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Updating MySQL on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to MySQL 5.6

The Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS release only provides MySQL 5.1 and MySQL 5.5 using the default Ubuntu package manager. Oracle (owners of the MySQL(tm)) now provide Debian/Ubuntu APT repositories for all GA and DMR versions of MySQL including supporting Ubuntu 12.

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Validating MySQL version numbers

As part of a MySQL 5.5 to MySQL 5.6 upgrade across several Ubuntu servers of varying distros an audit highlighted a trivial but interesting versioning identification error in Ubuntu’s packaging of MySQL.

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Dynamic recreation of InnoDB redo logs

MySQL 5.6 will now automatically recreate the InnoDB redo log files during a MySQL restart if the size (or number) of these logs changes, i.e. a change to innodb_log_file_size. See Changing the Number or Size of InnoDB Log Files which states “If InnoDB detects that the innodb_log_file_size differs from the redo log file size, it will write a log checkpoint, close and remove the old log files, create new log files at the requested size, and open the new log files.

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Translated books in Chinese

I have just received copies of my Effective MySQL series that are available in Chinese. The picture speaks more than words.

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SQL, ANSI Standards, PostgreSQL and MySQL

I have recently been working with the Donors Choose Open Data Set which happens to be in PostgreSQL. Easy enough to install and load the data in PostgreSQL, however as I live and breath MySQL, lets load the data into MySQL.

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Loops in shell scripting

If you are die hard Bourne Shell (/bin/sh) scripter, it can be a challenge not to be enticed by the syntax niceties of the Born Again Borne Shell (/bin/bash). One example is the `{.

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Understanding when EXPLAIN is not using an index as intended

When reading a MySQL Query Execution Plan (QEP) produced by the EXPLAIN command, generally one of the first observations is to validate an index is being used per table (i.e. per row of output).

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What is testing?

In software development this is a simple question. What is [the purpose of] testing? If asked to give a one sentence answer what would you say? I have asked this simple question of attendees at many presentations, and also to software developers I have worked with or consulted to.

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AWS cost saving tips – EBS Volumes

A trivial cost saving tip for checking if you are spending money in your AWS environment on unused resources. This is especially appropriate when using provisioned IOPS EBS volumes. $ ec2-describe-volumes | grep available VOLUME vol-44dff904 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T14:11:24+0000 standard VOLUME vol-62dff922 100 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T14:11:24+0000 io1 1000 VOLUME vol-15dff955 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T14:11:24+0000 standard VOLUME vol-80a88ec0 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T15:12:54+0000 standard VOLUME vol-ca82a48a 100 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T16:13:49+0000 standard VOLUME vol-5d79581d 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-01T18:27:01+0000 standard VOLUME vol-baf9dbfa 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-03T18:20:59+0000 standard VOLUME vol-53ffdd13 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-03T18:25:52+0000 standard VOLUME vol-ade7daed 8 snap-d86d0884 us-east-1b available 2014-08-13T20:10:46+0000 standard VOLUME vol-34e2df74 8 snap-065a2e52 us-east-1b available 2014-08-13T20:26:17+0000 standard VOLUME vol-cacef38a 100 snap-280ffb7f us-east-1b available 2014-08-13T21:19:18+0000 standard VOLUME vol-41350a01 8 snap-f23ccba5 us-east-1b available 2014-08-14T16:54:27+0000 standard VOLUME vol-51350a11 100 snap-fc3ccbab us-east-1b available 2014-08-14T16:54:27+0000 standard VOLUME vol-912f10d1 8 snap-96ee24c1 us-east-1b available 2014-08-14T17:15:06+0000 standard VOLUME vol-a82f10e8 100 snap-9dee24ca us-east-1b available 2014-08-14T17:15:06+0000 standard These are available and unused EBS volumes which you should consider deleting.

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MySQL Admin 101 for System Admins – key_buffer_size

As discussed in my presentation to NYLUG , I wanted to provide system administrations with some really quick analysis and performance fixes if you had limited knowledge of MySQL. One of the most important things with MySQL is to tune memory properly.

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Improving performance – A full stack problem

Improving the performance of a web system involves knowledge of how the entire technology stack operates and interacts. There are many simple and common tips that can provide immediate improvements for a website.

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Writing re-runable shell script

I recently started playing with [devstack][1] again (An all-in-on OpenStack developer setup). Last time was over 3 years ago because I remember a [pull request for a missing dependency][2] at the time.

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Popular Quotes by Ronald Bradford

If you have ever met me personally at a presentation, or during consulting, or have read some of my blogs, publications or books the following statements are things I have been known to say.

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Correctly setting your mysql prompt using sudo

If you run multiple MySQL environments on multiple servers it’s a good habit to set your MySQL prompt to double check which server you are on. however, using the MYSQL_PS1 environment variable I found this does not work under sudo (the normal way people run sudo).

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