I am trying to follow the doc on how to install Wordpress on my Linode (https://www.linode.com/docs/websites/cm ... -wordpress). Step 1 tells me to log into mysql as root. I do not know my mysql root password (the Linode was set up by someone who has since left the job). A password is demanded (tried logging in without one). I have tried several times to follow the majority advice on how to reset the mysql root password, but I cannot even successfully shut down the mysql service, possibly because mysqld_safe keeps turning the service back on?

Running Centos 7.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

CentOS 7 uses MariaDB, which is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Services are managed by systemd, which is controlled using the systemctl command. Run systemctl stop mariadb to stop MariaDB. See this article for help resetting the password. Make sure MariaDB is stopped and then you can restart it with systemctl start mariadb.