Note: Tested on FreeBSD 9

Step 1 – Install FreeBSD

1. First install FreeBSD. Instructions for installing FreeBSD is contained in this article.
   How I install FreeBSD 9?
   (Legacy) How I install FreeBSD?
2. Second update FreeBSD and install the ports tree. Instructions for this are in this article.
   What are the first commands I run after installing FreeBSD?

Step 2 – Installing MySQL

Install MySQL from Ports

1. Change to the directory of the mysql55-server port.

   # cd /usr/ports/databases/mysql55-server

2. Now install mysql55-server with ‘make install’.

   # make install

   MySQL 5.5 Server (and MySQL 5.5 client) will download, compile, and install automagically for you.

   Note: You may be wondering about the WITH_CHARSET option that used to exist. This is not necessary during compile and install and we will set the character set in a later step. Don’t start the MySQL service until we make these changes.

Installing MySQL from Packages

1. Install easily as a binary package with this simple command.

   pkg_add -r mysql55-server

Step 3 – Configure MySQL

Configuration of MySQL is done in the my.cnf file.

Example 1 – Configuring mysql to use UTF8

For this example, we will change our server to use UTF8.

1. Change to the /usr/local/etc/ directory. This is the default location for the my.cnf file.

   cd /usr/local/etc/

2. Add the following to the my.cnf file.

   #
   #
   #
    > /usr/local/etc/my.cnf echo '[mysqld]'
   >> /usr/local/etc/my.cnf echo character-set-server=utf8 
   >> /usr/local/etc/my.cnf echo collation-server=utf8_general_ci 
   

Note: FreeBSD has multiple example my.cnf files here: /usr/local/share/

• my-huge.cnf
• my-innodb-heavy-4G.cnf
• my-large.cnf
• my-medium.cnf
• my-small.cnf

Step 4 – Configure MySQL to start on boot

1. Add the following lines to the /etc/rc.conf file.

   #
   
   #
   echo # MySQL 5.5 Server >> /etc/rc.conf
   
   echo 'mysql_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
   

2. Now start your server.

   # /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server start

Step 5 – Secure your MySQL installation

MySQL documentation covers this and I’ll not repeat it here. Instead, go here:
2.2 Securing the Initial MySQL Accounts

Integration with Apache and PHP

If you want to integrate Apache and PHP see these articles.

• Installing an Apache + SSL on FreeBSD using the ports tree
• How to install PHP5 and PHP5 Extensions on FreeBSD?