ARCHIVED: Legacy MySQL for Webserve user guide

• Service overview
• Guidelines and responsibilities
• Apply for a MySQL account
• Set up your account for first-time use
• Start/stop the MySQL server for your account
• Server restarts and maintenance window
• Troubleshoot MySQL issues

Service overview

• MySQL is intended as an add-on service for Webserve accounts.
• Connections to/from the MySQL service are restricted to Webserve and direct logins to the MySQL servers. As such, you are unable to use desktop MySQL clients to manage your databases or connect to your databases from servers other than Webserve.
• All MySQL accounts come with a test account to provide you with a completely separate environment in which to test your applications before moving into production, or to test the impact of MySQL version upgrades prior to the rollout.
• This service is intended for those with modest disk usage requirements; there is no charge for the first 1GB of use. For more about billing, see Sitehost, Pages, and MySQL disk space quotas.
• For technical details about MySQL accounts, see ARCHIVED: Legacy MySQL for Webserve account details.

Guidelines and responsibilities

Appropriate use

You will have complete control and the associated responsibility for your own MySQL database server running as your account name on the port number that is assigned to you with your account. The appropriate use of the account and its associated MySQL server is to provide a database service only for use by web applications in your Webserve account.

Test databases must be located on the test server (mysql-test.iu.edu), and not on the production server (mysql.iu.edu). Likewise, production databases must not be placed on the test server, but need to be located on mysql.iu.edu. For assistance with or questions about moving test MySQL databases into production, contact Web Services Support.

Backups and file restores

All accounts are pre-enabled for cron, which allows you to run automated database checkpoint and backups. UITS strongly recommends doing a DB-level checkpoint mysqldump to ensure your data is backed up sufficiently should you need to restore data. Although UITS performs standard system backups, the relationship between data elements within the data files needs to be in complete synchronization. Thus, a file restore done by UITS may not be sufficient to restore your database.

For more, see Backup and Recovery in the MySQL Reference Manual and ARCHIVED: Backing up your Legacy MySQL for Webserve database.

Data collection

• If you plan to collect and store personal information, contact the data manager for guidance and regulations that govern the use of that data; see University Operational Data Managers.
• Use of the MySQL Service requires adherence to policies outlined by both the University Information Policy Office and Web Services Support. For policies and guidelines, see Important security information for Sitehost MySQL accounts.
• Use the wwws directory for entry of personal data on a website.
• Avoid collecting unnecessary data; when possible, use existing official data sources (e.g., HRMS or SIS).
• Passwords that are used as part of a web application that are stored in a MySQL database must be:

  (i) transmitted in a secure manner, meaning that the communications between the browser and the server (Webserve) should encrypted by putting the web application in the Secure WWW server;

  and

  (ii) stored in a MySQL table encrypted using MySQL data types/functions which encrypt and decrypt the value of the variable as it is read and written to the table.

• You may not run more than one MySQL database server process (mysqld) within a single account using the same or additional port numbers. If you need additional database server processes for a special set of circumstances, you should apply for another MySQL database service account.

Apply for a MySQL account

You must already have a Webserve account in order to add a MySQL database to your account. Your MySQL account will share the name as your Webserve account.

To apply for a MySQL account, visit WebTech Services Management. Log in using your personal Network ID.

Set up your account for first-time use

To set up your MySQL account, follow the instructions in the ARCHIVED: Legacy MySQL for Webserve first-time setup guide.

Start/stop the MySQL server for your account

To stop or start the MySQL server for your account, log into your account on the MySQL server via an SSH client, and type the following:

 cmd_mysql stop

or

 cmd_mysql start

During both the stop and start operations, the system locates the .my.cnf file in your account and reads it for any necessary directives.

Server restarts and maintenance window

As with any server, there are weekly server restarts and a reserved maintenance window. For mysql.iu.edu and mysql-test.iu.edu, those times are as follows:

• Weekly restart: Every Sunday 6-7am
• Reserved maintenance window: Every Sunday midnight-9am

During these time periods, the MySQL service may be unavailable. It is important that your web-based applications be able to gracefully handle an inability to connect to the MySQL server or some interruption in data transfer to and/or from the server during both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

The maintenance window for this and other UITS services can be found one the Regularly Scheduled Maintenance page.

Troubleshoot MySQL issues

For help resolving the most commonly reported error messages, see ARCHIVED: Troubleshooting common Legacy MySQL for Webserve issues.