Start the MySQL server with an appropriate bind_address setting to permit it to accept IPv6 connections. For example, put the following lines in the server option file and restart the server:

[mysqld]
bind_address = *

Specifying * (or ::) as the value for bind_address permits both IPv4 and IPv6 connections on all server host IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces. If you want to bind the server to a specific list of addresses, you can do this as of MySQL 8.0.13 by specifying a comma-separated list of values for bind_address. This example specifies the local host addresses for both IPv4 and IPv6:

[mysqld]
bind_address = 127.0.0.1,::1

For more information, see the bind_address description in Section 7.1.8, “Server System Variables”.

As an administrator, connect to the server and create an account for a local user who can connect from the ::1 local IPv6 host address:

mysql> CREATE USER 'ipv6user'@'::1' IDENTIFIED BY 'ipv6pass';

For the permitted syntax of IPv6 addresses in account names, see Section 8.2.4, “Specifying Account Names”. In addition to the CREATE USER statement, you can issue GRANT statements that give specific privileges to the account, although that is not necessary for the remaining steps in this procedure.

Invoke the mysql client to connect to the server using the new account:

$> mysql -h ::1 -u ipv6user -pipv6pass

Try some simple statements that show connection information:

mysql> STATUS
...
Connection:   ::1 via TCP/IP
...

mysql> SELECT CURRENT_USER(), @@bind_address;
+----------------+----------------+
| CURRENT_USER() | @@bind_address |
+----------------+----------------+
| ipv6user@::1   | ::             |
+----------------+----------------+