I came upon this error after installing the latest version of MySQL using yum and securing it.
The Error
With mysqld running I tried to run mysql as follows:
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ mysql
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)
Different failed attempts:
Here are more attempts to get it working:
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ telnet 127.0.0.1 3306
Trying 127.0.0.1...
telnet: connect to address 127.0.0.1: Connection refused
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ mysql -h 127.0.0.1
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.0.1' (111)
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.0.1' (111)
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 -u root
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.0.1' (111)
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 -u root -p
Enter password:
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.0.1' (111)
The Solution
[ahmed@amayem ~]$ cd /etc/init.d/
[ahmed@amayem init.d]$ ./mysqld stop
Stopping mysqld: [ OK ]
[ahmed@amayem init.d]$ sudo ./mysqld start
Starting mysqld: [ OK ]
Basically we just restarted mysqld. Now the error changes:
[ahmed@amayem init.d]$ mysql
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'ahmed'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
This is good, now we just need to use a user that has access, like root that was made when we secured the install.
[ahmed@amayem init.d]$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
And we are in.
The Reason (Conjecture)
Since it started working after manually restarting mysqld, I would have to guess that when it was restared it made /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock, which might have been missing. Unfortunately I didn’t check on its existence before, so I can’t confirm. If anyone has a reason please mention it in the comment section.
