Installing MySQL Server on Windows Server 2003

Earlier I wrote a How To detailing the installation of PHP. One of the biggest benefits of PHP is it’s ability to talk to databases. I use MySQL databases for several things, most notably for Moodle.

Here is another How To explaining the procedure I use to install MySQL Server.

This installation will be done on Windows Server 2003. First things is first, download the latest version of the MySQL server. I use the Community Server, there is an Enterprise version available to buy if you need more support or is more critical.
Perform the download and extract the installer to somewhere on your server. I tend to keep an “installations” folder on the data disk of all my servers with the programs it uses.

Start the installer running, I’m going to do a “Complete” install.
Form this point on I will explain the configuration I am familiar with and used for Moodle. I have chosen “Detailed Configuration” and then “Server Machine”. My intention is to put this installation onto the same server as a Moodle installation, however if high database use is required i’d suggest the “Dedicated Server” option. Next we want to select the option for “Multifunctional Database” and then an “OLTP configuration”. Keep the default port and enable strict mode (default) Now for moodle we need to change the default character set to “utf-8″. Next we want to install as a service and also include in the “Windows Path” variable. Now set a password to complete the installation.

Next we need to go back to the MySQL website and download the GUI Tools, then simply perform a complete install of this. Now before we can use our installation the server needs a Reboot.

We are now able to log in to MySQL Administrator with;
Server: Localhost
Username: root
Password: as set in installation.

Your server is now a MySQL Server. In a future post I will detail how to configure PHP and MySQL for Moodle.