MySQL Conference Roundup
This past week was the MySQL conference in case you missed it. Here's some of the stuff I found pretty interesting.
First, Jeremy Zawodny's new book High Performance MySQL has been published and is on Safari (if you have a subscription). Right off the bat it's very informative:
Many binary distributors of MySQL mold it to fit "their" layout. For example, the Debian distribution places the config files in /etc/mysql/, some language-specific files in /usr/share/mysql/, the executables directly into /usr/bin/, etc. It's not "the Debian way" to segregate an application's binaries; it incorporates them into the system as a whole. Likewise, in those places it does incorporate them, it does so in what may seem like an odd manner. For instance, you might expect config files to go directly into /etc/, but instead they get put in /etc/mysql/. It can be confusing if you're trying to find everything you need to modify, or if you're trying to later convert from one type of installation to the other.
The MySQL.com-supplied tarball binary packages, however, behave more like the source-compilation process. All the files - configuration files, libraries, executables, and the database files themselves - end up in a single directory tree, created specifically for the MySQL install. This is typically /usr/local/mysql, but it can be altered as needed at installation time. Because this behavior is much the same as a source-compiled installation, the available support from the MySQL community is much greater. It also makes things easier if you decide later to instead use a MySQL installation you compile from source.
Very cool - and it just gets better. I stupidly ordered it in hard-copy from O'Reilly thinking that with the 20% Safari discount I was getting a deal - turns out that Amazon.com has it for $5 cheaper with free shipping. Anyways, I should have it in a few days and I'm sure it'll be indispensable. Note to others: If you're the guy who insists, bitches and moans about moving to MySQL from another OSS database, be prepared to know everything about it when your organization actually does what you wanted. "Aren't you the one who wanted MySQL?" Yes, yes... that was me. ;-)
I was actually disappointed to hear that 4.1 won't be going beta until next month and won't be in production until Q4!!! I was told it was going to be production *a lot* sooner (as in this week). Urgh. As I'm using the spatial indexing stuff, and it'd be nice if it was more solid. And what about 5.0? I thought 4.1 was going to become 5.0 when launched? I'm confused.
Anyways, here's some great weblog posts from the conference that I thought were interesting.
- MySQL State of the Dolphin
- MySQL at Sabre
- LiveJournal's MySQL Backend
- Introduction to MySQL Cluster
- MySQL Replication and Clustering
- The Evolution of MySQL at Yahoo
- MySQL/Innodb Performance
- MySQL and PHP Best Practices
- Stored Procedures in MySQL
- MySQL Query Browser
- Database Design Workshop
Thanks to Anthony, Mike, Jeremy and others who took the time to go to the conference and write up such detailed reports!
-Russ