Setting Django up to use MySQL

To the very first please run the below commands to install python dependencies otherwise python runserver command will throw error.

sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev
sudo pip install MySQL-python

Then configure the settings.py file as defined by #Andy and at the last execute :

python manage.py runserver

Have fun..!!

As all said above, you can easily install xampp first from https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html
Then follow the instructions as:

1. Install and run xampp from http://www.unixmen.com/install-xampp-stack-ubuntu-14-04/, then start Apache Web Server and MySQL Database from the GUI.
2. You can configure your web server as you want but by default web server is at http://localhost:80 and database at port 3306, and PhpMyadmin at http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
3. From here you can see your databases and access them using very friendly GUI.
4. Create any database which you want to use on your Django Project.

5. Edit your settings.py file like:

   DATABASES = {
   'default': {
       'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
       'NAME': 'DB_NAME',
       'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
       'PORT': '3306',
       'USER': 'root',
       'PASSWORD': '',
   }}
   

6. Install the following packages in the virtualenv (if you’re using django on virtualenv, which is more preferred):

   sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

   pip install MySQL-python

7. That’s it!! you have configured Django with MySQL in a very easy way.

8. Now run your Django project:

   python manage.py migrate

   python manage.py runserver

Actually, there are many issues with different environments, python versions, so on. You might also need to install python dev files, so to ‘brute-force’ the installation I would run all of these:

sudo apt-get install python-dev python3-dev
sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev
pip install MySQL-python
pip install pymysql
pip install mysqlclient

You should be good to go with the accepted answer. And can remove the unnecessary packages if that’s important to you.

Andy’s answer helps but if you have concern on exposing your database password in your django setting, I suggest to follow django official configuration on mysql connection: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/databases/

Quoted here as:

# settings.py
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'OPTIONS': {
            'read_default_file': '/path/to/my.cnf',
        },
    }
}


# my.cnf
[client]
database = NAME
user = USER
password = PASSWORD
default-character-set = utf8

To replace ‘HOST’: ‘127.0.0.1’ in setting, simply add it in my.cnf:

# my.cnf
[client]
database = NAME
host = HOST NAME or IP
user = USER
password = PASSWORD
default-character-set = utf8

Another OPTION that is useful, is to set your storage engine for django, you might want it in your setting.py:

'OPTIONS': {
   'init_command': 'SET storage_engine=INNODB',
}

You must create a MySQL database first. Then go to settings.py file and edit the 'DATABASES' dictionary with your MySQL credentials:

DATABASES = {
 'default': {
 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
 'NAME': 'YOUR_DATABASE_NAME',
 'USER': 'YOUR_MYSQL_USER',
 'PASSWORD': 'YOUR_MYSQL_PASS',
 'HOST': 'localhost',   # Or an IP that your DB is hosted on
 'PORT': '3306',
 }
}

Here is a complete installation guide for setting up Django to use MySQL on a virtualenv:

http://codex.themedelta.com/how-to-install-django-with-mysql-in-a-virtualenv-on-linux/

Run these commands

sudo apt-get install python-dev python3-dev
sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev
pip install MySQL-python 
pip install pymysql
pip install mysqlclient

Then configure settings.py like

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'django_db',
        'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
        'PORT': '3306',
        'USER': 'root',
        'PASSWORD': '123456',
    }
}

Enjoy mysql connection

If you are using python3.x then Run below command

pip install mysqlclient

Then change setting.py like

DATABASES = {
'default': {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
    'NAME': 'DB',
     'USER': 'username',
    'PASSWORD': 'passwd',
  }
  }

settings.py

DATABASES = {
'default': {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
    'NAME': 'django',
    'USER': 'root',
    'PASSWORD': '*****',
    'HOST': '***.***.***.***',
    'PORT': '3306',
    'OPTIONS': {
        'autocommit': True,
    },
}

}

then:

python manage.py migrate

if success will generate theses tables:

auth_group
auth_group_permissions
auth_permission
auth_user
auth_user_groups
auth_user_user_permissions
django_admin_log
django_content_type
django_migrations
django_session

and u will can use mysql.

this is a showcase example ,test on Django version 1.11.5:
Django-pool-showcase

Follow the given steps in order to setup it up to use MySQL database:

1) Install MySQL Database Connector :

    sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

2) Install the mysqlclient library :

    pip install mysqlclient

3) Install MySQL server, with the following command :

    sudo apt-get install mysql-server

4) Create the Database :

    i) Verify that the MySQL service is running:

        systemctl status mysql.service

    ii) Log in with your MySQL credentials using the following command where -u is the flag for declaring your username and -p is the flag that tells MySQL that this user requires a password :  

        mysql -u db_user -p


    iii) CREATE DATABASE db_name;

    iv) Exit MySQL server, press CTRL + D.

5) Add the MySQL Database Connection to your Application:

    i) Navigate to the settings.py file and replace the current DATABASES lines with the following:

        # Database
        # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/#databases

        DATABASES = {
            'default': {
                'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
                'OPTIONS': {
                    'read_default_file': '/etc/mysql/my.cnf',
                },
            }
        }
        ...

    ii) Next, let’s edit the config file so that it has your MySQL credentials. Use vi as sudo to edit the file and add the following information:

        sudo vi /etc/mysql/my.cnf

        database = db_name
        user = db_user
        password = db_password
        default-character-set = utf8

6) Once the file has been edited, we need to restart MySQL for the changes to take effect :

    systemctl daemon-reload

    systemctl restart mysql

7) Test MySQL Connection to Application:

    python manage.py runserver your-server-ip:8000

1. Install mysqlclient

sudo pip3 install mysqlclient

if you get error:

Command “python setup.py egg_info” failed with error code 1 in
/tmp/pip-install-dbljg4tx/mysqlclient/

then:

 1. sudo apt install libmysqlclient-dev python-mysqldb

 2. sudo pip3 install mysqlclient

2. Modify settings.py

   DATABASES = {
       'default': {
           'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
           'NAME': 'website',
           'USER': 'root',
           'PASSWORD': '',
           'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
           'PORT': '3306',
           'OPTION': {'init_command':"SET sql_mode='STRICT_TRANS_TABLE',"},
       }
   }
   

python3 -m pip install mysql-connector
pip install mysqlclient

These commands helpful to settingup the mysql db in django without errors

This is a considerably old question but if anyone is working on any latest versions of python and django you can follow the following steps

Note - Versions
    Python version - 3.9.5
    Django version - 3.2.4
    MySQL server version - 5.7

After installing django, run the following command

pip install mysqlclient

In my IDE if I do pip list this is the list of Packages and Versions

Package     Version
----------- -------
asgiref     3.3.4
Django      3.2.4
mysqlclient 2.0.3
pip         21.1.2
pytz        2021.1
setuptools  57.0.0
sqlparse    0.4.1

Now, make sure you already have created the Database schema you are going to use.

In the settings.py file of your django project under DATABASES change

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
    }
}

to

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'DB_NAME',
        'USER': 'DB_USER',
        'PASSWORD': 'DB_PASSWORD',
        'HOST': 'localhost',   # Or an IP Address that your DB is hosted on
        'PORT': '3306',
    }
}

You should be able to run both

python manage.py makemigrations

and

python manage.py migrate