Getting started - MySQL on CentOS

yum install mysql-server.x86_64
# ( or .i386, etc)

mysql_install_db

/usr/bin/mysqld_safe &

# (please don't use "password" -- duh!)
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password "password"

# start mysql client
mysql -u root -p

# give remote access to root if root is accessing mysql from hostname.foo.com (think before you do this -- you probably don't want to leave it like this:
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'hostname.foo.com'
mysql> IDENTIFIED BY 'password' WITH GRANT OPTION;

# give root access to root from localhost, .e.g, for accessing mysqld locally over tcp socket.
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY
mysql> 'password' WITH GRANT OPTION;

# give root access to root from anywhere -- why on earth would you want to do this???!!
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY
mysql> 'password' WITH GRANT OPTION;

# give reload+process access to all databases for admin@localhost
mysql> GRANT RELOAD,PROCESS ON *.* TO 'admin'@'localhost';

# give usage access to all databases for dummy@localhost:
mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'dummy'@'localhost';

# now, stop mysqld from running in "safe" mode
service mysqld stop
service mysqld start