| If you're looking for a free or inexpensive database management system, several are available from which to choose: MySQL, PostgreSQL, one of the free-but-unsupported engines from commercial vendors, and so forth. When you compare MySQL with other database systems, think about what's most important to you: Performance, support, features (SQL conformance, extensions, and so forth), licensing conditions and restrictions, and price all are factors to take into account. Given these considerations, MySQL has many attractive features to offer: Speed. MySQL is fast. The developers contend that MySQL is about the fastest database you can get. You can investigate this claim by visiting http://www.mysql.com/benchmark.html, a performance-comparison page on the MySQL Web site. Ease of use. MySQL is a high-performance but relatively simple database system and is much less complex to set up and administer than larger systems. Query language support. MySQL understands SQL, the language of choice for all modern database systems. Capability. Many clients can connect to the server at the same time. Clients can use multiple databases simultaneously. You can access MySQL interactively using several interfaces that let you enter queries and view the results: command-line clients, Web browsers, or X Window System clients. In addition, a variety of programming interfaces are available for languages such as C, Perl, Java, PHP, and Python. You can also access MySQL using applications that support ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), a database communications protocol developed by Microsoft. Thus, you have the choice of using prepackaged client software or writing your own for custom applications. Connectivity and security. MySQL is fully networked, and databases can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet, so you can share your data with anyone, anywhere. But MySQL has access control so that people who shouldn't see your data can't. To provide additional security, MySQL now supports encrypted connections using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. Portability. MySQL runs on many varieties of UNIX, as well as on other non-UNIX systems, such as Windows and OS/2. MySQL runs on hardware from home PCs to high-end servers. Small size. MySQL has a modest distribution size, especially compared to the huge disk space footprint of certain commercial database systems. Availability and cost. MySQL is an Open Source project, freely available under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). This means that MySQL is free for most in-house uses. (If you want to sell MySQL or services that require it, that is a different situation and you should contact MySQL AB.) Open distribution. MySQL is easy to obtain; just use your Web browser. If you don't understand how something works or are curious about an algorithm, you can get the source code and poke around in it. If you don't like how something works, you can change it. If you think you've found a bug, report it; the developers listen. What about support? Good question a database isn't much use if you can't get help for it. Naturally, I'd like to think this book is all the assistance you'll ever need. But, realistically, you'll have questions that I never thought of or didn't have room to cover. You'll find that other resources are available and that MySQL has good support. MySQL is freely available, but you're not on your own when you install it: The MySQL Reference Manual is included in MySQL distributions and also is available online. The Reference Manual regularly receives good marks in the MySQL user community. This is important, because the value of a good product is diminished if no one can figure out how to use it. Training classes and technical support contracts are available from MySQL AB, for those who prefer or require formal arrangements. There is an active mailing list to which anyone may subscribe. The list has many helpful participants, including several MySQL developers. As a support resource, many people find this list sufficient for their purposes. The MySQL community, developers and non-developers alike, is very responsive. Answers to questions on the mailing list often arrive within minutes. When bugs are reported, the developers generally release a fix quickly, and fixes become available immediately over the Internet. Contrast this with the often-frustrating experience of navigating the Byzantine support channels of the big vendors. (You've been there? Me, too. I know which alternative I prefer when I have a question about a product. Being put on hold at a vendor's convenience has no appeal compared to being able to post a question to a mailing list and check for replies at my convenience.) MySQL is an ideal candidate for evaluation if you are in the database-selection process. You can try MySQL with no risk or financial commitment. Yet, if you get stuck, you can use the mailing list to get help. An evaluation costs some of your time, but that's true no matter what database system you're considering and it's a safe bet that your installation and setup time for MySQL will be less than for many other systems. |
