MySQL is a popular relational database. Although the product is owned by Oracle, which offers several versions for purchase, it is an open source project and they offer a free "Community Edition.

There are several ways to install and start running MySQL.

You can download a copy from https://www.mysql.com/downloads/. The community edition offers install files for various platforms (an MSI file for Windows) that allows you install the database engine locally.

My preferred option is to install a database on Azure and store my data in the cloud. Because Azure offers MySQL as a service, I don't need to create a Virtual Machine or install the database engine anywhere. To create a MySQL service is Azure, navigate to the Azure portal and select Create a Resource | Databases | Azure Database for MySQL; then complete the blade that displays.

Whether using a cloud service or installing locally, you will be prompted to create an admin user and password. Remember these.

Once you have access to MySQL, you can use the command line to create and manage databases. On a local machine, open a command prompt; in Azure, you can click the "Cloud Shell" button at the top of the Azure portal.

To begin working with MySQL, you need to connect to the database engine with the following command:

mysql -h hostname -u username -p
  

where hostname is the name of the MySQL instance and username is the name of the admin user.

For example, if I have an Azure MySQL instance named "dgmysql" and a user named "dgiard", I would type the following:

mysql -h dgmysql.mysql.database.azure.com -u dgiard@dgmysql -p
  

When prompted, enter the appropriate password for the user.

The following commands are usfule for working with databases.

# Create a new database
CREATE DATABASE databasename;

# List all databases available
SHOW DATABASES;

# Switch to a specific database
USE publicspeaking;
  

Now you can start using standard SQL commands to work with database objects and data in the current database.

For example,

# Create a new database
CREATE DATABASE databasename;

# List all databases available
SHOW DATABASES;

# Switch to a specific database
USE publicspeaking;
  

For the most part, MySQL follows ANSI SQL syntax.

If you are familiar with another relational database, such as Microsoft SQL Server, working with MySQL will feel natural.