diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/bootstrap.rb b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/bootstrap.rb
index 3e6c61017..0458df3fa 100644
--- a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/bootstrap.rb
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/bootstrap.rb
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@ end
 execute "rvm deps" do
   command "yum install -y bzip2"
 end
-execute "install mysql" do
-  command "yum install -y mysql mysql-server mysql-devel"
-end
 
 def harden_ruby(ruby_string)
   Dir.glob("/usr/local/rvm/wrappers/#{ruby_string}/*").each do |file|
diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
index f23ed9ac6..f5455876a 100644
--- a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ end
 harden_ruby("ree-1.8.7-2010.02")
 
 include_recipe "centos::image_magick"
+include_recipe "centos::mysql"
 include_recipe "common::main"
 include_recipe "centos::nginx"
 include_recipe "centos::redis"
diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mysql.rb b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mysql.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..184f4932e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mysql.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+execute "install mysql" do
+  command "yum install -y mysql mysql-server mysql-devel"
+end
+
+execute "start mysql service to create the system tables" do
+  command "service mysqld start"
+end
+
+execute "stop service again" do
+  command "service mysqld stop"
+end