MySQL Should the connection shown in Workbench read “Local instance MySQL57” or “MySQL57”?

Question

Specific Question: In a 2-3 week process of learning MySQL and attempting to get a Python stock info scrapping program to feed data into a MySQL schema (database, table) I’m having serious difficulties with connections. Having been bitten by doing something wrong & having to re-install MySQL about 8 times now, I’m getting rightfully leery of just about everything in the installation process. Thus this question:

Is “Local instance MySQL” which shows up in the upper left corner of the first (black) MySQL Workbench screen the proper one to use to connect to the database?

As a follow-up,

What is the difference between the windows service MySQL57, the connection MySQL57, and Local instance MySQL57?

During the very painful process of trying to get MySQL up and running, I think I've gotten further when with a fresh installation the first screen reads “MySQL57” as opposed to “Local instance …”

My setup parameters are pretty vanilla with the exception that I’m putting the MySQL program on my D: drive as opposed to the C: drive (an SSD reserved for the operating sys).

System: Windows 8 64bit on a Xeon Ivy Bridge processor, large SSD’s, large HD’s, mucho RAM, dual X-fired video cards, ASUS Sabertooth MB (self-built a yr ago)

Software: MySQL 5.7, complete installation except for module for Visual Basic and Python3 (running 2.7). Attempting to use the above hardware as both a server & client.

Even though I did my first Fortran programming in 1964, and spent my career on Unix machines, please regard me as a newbie when it come to the jargon associated with databases and client/server communications.

Why am I asking this question? My “down the road question” will be about getting data from Python into the MySQL table, but “first things first” --- I would like to get a nice clean installation that I can trust.

By the way, I’ve thoroughly scoured this site and many others but have not found any answers that fit my requirements; they’re either for a non-Windows environment, too full of jargon for me to understand, or too simplistic to be useful.

TIA, Doug

Answer 1

Seems there's some confusion about certain terms. So let's have a look at each:

• MySQL is a server application that you can install and connect to via TCP/IP (on any platform), named pipes (on Windows) or sockets (on *nix like platforms). This server is totally independent and has no name or such for identification.
• A Windows service to run the MySQL server: this is just a helper to allow running the server when your machine starts up. A service is not strictly necessary to run a MySQL server but without it you would have to manually start/stop the server. You can create as many service entries for a server as you want, but usually it makes no sense to create more than one. Since there can be more than one server (each with an own service) on the box it is highly recommended to give the services speaking names (like MySQL57 for a 5.7 MySQL server, MySQL56 or a 5.6 server etc.).
• MySQL Workbench connections are entries that store parameters to connect to a MySQL server. They are not tied to a specific service in general (you can connect to a non-Windows server too), but might be associated with such a service if they are configured for a local server (on a Windows machine) and you want to be able to start/stop this server from within MySQL Workbench (see Administrator section). They use the service name to act on a particular service (you configure that in the Connection manager, System profile). On Windows MySQL Workbench attempts to find installed service (to help new users to get up and running quicker) when it is started and no connection is currently defined. It then automatically creates a connection for each service it found (it uses "mysql*" as pattern to search for services). You can retrigger this process by removing all connections and restart MySQL Workbench.

The created connnections (like the “Local instance MySQL”) appear as tile you can simply click to open that connection. Be aware that clicking on the rightmost 1/4 of the tile will open an information popup only, not open the connection as such.

Now to your question:

What is the difference between the windows service MySQL57, the connection MySQL57, and Local instance MySQL57?

I don't understand where you see a connection MySQL57. There's usually only a service MySQL57 and connection in MySQL Workbench to the server this service is for involved.

I'm also not sure why this is such a dreadful process for you. Especially for Windows a lot of effort has been put into an easy installation experience. The normal process should be like:

1. Download the MySQL Installer
2. Run the installer. Select a typical scenario from the presets or select the individual products you want to have installed, say, a MySQL server + MySQL Workbench.
3. The installer will download and install the selected components.
4. Configure your server (like giving it a proper service name, TCP/IP port etc.).
5. After finishing the installer you start MySQL Workbench and can immediately work with your new server (as described above MySQL Workbench picks up the service automatically).

Depending on your download speed this should be something like a 5 - 10 mins. process.

HTH

Answer 2

with due respect sir , windows service mysql is a service created by windows upon successful to help you start / stop mysql. You can use Local Instance Mysql57 without a glitch, as that is just a way of MySQL representing your local mysql instance in the workbench.