Run multiple MySQL instances in Windows Which is a better way to install multiple instances of MySQL / MariaDB / etc on a single Windows box?


Manually setting different ports?
Docker?
Virtual Box?
Something else?  (Sandbox, mysql_multi, etc, seem to fail on Windows.)


Once they are installed, I intend to write a Perl script to iterate through the instances to get timings (etc) for comparison.  So, they need to be accessible in some manner from a single thread.

(I can figure out the settings, RAM, disk, etc; it's just the installs that I am looking for advice on.)
Easy, with MariaDB.

mysql_install_db.exe --service=service_name --datadir=datadir --port=port

Run this multiple times with  different parameters (service_name, datadir, port should b different for different instances). Start services with "net start " . 
This is supported official tool. Documentation is here https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb/mysql_install_dbexe/ . You do not need any mysql_multi, really :)