Category: MySQL Server

Running a WordPress on a Virtual private Server or dedicated server is not an easy as running a WordPress on shared hosting server. There are a few things need to install and configure. Basically you will need web server(Apache, Nginx or Lighttpd) and database server(MySQL). The most popular database for WordPress platform is MySQL. Installation of the MySQL is very easy, but most of the webmaster will facing difficulties on the configuration part. Therefore i have prepared the article that will cover configuring and securing your MySQL on Virtual private Server(VPS) or on dedicated server. MySQL database is actually the brain of your website or blog. It will store all the configuration information, the posts, comments, login information, user information and etc. This article assumed that you already installed the MySQL server on your VPS or dedicated server and then you may proceed to configure and harden it as below :

1. Run pre-install mysql script, mysql_secure_installation. This will do the following :

a) Set the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL root user without the proper authorization.
b) Remove anonymous users
c) Remove test database and access to it
d) Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from ‘localhost’. Disallow root login remotely if you want. However i prefer to disallow it later

[root@mysql-server ~]# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation




NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
      SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE!  PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!


In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user.  If you've just installed MySQL, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...

Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL
root user without the proper authorisation.

Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!


By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them.  This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother.  You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] y
 ... Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'.  This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] n
 ... skipping.

By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access.  This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] y
 - Dropping test database...
 ... Success!
 - Removing privileges on test database...
 ... Success!

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y
 ... Success!

Cleaning up...



All done!  If you've completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.

Thanks for using MySQL!

2. List of MySQL users, make sure all users have password :

mysql> SELECT User,Host,Password FROM mysql.user;
+---------------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+
| User          | Host        | Password                                  |
+---------------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+
| root          | localhost   | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| root          | mysql       | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| root          | 127.0.0.1   | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| wordpressuser | 192.168.0.5 | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
+---------------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

3. Set a strong password for the MySQL root account and also existing user account :

Existing user account :

mysql> select Host,User,Password from user;
+-------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Host        | User          | Password                                  |
+-------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
| localhost   | root          | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| mysql       | root          | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| 127.0.0.1   | root          | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
| 192.168.0.5 | wordpressuser | *2470C0C06DEE42FD1618BB99005ADCA2EC9D1E19 |
+-------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Set new strong password :

mysql> set password for 'root'@'localhost'=password('newstrongpassword');
mysql> set password for 'root'@'127.0.0.1'=password('newstrongpassword');
mysql> set password for 'wordpressuser'@'192.168.0.5'=password('newstrongpassword');

4. Make sure logging such as general_log, slow_query_log and log-error has been enabled in mysql :

[root@mysql-server ~]# vim /etc/my.cnf

[mysqld]
..
..
..
general_log_file=/var/log/mysql/mysqld.log
general_log=1
slow_query_log_file=/var/log/mysql/mysqld.slow.log
slow_query_log=1

[mysqld_safe]
log-error=/var/log/mysql/mysqld.error.log
...
..

Create folder for mysql log and change the folder owner to mysql:

[root@mysql-server ~]# chown -R mysql:mysql /var/log/mysql

Verify the logs :

[root@mysql-server ~]# ll /var/log/mysql
total 12
-rw-r----- 1 mysql mysql 3547 Apr  7 16:57 mysqld.error.log
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql  373 Apr  7 16:58 mysqld.log
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql  174 Apr  7 16:57 mysqld.slow.log

This Will help administrators to monitor critical events and helps in troubleshooting.

Reference : http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/server-logs.html

Once you have done above configuration, make sure yo restart the mysqld service :

[root@mysql-server ~]# service mysqld restart
Stopping mysqld:                                           [  OK  ]
Starting mysqld:                                           [  OK  ]

Note : This configuration and hardening practice is very basic, you can fine tune your database based on your expected security level and also you can implement host iptables, physical firewall protection and operating system hardening in order to protect the MySQL server. You may refer to “Securing and Hardening Linux Dedicated Server”