MySQL opensource DBMS: I'll take it!
Written: Oct 22 '00 (Updated Apr 27 '05)
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Pros: free, widely supported,
Cons: 5.03 still not production quality, but expect that to change quickly! setup options COMPLEX
The Bottom Line: MySQL has no cons. It's free, stable, well supported, relatively easy and powerful enough for a lot of applications.
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| platypus55's Full Review: MySQL |
This is a complete update of this original review. Here is the original review below, with bracketed sentences indicating the update.
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When deciding which DBMS to go with, there are a lot of considerations besides just how powerful and feature-packed it is, including:
how portable you need it to be
what environment you will use it in
how universally it is accepted
cost, obviously
One very good reason to go with mySQL is that it's free. Many good pieces of software have started out free--Stuffit, Eudora and Linux, just to name a few. The big name DBMS's cost thousands of dollars. This is a no-brainer.
I work primarily in a web environment. I use PHP as the API between mySQL and the end user. I can't speak for other environments, but for a web environment, mySQL is very well supported. There is also a C API and a Perl API for it if you are more comfortable developing in those. PHP4 is supposedly developing a set of database-independent wrappers, so if you have to use mySQL here and PostgreSQL there you can use the same program code. I'm looking forward to seeing that. [Update:] I have seen the future, and it is PEAR. I have developed a new web http://xamsrus.com using the PEAR wrappers, so in theory the database could be PostGreSQL. The PEAR packages are criticised sometimes for being over-engineered and a little unwieldy, but I'll take them. [Update to the Update:] The mysqli set of functions breaks backward compatibility in the hopes of gaining some performance. I hope PEAR quickly adapts. [End of Update to Update] [End of Update]
mySQL runs on a large number of platforms, even Windoze.
[Update:] The number of installations on Windoze in 2005 surpasses the number of Linux installations. That is good I guess. I like to see opensource running right on Bill's box, under his very nose. And for now, the Linux side is in no danger of being left in the dust. Heck MySQL even runs on Mac OSX!! [End of Update] That is quite a trick. I have not installed it myself because that is not my function in the organization, but I gather from reading the support list that it is not that difficult to install and configure. [Update:] Since writing this piece I have installed and upgraded mySQL, several times. It is a breeze, compared to some other installs I've done.[End of Update] I also find that it is reliable, and bugs are few.
By virtue of it's being open source software, mySQL is growing in acceptance. I have been very impressed in general with the major opensource projects. I don't think there would be any shortage of people who know, or are willing to invest the time to learn mySQL. [Update:] In 2005 there are numerous GUI based management tools for MySQL. I was just at the MySQL user conference April 2005. And now for the best news of all: MySQL AB is coming out with their own GUI management tools, and like all their software it's FREE FREE FREE! Did I just die and go to heaven or WHAT!! I was told by the team themselves that the GUI tools work seamlessly for version 4.1 and up, and that they will work with older versions but some options will be dimmed. Well, OK, the GUI tools are a little buggy, but keep the opensource faith, report your bugs, and they shall be fix-ed. I also found that ticketmaster runs quite a few (but not all) of their databases on mySQL. And I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that, since they have a pretty savvy IT staff, they don't even pay MySQL a nickel. That's pretty amazing, no?
[End of Update]
I'm no expert on speed issues. I've used mySQL (same version) on two [Update: EIGHT] different servers and one performed orders of magnitude better than the others (which was why we dumped the other.) So much of the perceived speed is a function of factors external to the DBMS software itself. We run a database of about 5000 clients and have not had any logjams yet, but of course one must always keep one's fingers crossed. [Update:] Well, all that changed too. I worked on a Bigboards site and performance was a big issue. In general, though, we had a lot more problems with PHP 4.3.10 and its well known issue with serialization than we ever had with mySQL. If I were a basketball coach I'd be a stickler for fundamentals, and I view computer science the same way. As long as you have a clue how the RDMS engine resolves queries and don't do some of the clueless ones (such as forget to index a big table, or have aggregate functions in the wrong place) you will be OK 99 percent of the time.
[End of Update]
The big things you don't get with mySQL are views, subselects, rollbacks, and triggers and stored procedures. [Update:] MySQL is aggressively going after Oracle. All of the above are part of release 5.0.3, plus in one of the 4 versions they introduced the InnoDB storage engine, which clusters and has row-level locks. [End Update] Subselects are supposed to be coming. There are a number of small things that you have to code around as well if you are used to using one of the legacy DBMS's such as ORACLE. But the mySQL team isn't sitting on its hands, and new little fixes come out regularly. [Update:] When I said the MySQL team isn't sitting on its hands in 2000, put that statement on steroids. MySQL is aggressively trying to give businesses no reason NOT to switch over to them. I only hope they don't spread out too thin and forget their original core constituency. [End Update]
You can somewhat simulate all of the above in your application code but it will be very nice when mySQL supports it directly. [Update:] It do. It do. And I love it![End update]
It is perfect for someone who wishes to teach him or herself database without going to college to learn it. An undercapitalized business can use mySQL as a stepping stone. Later on if your business demands it, you can upgrade to something more potent. [Update:] In 2005 it seems to me that enterprises with the most exacting needs, or dyed in the wool PostGRES holdouts (after all PostGRES excels at geometric types and it's FREE too) would have a reason NOT to switch. [End Update:]
Summary: MySQL started out as Monty Widemius's home brewed database. ORACLE has been 25 years in the cooking. MySQL is less than 10. No one pretends that a 10 year old is as mature as a 25 year old, but by age 10 MySQL shows lots of promise. MySQL set out to do the things that most people want, and is branching out to include more and more enterprise-critical features. When they have to assume less and rework from ground zero, they do it, with no apologies about backward compatibility. I offer this: Where was a yokel like me without access or means to get training ever going to learn anything that would translate to the real (read Oracle) world. But my bumblings with mySQL have enabled me to grok most RDBMS concepts and now, looking back, most of my queries would work fine in Oracle, and most of them in fact are near optimal--there's just a few that would benefit from some additional constraints or whatever that Oracle offers. For that opportunity I am truly grateful to the lads at MySQL for giving me that opportunity to learn.
The official mySQL website is (big surprise!!) http://www.mysql.com
Recommended:
Yes
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