How are you, dev? Welcome to for-devs.com!
In this tutorial, I show you how to download and install MySQL in its community version (free); and I guide you in its configuration during the installation process on Windows. This version is distributed under the GPL license, and you will be able to use it without problems in any software development project.
Now let’s see that MySQL is an open source relational database management system (RDBMS). This software includes a great support of tools for its administration and integration with other software, it also has a large community of users.
On the other hand, among its advantages is its freeness and accessibility, its scalability and compatibility with various programming languages.
However, you may encounter some limitations in security, performance with large databases, and support for complex transactions. This may or may not be favorable, depending on your user requirements and level of experience.
Steps to download and install MySQL
Next, in easy steps, I will show you how to get MySQL on your computer:
Firstly, visit the official website at the following link: Download MySQL Installer Y Select the appropriate version, operating system and architecture before starting the download.
After opening the downloaded MySQL file, you must follow the instructions on the screen to install and configure it correctly.
Once installed, you will have access to tools like MySQL Workbench and phpMyAdmin with which you can start working with your databases.
It is important to mention that some versions of MySQL may require a non-free use license. Be sure to check that you are downloading the free community version.
Now, to continue this article, in later sections we will take a more detailed look at the MySQL download and installation process.
1. Download MySQL
Next, I prepared a short video for you to follow the step by step to download MySQL, in the same way, you can follow the ones described in the following list:
Visit mysql.com
Go to the download section (Download) and in the final part follow the link MySQL Community (GPL) Downloads
Click on MySQL Installer for Windows
Select the installation version you need, web or complete.
In this step you can optionally register to create an Oracle account or simply start the download by clicking No thanks, just start my download.
The following video shows a summary of the download process step by step:
2. Install MySQL
Now that you’ve downloaded the file, run it as administrator to avoid any potential user privilege issues during installation.
Next, the installation wizard will ask you to choose a type of configuration that suits your needs. The choice will depend on the use you are going to make of the software and also on the experience you have.
In my case, I selected the Custom option, this allows me to choose only the package components that I really need:
In the next step, the wizard will verify that the requirements are compatible and available to be installed.
Accept and install additional components if prompted by the wizard. Then, click Execute and, when the verification is finished, you can click Next:
Now, if everything went well in the requirement’s verification process, it is a matter of executing the installation and waiting for it to complete before clicking on next:
After completing the installation of the components, it is time to configure them. We select the convenient authentication method for MySQL Server:
We define the password of the superuser account and the users that we need:
Here we set the name of the Windows Run service and its behavior:
We click Execute to apply the configuration we chose:
After completing the configuration, we finish the wizard, and we will verify if everything works by logging into the MySQL server.
Select the option that starts Workbench, the MySQL manager:
3. Verify
At this point, if you configured everything correctly during the MySQL download and installation process, you will be able to access the server without problems through its Workbench manager.
Click on the Local Instance text box, which starts a MySQL service:
Enter the root password you set in the component settings and press ok:
If no error messages appear, you will have access to the graphical schema editor for MySQL Workbench databases.
Conclusion
Up to this point, if you followed this step-by-step guide, you have learned how to download and install MySQL and verify its successful installation by connecting through the MySQL Workbench client.
Now, you can start editing or creating databases for your software development projects by implementing one of the most popular relational database managers in the world, MySQL.
Thanks for reading this post on for-devs.com!
