MySQL Database Service

Requesting a MySQL User and Database

Because MySQL’s authentication system doesn’t integrate with the CSL authentication methods, you must first request a MySQL user that you will connect as when you use the database. This is done via the Request a MySQL user form . You must supply both the login name you would like to use as well as the host the user will connect from - both are required as MySQL considers both the login name and the host it is connected from as a distinct user when it evaluates database permissions. Try to specify your host as narrowly as possible - if you will only be connecting from a specific workstation, use that as your host for better security. Consider requesting multiple users with different hosts if you will only connect from a few hostnames or IPs. If you need to connect from a number of CS department hosts, consider %.cs.wisc.edu.

After you have created a user, request a database by filling out the Request a MySQL database form . Choose a name, the encoding and collation you would like, a reason for the database, and the MySQL user you would like to ‘own’ the database, possibly the user you just made. The MySQL user that is designated as the owner of the database will be given all permissions on the database, as well as the ability to grant permissions on that database to other existing MySQL users.

Using the MySQL service

The server runs on mysql.cs.wisc.edu on the default port, 3306.

Changing MySQL User Passwords

If you would like to change your user’s password on the MySQL server, use the command:

set password = PASSWORD('[new password here]');

See Wikipedia’s Guidelines for Strong Passwords .

The MySQL user that is designated as your database’s owner is originally given all permissions on your database and also the ability to grant those options to other existing MySQL users. You can share the database with your own or others’ MySQL users by using the GRANT command and specifying the user you would like to be able to connect to your database. Remember that MySQL treats both the login name and the host the user is connecting from as a distinct user - you will need to know both in order to use GRANT. The syntax documentation for the GRANT command can be found at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/grant.html.

Be careful who you grant permissions to, especially if you give someone else the grant option - they will be able to allow more existing MySQL users to view and alter your database! A good rule of thumb is to only give the bare minimum required permissions to a user and alter them later if they need additional access.

Database Quotas

There are no official disk space or bandwidth quotas on mysql.cs.wisc.edu. However, please remember that many people and projects use this server. Therefore, please try to keep your database size and I/O bandwidth usage low (about 5 GB of raw data is a practical limit). If you have any specific questions or if you need to run intensive queries on a very large database, please contact the lab and we will do our best to resolve the issue. If you are creating problems for other users on mysql.cs.wisc.edu, the lab will attempt to contact and work with you to resolve the issue.

For More Information

Official MySQL documentation is available at the MySQL website .