What is a SERVER file? A SERVER file contains a script used by MySQL to automate one or more processes. It stores instructions for performing various functions, such as starting, stopping, or restarting the MySQL daemon , managing multiple MySQL servers, and retrieving a status report for one or more servers. SERVER files are saved in a plain text format.

More Information A common SERVER file is mysql.server , which is a script included with MySQL distributions on Unix and Unix-like systems. The mysql.server script can be found in the the same directory where MySQL is installed, which is /​usr/​share/​mysql/​ on a Unix system or /​etc/​init.d in macOS. The mysql.server script is used to start and stop a MySQL server. Another common SERVER file is mysqld_multi.server , which is typically located in /​etc/​init.d in macOS. The script can be used to start, stop, or obtain a status report from one or more MySQL servers. NOTE: MySQL is a popular open source relational database management system (RDBMS) that is commonly used on web servers and in open source and commercial software applications.