MySQL service is grey under Server Admin

MySQLosx-serversnow leopard

We just made a fresh install of Mac OSX Server 10.6.7, but the MySQL service doesn't seem to work, which is strange as its a fresh install!

I open Server Admin, and under Services, the MySQL service has a grey circle. AFP, FTP and Web are all green. If I uncheck the MySQL box in Settings, it rechecks itself within a few seconds. Clicking on the MySQL service on the LHS yeilds:

**The service has encountered an error.**
Try to refresh the view (workwork/MySQL). (NIL_RESPONSE_ERR (*** -[NSCFDictionary setObject:forKey:]: attempt to insert nil value (key: startTime))) MySQL

(that popup appears twice, then)

**The service "MySQL" is unreachable**
Try to reconnect to workwork (a back-end component may be missing).

I can open Terminal, run mysql, and that opens a mysql prompt. I've also tried opening MySQL Workbench, "New Server Instance" under Server Administration, pick localhost, take the default values, and get a:

**Could not connect to MySQL server:**
Lost connection to MySQL server at 'reading initial communication packet', system error: 61
You may continue if the server is simply not running.

Again, this is a fresh install, so its very strange.

Best Answer

The plist which serverAdmin uses to store the status of the service is missing some keys.

take a look at /Library/Preferences/com.apple.MySQLService.plist

it should look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>activeDBPath</key>
    <string>/var/mysql</string>
    <key>selectedDBPath</key>
    <string>/var/mysql</string>
    <key>serviceRunning</key>
    <true/>
    <key>serviceStart</key>
    <date>2011-07-27T14:24:23Z</date>
</dict>
</plist>

Probably yours is missing the serviceStart key

I've had this happen before, though I don't know why.

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