MySQL Developer News (2008)

Getting started with Bazaar for MySQL code

24 June 2008 — Since you're reading this, you probably know that Sun is switching to the Bazaar version control system for all development work on the MySQL server. Unlike the version control system that we've been using previously, Bazaar is an open source project and freely available to anyone. This means that it is now much easier to follow ongoing development, or even to participate in it! On the downside, just like our previous tool, Bazaar is not quite as straight-forward as traditional version control systems such as CVS or subversion. The aim of this article is to give an overview and a general idea of how to set up Bazaar, how to access the MySQL server source code repositories, and the basic commands for working with the source code.

Falcon storage engine in depth

18 June 2008 — MySQL/Sun released a new storage engine "Falcon" in January, 2007. Falcon is a high performance transactional (fully compliant with ACID) storage engine, which is beta at this time (June 2008). In this article, I describe Falcon's features and its architecture in detail.

"Telephony is just yet another Internet application." - MySQL talks with Juha Heinänen

23 May 2008 — During 2008 we are planning to run a series of interviews with interesting persons somehow related to the telecom field. In this first installment, we will have a chat with Juha Heinänen from Finland.

MySQL Workbench for Database Change Management

8 May 2008 — Managing database change is an incredibly important discipline that very few database professionals overtly talk or worry about until they're in the thick of things with a particular database - moving it from development to production, making changes to a newly installed production database, or implementing an updated version of the database (new tables, modifications to existing objects, etc.) in a SaaS application. It's at that point where change management becomes very important because if you don't do things right the first time, you can make a royal mess of things and even (in a small number of cases) reach the point of no return where you've completely torched your database.

Sun Introduces MySQL Tech Support for Amazon EC2

5 May 2008 — Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced two new offerings that will significantly expand customer choice by providing users with access to Sun's innovative open source software running on the Amazon Web Services platform. Sun has added premium technical support for its MySQL™ database running on Linux and on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to its global support and services offerings.

Sun Introduces MySQL Workbench

16 April 2008 — Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the availability of MySQL™ Workbench, a new visual database design tool that integrates data modeling, physical database design, database creation, change management and documentation capabilities into a single, seamless environment for MySQL developers and DBAs.

MySQL Workbench is available for download in two versions: an open source Community Edition and a (US) $99 commercial Standard Edition. Both are available now for Microsoft Windows, with future cross-platform support for Linux and Macintosh OS X under development.

MySQL Announces Annual Community, Partner & Application Awards

15 April 2008 — In a keynote presentation this morning at the MySQL Conference & Expo, Sun executives Rich Green and Marten Mickos announced the winners of the 2008 MySQL Community, Partner-of-the-Year and Application-of-the-Year Awards.

Sun Microsystems Announces MySQL 5.1

15 April 2008 — Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the pending general availability of MySQL™ 5.1, a new version of the world's most popular open source database, designed to improve performance and simplify management of large database applications. A near-final release candidate of the GPL software is available for download now at dev.mysql.com/downloads/.

A look at Falcon Diagnostic Tables

4 April 2008 — Performance tuning is one of the top disciplines (if not THE top discipline) that database professionals want to excel at. Being able to take a system that's running sluggish and turn it into one that's running as fast as a scalded dog is a talent that's part art and part science, but whatever the combination necessary to make it happen, there will always be strong demand for folks who are good at it.

How the MySQL Enterprise Upgrade Advisor Helps DBAs Avoid Being Bitten by Known Bugs

1 April 2008 — In an earlier article I described how MySQL Enterprise takes the guesswork out of deciding which version of the MySQL server customers should be running by providing alerts around regularly scheduled Monthly Rapid Update and Quarterly Service Pack releases of the Enterprise Server. Being of an old school "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset, I understand the conservative approach most DBAs take when deciding if a new release of any software is relevant to their environment. In fact, given the monthly frequency of Enterprise maintenance releases and the work involved with upgrading, I completely understand how recipients can begin to ignore Update Alerts (unless of course a known fix is on the way). Based on feedback from customers, MySQL colleagues, and my own field experience, I recognize that while notifications around the regular Enterprise Server drops is a good thing, upgrading an existing MySQL implementation is no small task and that a major part of removing guesswork around new releases involves helping those receiving notifications better understand how they are affected.

Why you want to be good at data modeling

27 March 2008 — To be really successful at working with databases, there are many different disciplines to become proficient in - things like disaster recovery, security management, data integration, and more. But there are less than a handful of things you want to be really good at; becoming super-skilled in them will help you enormously in your database career. And believe it or not, one of these key areas is data modeling and its kissing cousin, physical database design.

Sun Microsystems Announces Completion of MySQL Acquisition

26 February 2008 — SANTA CLARA, CALIF. — Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has completed the acquisition of MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. Sun also unveiled the immediate availability of MySQL's complete portfolio of products and enterprise services backed by its 17,000-strong global sales and services organization and its extensive international network of authorized distribution channels. Sun now provides a single, secure choice for customers and developers seeking to put MySQL into deployment on a global basis. Users can get started today with free downloads at dev.mysql.com/downloads.

Visionary Keynote Speakers Announced for MySQL Conference & Expo 2008

23 February 2008 — The sixth annual MySQL Conference & Expo, co-presented by MySQL AB and O'Reilly Media, is expected to bring together 2,000 open source and database users from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in the world, as well as from the large and active MySQL community. The conference will take place April 14-17, 2008, in Santa Clara, California.

MySQL AB CEO Marten Mickos and Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems, will kick off the conference with keynotes highlighting the strategic, technical and community synergies between the two companies and their pending merger. Tuesday's other keynote will be Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com, who will speak about distributed computing in the modern Internet era.

To register and learn about early registration discounts, please visit www.mysqlconf.com.

Reporting MySQL Internals with Information Schema plug-ins

21 February 2008 — Last week, I described how to use the MySQL plug-in API to write a minimal 'Hello world!' information schema plug-in. The main purpose of that plug-in is to illustrate the bare essentials of the MySQL information schema plug-in interface.

MySQL Information Schema Plugins: the best kept secret of MySQL 5.1

12 February 2008 — MySQL 5.1 offers an extremely useful feature called information_schema plugins. This feature allows dynamic runtime loading of a shared library into the MySQL server to implement a table in the information_schema database. The SQL standard (ISO/IEC 9075-11:2003) allows database implementations to extend the information_schema. MySQL 5.1 transfers the possibility to do this directly to privileged database users so they can extend the information_schema themselves, in any way they see fit.

A Q&A Session with Mårten Mickos, CEO of MySQL AB, about the Sun Acquisition

6 February 2008 — We got a chance to speak with Mårten Mickos, CEO of MySQL AB, about Sun's planned acquisition of MySQL, and we asked him some questions, that the community at large, might have.

Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Acquire MySQL

16 January 2008 — Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of the world’s fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today's announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source contributor.