MySQL

Migrating off of WordPress - A Simplified Stack

The ongoing drama between Wordpress v WP Engine continues to cross my reading list, but I have permanently removed WordPress from my website. I have finally transitioned away from the complex Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (LAMP) stack required for self-hosting WordPress on my professional website.

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WeSQL Introduction – MySQL running on S3

I recently became aware of WeSQL . A MySQL-compatible database that separates compute and storage, using S3 as the storage layer. The product uses a columnar format by default which is significantly more space-efficient than InnoDB.

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Managing SQL Drift: Ensuring Stability in Database Transitions

SQL drift is a significant challenge that occurs when SQL statements from an existing system produce unexpected results after migration to a new environment or system. These issues manifest in several critical ways: SQL statements may generate new execution errors, experience significant performance degradation, or yield differences in data integrity.

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Database testing for all version changes (including minor versions)

We know that SQL statement compatibility can change with major database version upgrades and that you should adequately test for them. But what about minor version upgrades? It is dangerous to assume that your existing SQL statements work with a minor update, especially when using an augmented version of an open-source database such as a cloud provider that may not be as transparent about all changes.

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Are you patching your AWS RDS MySQL 5.7 EOL databases?

Recently, I noticed a second AWS RDS MySQL 5.7 version available 5.7.44-rds.20240408. Curious what this was as 5.7.44 is the only RDS 5.7.x EOL version available, I launched an instance to discount this as errant metadata.

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The curse of MySQL warnings

MySQL warnings are an anti-pattern when it comes to maintaining data integrity. When the information retrieved from a database does not match what was entered, and this is not identified immediately, this can be permanently lost.

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Digital Tech Trek Digest [#Issue 2024.10]

Google advances with vector search in MySQL, leapfrogging Oracle in LLM support As the title states, GCP is the first MySQL-managed service to offer “vector” support. Clearly the buzz-word of 2024 along with RAG, genAI and LLM is so 2023.

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Digital Tech Trek Digest [#Issue 2024.06]

MySQL Belgian Days 2024 and FOSDEM 2024 In this past week, I’ve been able not just to read or watch digital content online but to meet people in person. In Brussels, first at the MySQL Belgian Days 2024 event, followed by FOSDEM 2024 .

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Mastering MySQL 5.7 EOL migrations

In a recent podcast on Mastering EOL Migrations: Lessons learned from MySQL 5.7 to 8.0 I discuss with my colleague Adam North not only the technical issues that become a major migration but also key business and management requirements with having a well-articulated strategy that covers:

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Data Masking 101

I continue to dig up and share this simple approach for production data masking via SQL to create testing data sets. Time to codify it into a post. Rather than generating a set of names and data from tools such as Mockaroo , it is more practical to use actual data for a variety of testing reasons.

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AWS RDS Aurora wish list

I’ve had this list on a post-it note on my monitor for all of 2022. I figured it was time to write it down, and reuse the space. In summary, AWS suffers from the same problem that almost every other product does.

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SELECT 1

If you have worked with an RDBMS for some time, you will likely have come across the statement SELECT 1. However, rarely is it correctly explained to engineers what the origin of SELECT 1 is, and why it’s useless and wasteful?

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What does the MySQL mysqlsh util.checkForServerUpgrade() execute

During a recent Aurora MySQL 8 upgrade process, a number of validation checks have failed. This is an analysis of the error message “present in INFORMATION_SCHEMA’s INNODB_SYS_TABLES table but missing from TABLES table”.

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Upgrading to AWS Aurora MySQL 8

With Aurora MySQL 8 now generally available to all, you may want to consider the plan for an upgrade path if you would like to take advantage of the new features for your application, for example, Common Table Expressions (CTE).

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