Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

Question

I just manually installed a new plugin on my WordPress site, created a table in MySQL for the plugin's entries, and when I try to open the page that uses the plugin, I receive this error:

DataTables warning (table id = 'to-do_list'): An error occurred while 
connecting to the database 'wordpress_clouse'. The error reported by the 
server was: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Can't connect to local MySQL server 
through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

This is the MySQL info listed in my config file (which I believe is correct):

"type" => "Mysql",
"user" => "root",
"pass" => "******",
"host" => "localhost",
"port" => "",
"db"   => "******"

This is the main contents of the /etc/my.cnf file:

# The following options will be passed to all MySQL clients
[client]
#port       = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

# The MySQL server
[mysqld]
#port       = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
log_error   = mysqld.err

skip-networking

I've looked at answers to similar errors but none of the solutions worked for me. Any help would be appreciated.

Solution 1

Here's what helped me solve this problem, which was that the actual file directory on my server was /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock, not /var/lib/mysqld/mysqld.sock:

1. Open your my.cnf file
2. Add the following to your [client] section (if you don't have a [client] section, then add it). It should look like this:

[client]

socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

The error should be gone. Many thanks to @alvits for pointing me in the right direction.

Solution 2

Encountered the same error and found it was because I haven't started the service yet.

Executed the command systemctl start mariadb and then connected to the MariaDB server using the command mysql and it worked.

Hope it helps

Comments

[deadly]

Useful answer, though you don't need to restart the mysql server as it's a client, not a server, setting that you're changing.

[Usama]

My site abnormally goes down, today and your answer saved me. but can you please tell me what could cause this. my site is on WordPress i am using amazon instance m4.xlarge. my site starts showing error "Error establishing a database connection". where should I look? thanks anyways. great help.

[Sai Pardhu]

If the DB is getting disconnected, I'm assuming the reason is that mariadb not starting on boot, try doing this "systemctl enable mariadb". hope that helps.