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Are you using MySQL 5.0 yet, or any of its features?

MySQL 5.1 is nearly GA (not debating that fun now ;-), MySQL 6.0 has interesting new magic such as Falcon and online backup. But I still have many clients that are on MySQL 4.0 or 4.1 both in production and development. Works fine, overall, but quite a few problems would be nonexistent if they were on 5.0, and by making use of some changed or new features various aspects could be faster.

The Open Query MySQL 5.0 Upgrade and Advanced Features course day is for this group of developers and DBAs, but also for users moving to MySQL and going straight for MySQL 5.0 (as they should, please don’t *start* with earlier versions!).

We delve into the differences and new features. This includes

  • Views — did you know they’re updatable, and have you considered using them for smart access control? (tables, columns, rows)
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA — users at my local MySQL group were initially not so excited about this, until I showed how it can be used to optimise your database! Several people have applied the techniques in their business deployments now, and reported excellent improvements.
  • Stored Procedures — not wanting to shift all your app into the db, that’s unwise; but you can use dynamic SQL and cursors (and infoschema) to perform some tasks more efficiently inside the server.
  • Stored Functions — MySQL has lots of built-in functions, but sometimes you just really need one that’s missing. You can build your own! UDFs are faster but require more effort and maintenance.
  • Making use of the fact that a VARCHAR can now be nearly 64k (in bytes, character length will depend on the character set) you can get rid of some text-type columns and thus reduce temp-disk-table usage (=speed).

MySQL 5.0 also fixes many bugs from the 4.x series; this is particularly relevant if you use features like replication. Even with MySQL 5.0’s less-than-perfect track record, it’s generally preferably over MySQL 4.1, and users can move from 4.0 straight to 5.0, provided some precautions are taken.

The course day costs $575 + GST which includes a suitable lab environment (Windows or Ubuntu, or you can even bring your own laptop!), lunch and morning and afternoon tea, and a most enjoyable as well as educational day. Like all other Open Query modules you can just sign up for this one day, if you want. It’s scheduled in various cities around Australia, and in Auckland New Zealand.

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1 thought on “Are you using MySQL 5.0 yet, or any of its features?

  1. […] to my post earlier today about the use of MySQL 5.0 and the Open Query course on upgrading and new features… I thought […]

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