MySQL ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user ‘root’@'localhost’ (using password: YES)

The other day I got this error on one of our servers. Fantastico module in cpanel was showing the error: Unable to connect to mysql database. While mysql service was running fine, the root user was unable to login to mysql database. I initially tried to reset the mysql root password like http://rhcelinuxguide.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/reset-mysql-root-password/ but that did not help. The real issue was permission on the folder /var/lib/mysql/mysql . It is supposed to be 711 , while it was 751. That fixed it.

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root@server1 [~]# mysql
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user ‘root’@'localhost’ (using password: YES)
root@server1 [~]#

root@server1 [/var/lib/mysql/mysql]# ls -lhd /var/lib/mysql
drwxr-x–x 179 mysql mysql 12K Aug 25 01:44 /var/lib/mysql/

root@server1 [/var/lib/mysql/mysql]# chmod 711 /var/lib/mysql/mysql

root@server1 [/var/lib/mysql/mysql]# ls -lhd /var/lib/mysql/mysql
drwx–x–x 2 mysql mysql 4.0K Aug 25 01:32 /var/lib/mysql/mysql/

root@server1 [/var/lib/mysql/mysql]# service mysql restart
Shutting down MySQL..

[ OK ]
Starting MySQL [ OK ]
root@server1 [/var/lib/mysql/mysql]# mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1
Server version: 5.0.51a-community MySQL Community Edition (GPL)Type ‘help;’ or ‘h’ for help. Type ‘c’ to clear the buffer.
mysql> quit

Cheers!!