A quick, step-by-step guide to setting up, configuring, and managing a MySQL database server on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Use this guide to learn how to easily create and manage a MySQL 8 user with remote access to all databases.

MySQL is the clear category leader in open-source databases; it's the "M" in the LAMP stack that also includes Linux, the Apache Web server, and the Python, Perl, and PHP scripting languages.

Over 3.6 million MySQL servers are publicly exposed on the Internet and responding to queries, making them an attractive target to hackers and extortionists.

MySQL is the second most popular database in use, according the DB-Engines Ranking, and is a key element of the LAMP — Linux, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL, PHP — open-source web development stack.

If you need to allow remote connections to your MySQL server, see how you can easily accomplish that task.