | protocol_version        | 10                                       |
  | version                 | 5.0.27-standard                          |
  | version_comment         | MySQL Community Edition - Standard (GPL) |
  | version_compile_machine | i686                                     |
  | version_compile_os      | pc-linux-gnu                             |
  +-------------------------+------------------------------------------+
  5 rows in set (0.04 sec)
  
  mysql> 

• The STATUS command will display the version and version comment information. For example:

  mysql> status;
  --------------
  ./client/mysql  Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.29, for pc-linux-gnu (i686) using readline 5.0
  
  Connection id:          8
  Current database:
  Current user:           mc@localhost
  SSL:                    Not in use
  Current pager:          /usr/bin/less
  Using outfile:          ''
  Using delimiter:        ;
  Server version:         5.0.27-standard MySQL Community Edition - Standard (GPL)
  Protocol version:       10
  Connection:             Localhost via UNIX socket
  Server characterset:    latin1
  Db     characterset:    latin1
  Client characterset:    latin1
  Conn.  characterset:    latin1
  UNIX socket:            /tmp/mysql.sock
  Uptime:                 1 day 3 hours 58 min 43 sec
  
  Threads: 2  Questions: 17  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 11  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 6  Queries per second avg: 0.000
  --------------
  

• MySQL Administrator will show the server version within the Server Information tab. Only the value of the version information is shown.