Updated
I have an entire section now devoted to various MySQL for the Oracle DBA Resources. You will find additional information here.
This week I presented two one day free seminars, “MySQL DBA Bootcamp for the Oracle DBA” in New York and San Francisco. Both were very successful days providing an opportunity to speak to seasoned enterprise professionals.
One question I was asked was “As an Oracle DBA, how can I become a MySQL DBA, what do I do, where do I start?”
Here are my references and recommendations that have zero cost to get started.
- Read the MySQL Documentation Reference Manual.
- Download MySQL install and use it.
- The MySQL Developer Zone is a great sources for articles, information and references.
- Planet MySQL is our official consolidated Blog Aggregator. Read it daily.
- The MySQL Forge is a detailed reference of MySQL related projects, code snippets, wiki and MySQL WorkLog. A look at what MySQL is doing in future versions, and what others like yourself would like to see in future versions.
- The MySQL Conference website has many papers from the recent 2007 Conference. You can also review the 2006 Conference Papers.
- MySQL has various Forums and Email Lists. We have a specific Oracle Forum to assist Oracle DBA’s and Developers with MySQL questions.
- MySQL also provides a large number of White Papers and Case Studies in it’s Why MySQL section. These are helpful to see how MySQL is being used today.
- Register at mysql.com, if you join a list, fill in download form or respond to a forum, your already registered, but if not you will get a regular newletter that provides helpful information, including events, webinars and training
- Sheeri Kritzer, the She-BA of MySQL and this years community award winner has an extensive list of resources on her website including podcasts and a long list of Audio & Video from the recent MySQL Conference.
For additional Oracle to MySQL specific references from recent conferences include 2006 – MySQL For Oracle DBA’s,
MySQL For Oracle Developers and 2007 – MySQL For Oracle DBA’s and Developers.
For your reference material, I would initially recommend the following books.
- “MySQL 5.0 Certification Guide” – which all attendees received for free.
- “MySQL Cookbook” by Paul DuBois, “MySQL” by the same Paul DuBois or “Pro MySQL” by Michael Kruckenberg and Jay Pipes.
- “MySQL Administrator’s Guide and Language Reference”. – This is just a printed copy of the MySQL Manual, however some people may appreciate this.
Following that, additional resources depending on your level of interest in development or internal workings etc would include.
- “MySQL Stored Procedure Programming” by Guy Harrison.
- “Understanding MySQL Internals” by Sasha Pachev.
MySQL Professional Services also provides training and certification for MySQL. With 9 different training courses held world wide, and 5 different certification courses there are various programs to suit DBA’s and Developers at different skill levels. For more information see MySQL Training and Certification.
Funny … why an Oracle DBA would like to learn MySQL?, heh :). A waste of time. Heck, views and stored procedures are still ‘a new thing’ on MySQL world. Pfffff.
Quite a few people that attended my presentations would disagree with your comment. There is a lot of demand for MySQL DBA positions as well as a need for experienced resources to know and have skills in multiple database products. Indeed most attendees indicated the requirement to support multiple RDBMS productions within their respective organizations.
Views and Stored Procedures were introduced into the MySQL product 3+ years ago, a little past new in my consideration.
Yay, you learn MySQL so your employer can become a top ten web site without blowing all the VC money on database licenses and high end hardware. The big names on the web are using MySQL because MySQL gets the job done inexpensively with good return on investment and that’s what business is about. If you don’t find MySQL exciting, negotiate a bonus package that gets you more money if you deliver a better and cheaper solution, then enjoy what you buy with the money instead.
James Day, First DBA, Wikipedia; Support Engineer, MySQL AB.
I attended Ronalds seminar and I did find it very useful. Our oraganization has been a MySQL shop for awhile but the DBA team was not responsible for the technology.
We recently became responsible due to the fact that things were not designed well and the expertise of a traditional DBA was needed versus that of a good developer with
mediocre database design ability. Going in to the seminar I did have alot of questions some biased others not. In the end I found that MySQL has a place in our organization
and we needed to respect that fact regardless of percieved maturity level.
The bottom line is regardless of what you have been working on as platform in the past, you must respect what is coming and being used. MySQL has benefits and some drawbacks,
but if you focus on the drawbacks and silo yourself, you may be going the way of the Sybase DBA. Ronald is biased in that he loves MySQL as I am in that I love Oracle. I went
to the seminar with a bias and returned out with an open mind, not because Ronald is a great sales guy ( Sorry Ronald), but because what was said made sense. Why spend money,
buying feature rich and costly system when you have a speedy functional solution in hand. While cost is a factor I believe, best use and practicality need to be also pointed
out. There is a good book out there called ‘Who Moved my Cheese’, I believe its message is applicable here for those of you who have read, if not read it and apply its thoughts to
this issue.
Thats my 2 cents, or maybe a nickel.
Cheers
David
I’m a MySQL DBA but interested in Oracle’s administration. Would you be so kind to write some recommendations or references in this case?