How to Install MySQL 5.6.15 on CentOS 6 and RHEL 6

Written by Rahul, Updated on June 11, 2013

Hi Guys,

This tutorial will help to for installing MySQL 5.6 on CentOS/RHEL system. I am using CentOS 6, 32 bit version. For other OS version you can download files from here. Also change the rpm names in all given commands in this tutorial.

Step 1: Download RPMs from MySQL

Download required rpm files from MySQL cdn network using following download links.

# cd /opt/
# wget http://cdn.mysql.com/Downloads/MySQL-5.6/MySQL-server-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm
# wget http://cdn.mysql.com/Downloads/MySQL-5.6/MySQL-client-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm
# wget http://cdn.mysql.com/Downloads/MySQL-5.6/MySQL-shared-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm

Step 2: Install MysQL RPMs

Install downloaded rpms using rpm command line tool.

# rpm -ivh MySQL-server-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm
# rpm -ivh MySQL-client-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm
# rpm -ivh MySQL-shared-5.6.15-1.el6.i686.rpm

Step 3: Start MySQL Service

After installing rpms use following command to start MySQL Service.

# /etc/init.d/mysql start
Starting MySQL.. SUCCESS!

Step 4: Initial MySQL Configuration

Execute mysql_secure_installation script and follow the wizard. It will prompt for root password. To get temporary root password check ‘/root/.mysql_secret’ file

# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
      SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE!  PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user.  If you've just installed MySQL, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...

Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL
root user without the proper authorisation.

You already have a root password set, so you can safely answer 'n'.

Change the root password? [Y/n] y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!


By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them.  This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother.  You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] y
 ... Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'.  This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] y
 ... Success!

By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access.  This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] y
 - Dropping test database...
 ... Success!
 - Removing privileges on test database...
 ... Success!

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y
 ... Success!

All done!  If you've completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.

Thanks for using MySQL!

Cleaning up...

Step 5: Login to MySQL

Now you have successfully installed MySQL 5.6. Let login to MySQL using root access and try to create a dummy database. The root user password can be found in /root/.mysql_secret.

# mysql -u root -p

Create a dummy database using following command.

mysql> create database dummydb;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

Step 6: Check MySQL Version

Verify your MySQL version installed on your system. Following command will display installed MySQL version.

# mysql -V

mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.6.15, for Linux (i686) using  EditLine wrapper