How to specify that MySQL only listens for a specific address

In the mysqld section of my.cnf, add bind-address=127.0.0.1. You can make MySQL listen to only a specific address.

Q: How can I specify that MySQL only listens to a specific address?

A: A more common approach is to add bind-address=127.0.0.1 to the mysqld section of MY.CNF. But some people follow the same approach.

For data security, consider keeping MySQL only on 127.0.0.1, so you can't access the database directly from the Internet. To modify the/etc/init.d/mysql file, locate the line similar to the following in the start section:

$bindir/mysqld_safe--datadir= $datadir

--pid-file= $pid _file &

Modified into:

$bindir/mysqld_safe--datadir= $datadir

--pid-file= $pid _file--bind-address=127.0.0.1 &

Restart MySQL:

/etc/init.d/mysql restart

Finally Netstat-l confirm:

TCP 0 0 Localhost:mysql *:* LISTEN