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How do I reinitialize MySQL or MariaDB without reinstalling the RPMs?

cPanelAaronH
  • Updated

Introduction

The steps outlined in this guide move the existing data. You will need cPanel backups or SQL dumps in order to restore your account databases through the cPanel interface or the MySQL command-line once MySQL or MariaDB has been initialized. cPanel support cannot assist you with these steps, and we do recommend consulting with a qualified system administrator before proceeding. 

 

There may be a time when you need to reinitialize MySQL. You can use the information below to reinitialize the MySQL server; this will move the existing installation and reinstall the MySQL server. We recommend reading through this guide in its entirety before starting the process.

 

Procedure

To reinitialize MySQL, perform the following steps:

    1. Disable the service: 
      whmapi1 configureservice service=mysql enabled=1 monitored=0
    2. Stop the service: 
      /scripts/restartsrv_mysql --stop
    3. Check to make sure you have enough disk space before you move the MySQL folder; this can be done with du and df -h:

      du checks how much total space is in your MySQL directory:

      [root@server ~]# du -h --max-depth=1 /var/lib/mysql
      20M /var/lib/mysql/mysql
      680K /var/lib/mysql/sys
      4.0K /var/lib/mysql/user_test
      4.0K /var/lib/mysql/performance_schema
      7.1M /var/lib/mysql/angel_wp
      897M /var/lib/mysql/angel_test_group
      46M /var/lib/mysql/user_vtiger
      4.2M /var/lib/mysql/angel_wp2
      1.2G /var/lib/mysql

      And df shows the total disk usage:

      [root@server ~]# df -h
      Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
      devtmpfs 3.9G 0 3.9G 0% /dev
      tmpfs 3.9G 4.0K 3.9G 1% /dev/shm
      tmpfs 3.9G 74M 3.8G 2% /run
      tmpfs 3.9G 0 3.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
      /dev/mapper/centos-root 50G 13G 38G 25% /
      /dev/sda1 1014M 306M 709M 31% /boot
      /dev/mapper/centos-home 42G 16G 26G 39% /home
      /dev/loop0 2.2G 3.6M 2.1G 1% /tmp
      tmpfs 783M 0 783M 0% /run/user/0
    4. Move the directory containing MySQL. If your home data directory for MySQL is different, adjust the path accordingly: 
      mv /var/lib/mysql{,.cPbak} -v && mkdir -v /var/lib/mysql && chown -v mysql. /var/lib/mysql
    5. Run the initialize option for MySQL: 
      mysqld --initialize --user=mysql

      For MariaDB, run this command instead:

      mysql_install_db --user=mysql
    6. Restart MySQL again: 
      /scripts/restartsrv_mysql --start
    7. Reenable the monitoring service: 
      whmapi1 configureservice service=mysql enabled=1 monitored=1
    8. Reset the MySQL password: 
      /scripts/mysqlconnectioncheck
    9. Disable the validate_password plugin option. To do this, refer to this article:

      MySQL "Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements"

    10. Restore the databases:
    11. Restore the grants: How to Restore Database Grants
    12. Restore database access: How to Restore a User's Database Access
      If the system runs CloudLinux run the following two commands as well. 
    13. cagefsctl -M 
    14. cagefsctl --force-update

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