It may seem hard to believe, but I have seen DECIMAL(31,0) in action on a production server. Not just in one column, but in 15 columns just in the largest 4 tables of one schema. The column was being used to represent a integer primary or foreign key column.

In a representative production instance (one of a dozen plus distributed production database servers) the overall database footprint was decreased from ~10 GB to ~2 GB, a 78% saving. In total, 15 columns across just 4 tables were changed from DECIMAL(31,0) to INT UNSIGNED.

One single table > 5GB was reduced to under 1GB (a 81% saving). This being my record for any GB+ tables in my time working with the MySQL database.

Had this server for example had 4GB of RAM, and say 2.5GB allocated to the innodb_buffer_pool_size, this one change moved the system from requiring more consistent disk access (4x data to memory) to being able to store all data in memory. Tests showed …

I have several side projects when time permits and one is that of benchmarking various MySQL technologies (e.g. MySQL 5.0,5.1,5.4), variants (e.g. MariaDB, Drizzle) and storage engines (e.g. Tokutek, Innodb plugin) and even other products like Tokyo Cabinet which is gaining large implementations.

You have two options with benchmarks, the brute force approach such as Sysbench, TPC, sysbench, Juice Benchmark, iibench, mysqlslap, skyload. I prefer the realistic approach however these are always on client’s private data. What is first needed is better access to public data for benchmarks. I have compiled this list to date and I am seeking additional sources for reference.

• Feebase – Data is in clean loadable format
• IMDB – Not clean, but Roland Bouman is working on …

1. NASA Nebula Services/Platform Stack -- The NEBULA platform offers a turnkey Software-as-a-Service experience that can rapidly address the requirements of a large number of projects. However, each component of the NEBULA platform is also available individually; thus, NEBULA can also serve in Platform-as-a-Service or Infrastructure-as-a-Service capacities. Bundles RabbitMQ, Eucalyptus, LUSTRE storage, Fabric deployment, Varnish front-end, MySQL and more. (via Jim Stogdill)
2. …

This Thursday (July 2nd, 13:00 UTC), Roland Bouman will will take the Sakila sample database and explain how to design and load a data warehouse for it, and how to use that to create those reports and charts that make managers smile. Along the way, he'll explain often uttered terms and concepts such as dimensional model, denormalization, star schema, OLAP, data staging, business intelligence, ETL and data integration. Roland's session is titled Starring Sakila - A Data Warehouse Mini-Tutorial.

For MySQL University sessions, point your browser to this page. You need a browser with …

This Thursday (July 2nd, 13:00 UTC), Roland Bouman will will take the Sakila sample database and explain how to design and load a data warehouse for it, and how to use that to create those reports and charts that make managers smile. Along the way, he'll explain often uttered terms and concepts such as dimensional model, denormalization, star schema, OLAP, data staging, business intelligence, ETL and data integration. Roland's session is titled Starring Sakila - A Data Warehouse Mini-Tutorial.

For MySQL University sessions, point your browser to this page. You need a browser with …

ScienceLogic embeds MySQL in its EM7 network management appliances. An installation of EM7 can perform over half a billion database queries daily, storing massive amounts of data for both real-time and trended performance reporting.

Michael McFadden, senior software architect with ScienceLogic, will discuss all this in an upcoming MySQL webinar.

ScienceLogic embeds MySQL in its EM7 network management appliances. An installation of EM7 can perform over half a billion database queries daily, storing massive amounts of data for both real-time and trended performance reporting.

Michael McFadden, senior software architect with ScienceLogic, will discuss all this in an upcoming MySQL webinar.

ScienceLogic embeds MySQL in its EM7 network management appliances. An installation of EM7 can perform over half a billion database queries daily, storing massive amounts of data for both real-time and trended performance reporting.

Michael McFadden, senior software architect with ScienceLogic, will discuss all this in an upcoming MySQL webinar.

Sure, you've heard it before: [some company's logo] has a new MySQL backup tool that promises to solve all of your data recovery needs. The good news is most of these tools work pretty well. However, they tend to suffer from a similar set of limitations. Most require sophisticated infrastructures or complex setup and maintenance and can become a resource drain for some organizations. You're probably wondering, "Why can't someone build a fully automated MySQL backup solution that you can just turn on and forget?"

I am happy to say that the MySQL Developers at Sun are doing just that. In fact, a prototype will be demonstrated at the 2009 MySQL Users' Conference that will show the feasibility of a fully automated MySQL backup and recovery tool. It's being called the MySQL Time Machine and (with all due respect to all vendors with products of similar names) it allows you to recover your data using a datetime value. How cool is that? Even MySQL …

Sure, you've heard it before: [some company's logo] has a new MySQL backup tool that promises to solve all of your data recovery needs. The good news is most of these tools work pretty well. However, they tend to suffer from a similar set of limitations. Most require sophisticated infrastructures or complex setup and maintenance and can become a resource drain for some organizations. You're probably wondering, "Why can't someone build a fully automated MySQL backup solution that you can just turn on and forget?"

I am happy to say that the MySQL Developers at Sun are doing just that. In fact, a prototype will be demonstrated at the 2009 MySQL Users' Conference that will show the feasibility of a fully automated MySQL backup and recovery tool. It's being called the MySQL Time Machine and (with all due respect to all vendors with products of similar names) it allows you to recover your data using a datetime value. How cool is that? Even MySQL …