MySQL Newsletter January 2004

Highlights

• MySQL Administration Best Practices
  Database administration serves a number of important functions from improving the performance of your database to avoiding a disaster that would result in lost data or costly system downtime. This article will describe some of the fundamental tools and practices programmers, as well as DBAs and SysAdmins, can use with the powerful new MySQL Administrator tool to ensure a healthy database environment.

  To read the entire article visit: http://www.mysql.com/articles/mysql-administrator-best-practices.html (http://www.mysql.com/articles/mysql-administrator-best-practices.html)
  
   

• MySQL Users Conference Sneak Peak
  April 14-16, 2004
  Orlando, Florida

  The 2004 MySQL Users Conference and Expo will be host to many talented speakers delivering interesting and valuable tutorials, technical presentations and business presentations.
   

• Early-bird Registration for the MySQL Users Conference
  April 14-16, 2004
  Orlando, Florida

  Mark your calendars! Designed for both the MySQL developer and the corporate decision maker, this is the place to learn about the latest in MySQL technology, discover new business opportunities, take a pulse on industry direction and commune with like minds.

  You can register online at https://order.mysql.com/?sub=pg&pg_no=14
  
   

Products

• MySQL 5.0.0. ALPHA Has Been Released
  MySQL 5.0.0, a new version of the popular Open Source/Free Software Database Management System, has been released. It is now available in source and binary form for a number of platforms from our download pages at http://www.mysql.com/downloads/ (http://www.mysql.com/downloads/) and mirror sites.
   
• MySQL Connector/J 3.0.10 STABLE Has Been Released
  MySQL Connector/J 3.0.10, a new version of the Type-IV all-Java JDBC driver for MySQL has been released.

  It is now available in source and binary form from the Connector/J download pages at http://www.mysql.com/downloads/api-jdbc-stable.html (http://www.mysql.com/downloads/api-jdbc-stable.html) and mirror sites.
   

• The XQuark Project: Open Source Information Integration Components Based on XML and XQuery
  XQuark Fusion is a powerful information integration engine, based on XQuery, for querying in real-time multiple, heterogeneous and distributed data sources.
   

MySQL Tips & Hints

• How to Monitor MySQL's performance
  Here are some ideas, how you can monitor the database performance of your MySQL installation, before the MySQL Administrator is available. Monitoring is always an iterative and continuous process. You need to learn what patterns are OK for your database and what are the signs of slight problems or even dangerous situations.

  Below are the main items you can use to monitor your system:
  - mysqladmin extended (absolute values)
  - mysqladmin extended -i10 -r
  - mysqladmin processlist
  - mysql -e "show innodb status"
  - OS data. vmstat/iostat
  - MySQL error log
  - Innodb tablespace info.
   

• Stored Procedures in MySQL
  Did you notice that we added a new chapter in the online MySQL Reference Manual last month: "Chapter 18 Stored Procedures and Functions" http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Stored_Procedures.html (http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Stored_Procedures.html))? The new chapter has all the syntax descriptions and examples that you need to make stored procedures go once you have version 5.0.
   

Training

• Courses and Upcoming Dates of MySQL Training Being Held Worldwide
  MySQL AB is holding numerous training courses in the following countries: USA, Germany, Canada, France, UK, Australia, India and Sweden. Check out dates and locations at http://www.mysql.com/training/ (http://www.mysql.com/training/)
   

Partners' Corner

• 2003/2004 MySQL Partner of the Year Awards
  MySQL understands the value that MySQL business partners provide to the MySQL user community. At this year’s conference MySQL will recognize its most influential partners of 2003/2004. To nominate a partner, or nominate your own organization as a partner, visit: http://www.mysql.com/events/uc2004/partner-awards.html (http://www.mysql.com/events/uc2004/partner-awards.html)

  Nominations are open to technology partners, as well as service organizations that provide consulting or training services. Partners will be judged by the value and influence their product or service is delivering to MySQL users.
   

• MySQL and Zend Join Forces to Strengthen Open Source Web Development
  MySQL AB and Zend Technologies announced a partnership to simplify and improve productivity in developing and deploying Web applications with open source technologies. In a continued effort to provide customers with an overall solution, both Zend and MySQL are offering disounted products until end of March. Zend Studio and Zend Encoder can be purchased at a 15% discount directly from the MySQL AB Web site www.mysql.com and MySQL commercial licenses can be purchased at a 15% discount directly from Zend at www.zend.com.
   
• Emic Application Cluster Adds High Availability And Load Balancing To Xserve G5
  Emic Networks today announced that it will be adding support for Mac OS X to Emic's Application Cluster (EAC) products for Apache and MySQL servers. EAC application clustering products are designed to provide best price/performance cluster platform for horizontal scaling of web applications.
   
• Arkeia Server Backup Solution Offers Flexible Backup Solutions for Online MySQL™ Database Servers
  Arkeia, an international leader in enterprise backup solutions, announced at LinuxWorld Expo that its newly released Server Backup solution features a MySQL® plug-in for hot backup. Arkeia Server backup for Linux combined with the MySQL online backup plug-in is a solid backup solution that provides affordable protection for a MySQL database server. Packages are available for less than $500.