How to Install MySQL 5.6 on CentOS 6.7

This article will show you how to install MySQL 5.6 on CentOS 6.7.

In writing this how-to, I have assumed that you are running a stock installation of CentOS 6.7, and that you DO NOT already have MySQL installed.

1. Install the MySQL Community repository

First, we need to install the Official MySQL Community repository, this is done by entering the following commands:

rpm -Uvh http://repo.mysql.com/mysql-community-release-el6-5.noarch.rpm

You should now be ready to install MySQL 5.6!

2. Installing MySQL 5.6

Type in the following commands to install MySQL 5.6

yum -y install mysql mysql-server

Type in the below to verify the correct packages were installed:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

The output should look similar to the following:

mysql-community-release-el6-5.noarch
mysql-community-common-5.6.27-2.el6.x86_64
mysql-community-client-5.6.27-2.el6.x86_64
mysql-community-server-5.6.27-2.el6.x86_64
mysql-community-libs-5.6.27-2.el6.x86_64
mysql-community-libs-compat-5.6.27-2.el6.x86_64

Now you can start MySQL 5.6 using the following command:

chkconfig mysqld on
service mysqld start

Verify that MySQL 5.6 is running:

mysql -v

And you should see output similar to the following:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 2
Server version: 5.6.27 MySQL Community Server (GPL)

That’s all she wrote!

Upgrading from MySQL 5.5 is a fairly easy process, and I’ll be writing a guide on that soon. However, upgrading from earlier versions of MySQL (such as MySQL 5.1) requires a bit more work. I’ll see writing on article on How to Upgrade MySQL 5.1 to MySQL 5.6 on CentOS 6.7 so stay tuned!