Learning MySQL as an Oracle DBA

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.