Confusing MySQL error/warning/info message

Question

I am having trouble administering my MySQL. I tried to stop it like this:

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

and I got this message:

Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service mysql stop

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the stop(8) utility, e.g. stop mysql

So I tried doing this:

$ sudo  mysql stop
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)
$ sudo  mysql start
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)

My OS is Ubuntu. Any ideas why I seem to be running into this dead end? :)

Answer 1

You need superuser rights to run service:

$ sudo service mysql stop

or (as root):

# service mysql stop

Using the service and chkconfig utilities is now the defacto standard for service initscript handling on most Linux distributions.

EDIT:

If none of the above works, you can try mysqladmin directly:

$ sudo mysqladmin shutdown

Answer 2

Read that message again.

...use the service(8) utility, e.g. service mysql stop

...you may also use the stop(8) utility, e.g. stop mysql

You're mixing the two together, which ends up running the mysql command-line client and trying to connect to the stop and `start databases on the local server (which apparently isn't running).

Pick one or the other. Note that either one will need sudo in front of it if you're not logged in as root.

And, in case it wasn't obvious, mysql-server needs to be installed correctly for any of this to work. It's starting to sound like something's a bit borked about your install.