Although Windows is the main platform to consider when it comes to database development and management, what if you have a Mac and would like to start your endeavors from there? Well, challenge accepted. Here is the guide that will help you set up a MySQL environment on macOS.
You have two options: you can either download MySQL from the official website or use Terminal. You will find guides to both of these options below. In order to begin, you should have macOS 11 or later on your machine, and you need to install MySQL 8.0 or later to ensure full compatibility. Other than that, there are no specific prerequisites.
You can download MySQL for Mac from the official MySQL website. Since there are many options, the following guide might come in handy and help you find what you need faster.
After MySQL is downloaded, you can proceed to the installation process.
You can also use the Homebrew package manager to install MySQL on your Mac from Terminal.
1. If you haven't previously installed Homebrew on your Mac, open Terminal and execute the following command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
After this command is executed, you will have commands such as brew install, brew upgrade, and brew uninstall available from Terminal.
3. The installation will take a while. After it's finished, you can start your MySQL server with the following command:
brew services start mysql
2. And so, in order to install MySQL, you need to run the following command:
brew install mysql
4. To secure your MySQL with a root password, run the following:
mysql_secure_installation
MySQL can be further configured from Terminal. For instance, it allows you to manage users. To create a new database user from Terminal and grant all privileges on all databases, enter the following command, replace "username" with the user you want to create, and replace "password" with the user's password.
CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'username'@'localhost';
You may also need to grant specific permissions. For instance, use the following command to explicitly grant the SELECT permission to the user.
GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO 'username'@'localhost'
If you want to narrow down user access to a specific database, enter the following command and replace "database" with the name of your database.
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database.* TO 'username'@'localhost';
To enable remote access to MySQL, we suggest creating a user with access from a specific IP address ('username'@'192.168.1.100') or from any host ('username'@'%').
Like we said previously, you can start MySQL in Terminal by running brew services start mysql. Similarly, you can stop MySQL by running brew services stop mysql and restart it via brew services restart mysql. Alternatively, you can easily start and stop MySQL server instances on your Mac from System Preferences > MySQL.
There, you can also choose whether you want to run the server automatically on startup, click Initialize Database to configure your default MySQL database, or go to the Configuration tab to select the configuration file (if required) and specify paths to base, data, and plugin directories, as well as paths to the keyring data file, PID file, and error log.
The easiest way to update your MySQL is to run brew upgrade mysql in Terminal.
Note that in this case, a manual update is far less convenient - it means that you will have to uninstall your current MySQL and then install a new version from scratch.
The most productive and convenient way to manage MySQL databases is to use a specialized IDE. The most common choice is MySQL Workbench. But if you need to cover a wider range of tasks, you can try a more sophisticated solution like dbForge Studio for MySQL, which is designed to cover and streamline your routine database development and management.
With dbForge Studio, you can design databases and develop them, copy databases for migration, manage users, compare and synchronize databases, analyze table data, and much more. You can run the Studio on your Mac via CrossOver, a commercial compatibility solution that allows Windows software to run on macOS and Linux. To learn how to do it, refer to our product documentation.
dbForge Studio for MySQL provides you with an exhaustive set of tools to speed up your SQL development.
Designing databases for a new project or altering your existing database structures has never been easier. dbForge Studio has everything it takes to help you keep up with the growth of your database-centered software and the ever-evolving requirements for data storage and management.
dbForge Studio for MySQL helps you ensure the integrity, security, and accessibility of your data. You get it with an inclusive set of features aimed at storing, organizing, editing, and migrating datasets of any size with next to no effort.
dbForge Studio makes you just as fluent in managing, migrating, and deploying your entire MySQL and MariaDB databases in different environments. Streamlining database operations is one of the most vital steps towards easy optimization and scaling of your entire product development.
Your routine database administration becomes an extremely easy task with the Studio at hand. Its variegated toolset provides you with full control over server configuration and performance tuning, session monitoring, service management, and table maintenance.
The Studio will help you aggregate any amounts of data and scrutinize it to identify possible trends, patterns, and anomalies. Thus you can get actionable insights that can be translated into compelling data reports.
Last but not least, a huge bulk of the Studio's functionality offers extensive automation options. Using the standard command-line interface, you can easily automate recurring database operations to save your precious time and sharpen your focus on things that require your attention the most.
Although dbForge Studio is a Windows-native application, you can easily install and run it on your Mac using CrossOver, a high-end compatibility solution by CodeWeavers. In this video, you will see the entire process, from downloading CrossOver to installing the Studio into a CrossOver bottle, running it, and using Terminal to automate recurring database operations.
Now what if you need to migrate a database from your Windows or Linux machine to a Mac? The Studio has a few tricks up its sleeve to cover various scenarios. Whether you're migrating a local database from a Windows machine to a Mac or even transferring databases to different servers, we're sure one of the following ways will be a perfect fit for the job.
Data export and import cover 14 most popular data formats. They work well in case you want to export your tables or databases to files that you must import into a new database on another machine, for instance. You can use exported files as backups just as well.
Schema Compare and Data Compare have two key purposes: they help identify differences and synchronize MySQL schemas and table data, respectively. Out of the two, it is synchronization that can help you migrate a database to a different environment. As usual, the process is easy, and an intuitive wizard will aid you.
Copy Databases is yet another feature that will help you migrate a MySQL database to a new server.
To learn more, refer to Best Way to Copy MySQL Databases.
It is no less important to make sure that your MySQL databases are properly protected from things like unauthorized access and data loss. This is where you can also rely on the integrated tools of dbForge Studio, which include SSH/SSL connections, user and permission management, a log of executed queries (called Query History), as well as backup and recovery of entire databases or selected objects.
Database backups are invaluable for ensuring the safety of your data in emergency cases. To create a backup, do the following.
Query History is your perfect assistant when it comes to tracking the history of executed queries. To access it, go to the View menu > Other Windows > Query History.
From the toolbar, you can conveniently find queries by text, select to display executed queries from a required period, export your history to a CSV file, and clear the entire history right away.
Security Manager will help you set up users and permissions in the most flexible way. To access it, go to the Database menu > Security Manager. With its help, you will be able to perform the following actions.
In Terminal, you can easily uninstall MySQL by running brew uninstall mysql
Alternatively, you can uninstall the required MySQL server instance on your Mac from System Preferences > MySQL.
To install MySQL on a Mac using Terminal, you can use Homebrew, a popular package manager for macOS. Here is how you can do it.
1. If you don't have Homebrew installed on your Mac, open Terminal and run the following command.
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
2. Next, install MySQL via Homebrew:
brew install mysql
3. After the installation, you can start your MySQL server using the following command.
brew services start mysql
To add MySQL to your PATH on a Mac, you'll need to modify your shell configuration file.
1. In Terminal, find the MySQL binary path with the following command.
which mysql
2. Depending on the shell your Mac is using, edit ~/.zshrc (for Zsh) or ~/.bash_profile (for Bash) to add MySQL's path. You can do it with the nano editor. This is what it looks like for Zsh.
nano ~/.zshrc
For Bash, the command is as follows.
nano ~/.bash_profile
3. In the configuration file, add the following line (replace the path with the correct one based on the result from which mysql).
export PATH="/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH"
4. After saving and closing the file (CTRL+X, then Y to confirm and Enter to save), apply the changes with a command. For Zsh, it is as follows.
source ~/.zshrc
For Bash, use the following command.
source ~/.bash_profile
5. To verify that MySQL has been added to your PATH, run the following command.
mysql --version
This should return the version of MySQL installed on your Mac, confirming that it's now accessible from any directory in Terminal.
brew install mysql from Terminal. MySQL will be installed on your Mac.
dbForge Studio for MySQL, available on macOS via compatibility solutions like CrossOver, will provide you with virtually everything you need to manage MySQL databases.
To explore all of these features, you can download dbForge Studio for a free 30-day trial.
You can import and export individual tables or entire databases using the integrated data import and export functionality of the Studio. It supports up to 14 data formats and provides a comprehensive wizard with flexible settings for each format.
Alternatively, you can always migrate MySQL schemas and data to a different environment using the Studio's integrated tools called Schema Compare and Data Compare, respectively. With their help, you can synchronize a selected source database to a selected target database in just a few clicks.