mysqldump cannot connect using socket - bash

Question

This issue has been racking my brain for a few hours. I have been trying to use mysqldump to dump a database, using:
mysqldump --protocol=socket -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock database`
However, I keep getting:
1045: Access denied for user 'root'#'localhost' (using password: NO) when trying to connect
I am on localhost and running under root (sudo su).
Root#localhost is allowed in the mysql user table.
I can use > mysql to view all of the databases, but mysqldump will not work.
I do not know the root password (system generated).
I have tried adding the socket to the my.conf like so and restarting the mysql server:
[mysqldump]
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Even though you are connecting via the socket, you must still give the user root
If root#localhost has no password then do this:
mysqldump -uroot --protocol=socket -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock database
If root#localhost has a password then do this:
mysqldump -uroot -p --protocol=socket -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock database
If running
mysql
lets you login with specifying -uroot, try not specifying the socket either
mysqldump database
I just noticed that the socket you specified for mysqldump is
[mysqldump]
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
You need to make sure the socket is defined under the [mysqld] section of my.cnf as well
If this does not exist
[mysqld]
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
then run this query
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'socket';
and make sure of the socket file's name and path.
You could have you System DBA add a custom user for you
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO tyler#localhost;
Then, you can run
mysqldump -utyler --protocol=socket -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock database
This is not secure. tyler should have a password. So, run this:
SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO tyler#localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'tylerspasssword';
then you can do
mysqldump -utyler -p --protocol=socket -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock database
Give it a Try !!!

Answer 2

I found the solution! The socket does not hold the credentials itself. They are stored in the /root/.my.cnf configuration file instead. Mine only had the username and password for the mysql command. I needed to add [mysqldump] to it as well. Here is what my /root/.my.cnf file looks like now:
[mysql]
user=root
pass=myawesomepass
[mysqldump]
user=root
pass=myawesomepass