Can't connect to local MySQL server through so

Question

I am getting the following error when I try to connect to mysql:

Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

Is there a solution for this error? What might be the reason behind it?

Answer 1

If you are on a recent RHEL, you may need to start mariadb (an open source mysql db) instead of the mysql db:

yum remove mysql
yum -y install mariadb-server mariadb
service mariadb start

You should then be able to access mysql in the usual fashion:

mysql -u root -p

Answer 2

Make sure you have enough space left in /var. If Mysql demon is not able to write additional info to the drive the mysql server won't start and it leads to the error Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

Consider using

expire_logs_days = 10
max_binlog_size = 100M

This will help you keep disk usage down.

Answer 3

In my case I have moved socket file to another location inside /etc/my.cnf from /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock to /tmp/mysql.sock

Even after restarting the mysqld service, I still see the error message when I try to connect. ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

The problem is with the way that the client is configured. Running diagnostics will actually show the correct socket path. eg ps aux | grep mysqld

Works:

mysql -uroot -p -h127.0.0.1
mysql -uroot -p --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock

Does not Work:

mysql -uroot -p
mysql -uroot -p -hlocalhost

You can fix this problem by adding the same socket line under [client] section inside mysql config.

Answer 4

Most likely mysql.sock does not exist in /var/lib/mysql/.

If you find the same file in another location then symlink it:

For ex: I have it in /data/mysql_datadir/mysql.sock

Switch user to mysql and execute as mentioned below:

su mysql

ln -s /data/mysql_datadir/mysql.sock /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

That solved my problem

Answer 5

Make sure you started the server:

mysql.server start

Then connect with root user:

mysql -uroot

Answer 6

I had to disable explicit_defaults_for_timestamp from my.cnf.