1. install MySQL database, *AND* make sure your can get
     it running and can interact with it via the "mysql"
     client.  On Red Hat Linux, the MySQL server package is
     separate from the MySQL client package - on the
     mysql server machine I usually install all the mysql
     packages there are.  For example, on my machine where
     I have MySQL up and running, I have these mysql packages
     installed:

        mysql-server-3.23.58-1.9
        mysql-devel-3.23.58-1.9
        mysql-3.23.58-1.9

     The 'mysql-3.23.58-1.9' package contains the MySQL client.

  2. make sure DBI is installed.
  3. install DBD::mysql