One note is to secure MySQL, I don't know for sure but I believe you could login to MySQL remotely with no password during this operation (I'm not sure, maybe it doesn't accept blank passwords but I firewall MySQL port anyway and recommend you do the same).
First edit /etc/my.cf
Under the [mysqld] field add the following line somewhere:
skip-grant-tables
Now restart mysql: service mysql restart or on Debian sty........