I have a server running on rackspace.com, it been running for about a year (collecting data for a project) and no problems. Now it seems mysql froze (could not connect either through ssh command line, remote app (sequel pro) or web (pages using the db just froze).

I got a bit eager to fix this quick and rebooted the virtual server, running ubuntu 10.10. It is a small virtual LAMP server (10gig storage - I'm only using 1, 256mb ram -has not been a problem). Now after the reboot, I cannot get mysql to start again.

service mysql status
mysql stop/waiting

I believe this just means mysql is not running. How do I get this running again?

service mysql start
start: Job failed to start

No. Just typing 'mysql' gives:

mysql
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (111)

There is a .sock file in this folder, 'ls -l' gives: srwxrwxrwx 1 mysql mysql 0 2012-12-01 17:20 mysqld.sock

From googleing this for a while now, I see that many talk about the logfile and my.cnf.

Logs

Not sure witch ones I should look at. This log-file is empty: 'var/log/mysql/error.log', so is the 'var/log/mysql.err' and 'var/log/mysql.log'.

my.cnf

is located in '/etc/mysql' and looks like this. Can't see anything clearly wrong with it either.

#
# The MySQL database server configuration file.
#
# You can copy this to one of:
# - "/etc/mysql/my.cnf" to set global options,
# - "~/.my.cnf" to set user-specific options.
#
# One can use all long options that the program supports.
# Run program with --help to get a list of available options and with
# --print-defaults to see which it would actually understand and use.
#
# For explanations see
# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/server-system-variables.html

# This will be passed to all mysql clients
# It has been reported that passwords should be enclosed with ticks/quotes
# escpecially if they contain "#" chars...
# Remember to edit /etc/mysql/debian.cnf when changing the socket location.
[client]
port            = 3306
socket          = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

# Here is entries for some specific programs
# The following values assume you have at least 32M ram

# This was formally known as [safe_mysqld]. Both versions are currently parsed.
[mysqld_safe]
socket          = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
nice            = 0

[mysqld]
#
# * Basic Settings
#

#
# * IMPORTANT
#   If you make changes to these settings and your system uses apparmor, you may
#   also need to also adjust /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld.
#

user            = mysql
socket          = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port            = 3306
basedir         = /usr
datadir         = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir          = /tmp
skip-external-locking
#
# Instead of skip-networking the default is now to listen only on
# localhost which is more compatible and is not less secure.
bind-address            = 127.0.0.1
# 
# * Fine Tuning
#
key_buffer              = 16M
max_allowed_packet      = 16M
thread_stack            = 192K
thread_cache_size       = 8
# This replaces the startup script and checks MyISAM tables if needed
# the first time they are touched
myisam-recover         = BACKUP
#max_connections        = 100
#table_cache            = 64
#thread_concurrency     = 10
# 
# * Query Cache Configuration
#
query_cache_limit       = 1M
query_cache_size        = 16M
# 
# * Logging and Replication
#
# Both location gets rotated by the cronjob.
# Be aware that this log type is a performance killer.
# As of 5.1 you can enable the log at runtime!
#general_log_file        = /var/log/mysql/mysql.log
#general_log             = 1

log_error                = /var/log/mysql/error.log

# Here you can see queries with especially long duration
#log_slow_queries       = /var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log
#long_query_time = 2
#log-queries-not-using-indexes
#   
# The following can be used as easy to replay backup logs or for replication.
# note: if you are setting up a replication slave, see README.Debian about
#       other settings you may need to change.
#server-id              = 1
#log_bin                        = /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
expire_logs_days        = 10
max_binlog_size         = 100M
#binlog_do_db           = include_database_name
#binlog_ignore_db       = include_database_name
#
# * InnoDB
# 
# InnoDB is enabled by default with a 10MB datafile in /var/lib/mysql/.
# Read the manual for more InnoDB related options. There are many!
# 
# * Security Features
#
# Read the manual, too, if you want chroot!
# chroot = /var/lib/mysql/   
#
# For generating SSL certificates I recommend the OpenSSL GUI "tinyca".
# 
# ssl-ca=/etc/mysql/cacert.pem   
# ssl-cert=/etc/mysql/server-cert.pem
# ssl-key=/etc/mysql/server-key.pem



[mysqldump]
quick
quote-names
max_allowed_packet      = 16M

[mysql]
#no-auto-rehash # faster start of mysql but no tab completition

[isamchk]
key_buffer              = 16M

#
# * IMPORTANT: Additional settings that can override those from this file!
#   The files must end with '.cnf', otherwise they'll be ignored.
#
!includedir /etc/mysql/conf.d/

I need the data in the database (so i'd like to avoid reinstalling), and I need it back up running again. All hint, tips and solutions are welcomed and appreciated.