Question

trying to install mysql but I cannot start the service and cannot locate mysqld.sock

I’m trying to install mysql but I cannot start the service and cannot locate mysqld.sock

I am following the how to here: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-on-ubuntu-16-04

And get stuck trying to run $ mysql_secure_installation

I get this error:

Error: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)

Checking the version does show it installed.

mysql --version
mysql  Ver 8.0.21-0ubuntu0.20.04.4 for Linux on x86_64 ((Ubuntu))

I am unable to locate the mysqld.sock file anywhere and there is also no mysqld dir in /var/run/

I’ve also been through this troubleshooting doc https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-troubleshoot-socket-errors-in-mysql

But I can’t start the mysql service and there is nothing in the mysql.cnf file other than this

# The MySQL database client configuration file
#
# Ref to https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/en/mysql-command-options.html

[mysql]

This is what mysql.service shows

systemctl status mysql.service
● mysql.service - MySQL Community Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mysql.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: activating (start) since Thu 2020-09-10 14:31:23 UTC; 15s ago
    Process: 8847 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/mysql/mysql-systemd-start pre (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 8855 (mysqld)
     Status: "Server startup in progress"
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 533)
     Memory: 2.5M
     CGroup: /system.slice/mysql.service
             └─8855 [mysqld]

If I run it again the Process / Main PID changes. Does that mean it’s just taking a while to complete and I need to be patient?

I’ve uninstalled mysql a few different times but can’t seem to get it sorted.

Any help appreciated.

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Bobby Iliev
Site Moderator
Site Moderator badge
• September 11, 2020
Accepted Answer

Hi there @dezshredder,

To me it looks like that your MySQL service is stuck in a crash loop as the status output that you’ve shared indicates that the status is: "Server startup in progress" and the uptime is 15 seconds.

I would recommend checking your MySQL error log for more information on what might be wrong.

Also, I could suggest checking your /var/log/syslog log for more information as well.

Feel free to share the errors from the logs here so that I could try to advise you further.

Regards, Bobby

dezshredder • September 14, 2020

Bumping up the Droplet did the trick!

I’m up and running.

Guess that’s what I get for being frugal and going with the cheapest option.

Thanks for the help @bobbyiliev!

dezshredder • September 11, 2020

Yeah something is definitely stuck.

tailing syslog shows mysql restarting over and over

Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 kernel: [ 1598.053913] [   2123]     0  2123     2743      723    61440        0             0 sudo
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 kernel: [ 1598.053914] oom-kill:constraint=CONSTRAINT_NONE,nodemask=(null),cpuset=/,mems_allowed=0,global_oom,task_memcg=/system.slice/mysql.service,task=mysqld,pid=2058,uid=112
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 kernel: [ 1598.053966] Out of memory: Killed process 2058 (mysqld) total-vm:1231176kB, anon-rss:326860kB, file-rss:0kB, shmem-rss:0kB, UID:112 pgtables:968kB oom_score_adj:0
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 kernel: [ 1598.088100] oom_reaper: reaped process 2058 (mysqld), now anon-rss:0kB, file-rss:0kB, shmem-rss:0kB
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: mysql.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: mysql.service: Failed with result 'signal'.
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: Failed to start MySQL Community Server.
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: mysql.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 19.
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: Stopped MySQL Community Server.
Sep 11 15:15:15 ubuntu-s-1vcpu-512mb-nyc1-01 systemd[1]: Starting MySQL Community Server...

It went from restart count 17 to 24 while writing this response.

Also load is very high on this droplet. htop shows average of 3.96

I also rebooted the whole droplet when I saw the load so high but it just started climbing again presumably due to mysql issues.

Thanks for the help @bobbyiliev .

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