Testing, testing, testing. IT pros have been checking out the new MySQL 5.0 open source database since its recent release its commercial parent, MySQL AB. Some of those IT pros put our resident MySQL expert, Mike Hillyer, to the test, too. In this tip, he answers users’ questions about the ins and o

(Jon Stephens and Chad Russell) One major enhancement that stored procedures and stored functions provide to you in your SQL programming is that they give you the ability to execute code in loops. MySQL 5.0 supports three looping constructs: LOOP , REPEAT , and WHILE . They are largely equivalent, a

(Stephen Shankland) In an illustration of just how rapidly change is sweeping the database market, MySQL Chief Executive Martin Mickos named Oracle as a partner of the year just minutes after effectively calling one of its products “crippleware.”

(Chad Perrin) Debates rage across the Internet about the comparative security of Microsoft Windows and Linux-based operating systems. Many people have vested and biased interests in their positions on the matter. Misconceptions born of incomplete knowledge and logical fallacies contribute to the con

(Robert Treat) Last week our “junior” dba did an unconstrained update (ie. no where clause) on a table in production. Rather than resorting to physical punishment, I figured I ought to fix the thing first. We don’t use PITR on this system, but luckily we do have nightly backups and the data in quest

Open source database developer MySQL has introduced MySQL Forge, a Web site and community directory designed to encourage MySQL users and developers to communicate, collaborate, and share MySQL code and applications.

(Giuseppe Maxia) You may know about the MySQL Cluster, which is a complex architecture to achieve high availability and performance. One of the advantages of MySQL Cluster is that each node is a peer to the others, whereas in a normal replicating system you have a master and many slaves, and applica

(Gavin Clarke) MySQL’s chief executive has cast himself as both friend and foe of closed-source database companies, criticizing partners and competitors for releasing “crippled” versions of existing database products.

(Jon Stephens and Chad Russell) It’s difficult to say which is the greater source of excitement surrounding MySQL 5.0—the arrival of stored procedures in MySQL, or the appearance of views. In this section, we’ll discuss both of these features in detail. We’ll define and explain the concepts behind b

(Keith Winston) The ubiquitous Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python (LAMP) combination powers many interactive Web sites and projects. It’s not at all unusual for demand to exceed the capacity of a single LAMP-powered server over time. You can take load off by moving your database to a second s