MySQL

Don’t Assume – Transactions

MySQL by default is a NON transactional database. For the hobbyist (See The Hobbyist and the Professional ), startup entrepreneur and website developer this may not appear foreign, however to the seasoned Oracle DBA who has only used Oracle the concept is very foreign.

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Upcoming book – Expert PHP and MySQL

This month will see the release of the book Expert PHP and MySQL which I was a co-author of. Initially this will be available for purchase in PDF format from the Wrox website and I am hopeful this will be available in print format for the MySQL Users Conference .

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Don’t Assume – Common Terminology

In Oracle the default transaction isolation is READ_COMMITTED. In MySQL the default is REPEATABLE_READ. Because MySQL also has READ_COMMITTED I have seen in more then one production MySQL environment a transaction isolation of READ_COMMITTED.

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Don’t Assume – Session Scope

MySQL system variables and status variables have two scopes. These are GLOBAL and SESSION which are self explanatory. This is important to realize when altering system variables dynamically. The following example does not produce the expected results.

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Don’t Assume Series – MySQL for the Oracle DBA

As part of my MySQLCamp for the Oracle DBA series of talks to help the Oracle DBA understand, use and appreciate MySQL I have also developed a series of short interesting posts I have termed “Don’t Assume”.

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Edward Screven of Oracle to Answer Questions for future of MySQL

For those of you on the O’Reilly MySQL conference list you will no doubt see this email, but for readers here is the important bits. _ Oracle Executive Will Speak at O’Reilly MySQL Conference & Expo

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Ineffective concatenated indexes

In MySQL significant performance improvements can be achieved by the correct use of indexes. It is important to understand different MySQL index implementations and one key improvement on indexes defined on single columns is to use multiple column or more commonly known concatenated indexes.

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Getting started with Cassandra

With the motivation from today’s public news on Twitter’s move from MySQL to Cassandra , my own skills desire following in-depth discussions at last November’s Open SQL Camp to consider Cassandra and yesterday’s discussion with a new client on persistent key-value store products, today I download installed and configured for the first time.

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The correct approach to rolling MySQL logs

I say correct because there are several incorrect approaches to managing MySQL logs. In MySQL you have two important log files, the MySQL error log (configured with –log-error ) and the MySQL slow query log (configured with –log-slow-queries or –slow-query-log and –slow-query-log-file which is available from 5.

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What’s your MySQL version?

I’ve heard that the mechanic’s wife always has a car that needs repair or tuneup, the painter’s wife always had walls of peeling paint, you get the picture. What about MySQL DBA’s and their own databases?

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Migrating MySQL latin1 to utf8 – Character Set Options

Continuing on from preparation in our MySQL latin1 to utf8 migration let us first understand where MySQL uses character sets. MySQL defines the character set at 4 different levels for the structure of data.

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Checked your MySQL recovery process recently?

I sound like a broken record with every client when I talk to about the resilience of their production environments. It’s very simple in theory, however in practice many organizations fail.

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The Blue Pill or the Red Pill

At the recent FOSDEM 2010 event, I presented in my keynote Dolphins, now and beyond a option which I termed the “Blue Pill” or the “Red Pill”. The following slide produced noticed interest in a packed room, and subsequent conversation.

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Migrating MySQL latin1 to utf8 – Preparation

This article is Part 1 of a series of articles regarding MySQL character set conversion. Be sure to also check out character set options and the process for more information.

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