Hello,
I am really new to this so im hoping this is the place to get some help! I need to install mysql on my server. Previous servers I had already had everything set up for me...

You'll do this through the package manager for your distribution. If you tell us what your distribution is (Debian, CentOS, etc) then we can help.

Also I'd recommend Googling for a general guide on how to manage that distribution; that will answer this and many other questions.

Hey ! I have Ubuntu 9.04 please let me know any other info that you need Thank you!

Take a look at this:
http://doc.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/serverguide/C/

Specifically, chapter 3:
http://doc.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/serverguid ... ement.html

To answer your question, you probably want to run:

aptitude install mysql-server

this may sound like dumb question but how do i execute that code? Do i need to install something? I watched the getting started movie and at the end i saw him logging on with something that looked like terminal... Im really sorry im probably making you giggle right now... Im just clueless but i want to learn!

Quick Start Guide

1. If you're on Windows, download PuTTY or something like that.
2. Run PuTTY.
3. Type in your linode's IP address (which you can find in the "Network" tab of Linode Manager) and hit Enter.
4. That'll drop you into your linode's shell (terminal).
5. Log in as "root" using the password you set up when you deployed your Linux distribution.
6. Now you can start typing away other commands.

Or alternatively, you can find a web-based shell in the "Console" tab of Linode Manager. It's called LISH. The web-based shell tends to break some screen layouts, though.

Quick Apache + PHP + MySQL setup:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install apache2 php5 php5-mysql mysql-server mysql-client

(You can replace apt-get with aptitude)

Edit: What he said. ↑

In your management console (on the Linode site), click the Networking tab. You'll then see the external IP address of your node. To get a terminal prompt, use a program like Putty (assuming you're on Windows) to connect to that address.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the correct username and password are for a default Ubuntu install on Linode.

if im on a mac can i just run terminal ?

You get to a terminal, and then run:

ssh [ip address]

WOW I think I DID IT! this is sooo awesome!!! so how do i tell if it installed correctly? is there an interface?

You can check the status of a running MySQL daemon with the command mysqladmin status. If MySQL is not running, you can start it with /etc/init.d/mysql start.

As far as interface, you can use the basic client programs, or a nice web-based interface is phpMyAdmin. Search around for tutorials, as there's not enough space in this little textbox to walk you through the details of setting up a database.

Thanks for all ur help I intend on reading alot more about this.. my problem right now is time I need to get all this information that is on one server to here before tomorrow night... or ill lose everything... wen i type in that command it says
"mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)'
"

That means MySQL is not running. If it were, you'd see something like

Uptime: 2179002  Threads: 1  Questions: 6096795  Slow queries: 214
Opens: 4611  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 64  Queries per second avg: 2.798

is there anyone who would be willing to move things over to this new server from my old one? I need it done by tomorrow I am willing to pay.. Im just afraid I wont be able to figure all this out in time.

Actually, I think its running, otherwise there'd be no response from MySQL...that's a response from the MySQL server.

The way I'm reading that is that the root account has a password but it wasn't supplied by the user, which is why the error says, "(Using password: NO)"

Christina, try using the -p option and it should ask you for a password. If it doesn't post your command and options, please.