25.7. Client Program Limitations

No administrative client program performs all possible administrative tasks. It's important to understand what a given program can do, but you should also know what it cannot do. For example:

• mysqladmin can create or drop databases, but it has no capabilities for creating or dropping individual tables or indexes. It can change passwords, but cannot create or delete user accounts. The mysql and MySQL Administrator programs can perform all of these operations.

• mysqlimport loads data files, so it can load data files produced by mysqldump. However, mysqldump also can produce SQL-format dump files containing INSERT statements, and mysqlimport cannot load those files. Thus, mysqlimport is only a partial complement to mysqldump. To process dump files containing SQL statements, use mysql instead. Instructions for both types of data-loading operations are given in Section 15.3.2, "Exporting Data with mysqldump," and Section 32.8.1, "Reloading mysqldump Output."

• With one exception, none of the client programs can start the server. Normally, you invoke the server directly or by using a startup script, or you can arrange to have the operating system invoke the server as part of its system startup procedure. Server startup procedures are discussed in Chapter 24, "Starting, Stopping, and Configuring MySQL."

  The exception occurs on Windows if the MySQL server is configured to run as a Windows service. In this case, if you run MySQL Administrator on the same machine, you can use it to start and stop the MySQL service.

• None of the clients discussed in this chapter can shut down the server except mysqladmin and MySQL Administrator. mysqladmin shuts down the server by using a special non-SQL capability of the client/server protocol. If you use an account that has the SHUTDOWN privilege, it can shut down local or remote servers. MySQL Administrator can shut down a local MySQL server on Windows if the server is configured to run as a Windows service.