To only slightly misquote one of the greatest movies of all times:

You keep using that option.  I do not think it means what you think it means.

Perhaps like many users, I had certain assumptions about what max_connect_errors really does – but in looking closely as part of investigating the new PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA.HOST_CACHE table in MySQL 5.6, I learned that some very fundamental elements had escaped my notice.  I’m writing this blog post to help others who hold similar misconceptions of what this option does.

Many, if not most, MySQL DBAs are familiar with “host blocked” errors:

C:\mysql-5.5.27-winx64>bin\mysql -utest_mce -P3307 -h192.168.2.8
ERROR 1129 (HY000): Host …

In a previous post, I described how to leverage PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA in MySQL 5.6 to identify connections which had not been properly closed by the client.  One possible cause of connections being closed without explicit request from the client is when another process issues a KILL CONNECTION command:

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'aborted_clients';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| Aborted_clients | 0     |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.02 sec)

mysql> KILL CONNECTION 3;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'aborted_clients';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| Aborted_clients | 1     |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

You …

MySQL Server has an aborted_connect status counter which will show you the number of failed attempts to establish a new connection.  The manual describes potential causes as follows:

• A client does not have privileges to connect to a database.
• A client uses an incorrect password.
• A connection packet does not contain the right information.
• It takes more than connect_timeout seconds to get a connect packet. See Section 5.1.4, “Server System Variables”.

It goes on to make the following statement:

If …

For those who missed the live event, the recording of the "How to Add Policy-Based Auditing to your MySQL Applications" webinar is now available.  You can view it here.

This presentation builds on my earlier blog post on MySQL Enterprise Audit that was announced at MySQL Connect in late September.  The web presentation expands on the introductory blog and covers:

• The regulatory problem to be solved (internal audit, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, others)
  
• MySQL Audit solutions for both Community and Enterprise users:
  • General Log - use the basic features of the MySQL server
    
  • MySQL 5.5 open audit API - or use your time and talent to build your own …

As a follow up to an earlier blog on the subject, please join us today at 0900 US PT to learn how to easily add policy-based auditing compliance to your existing MySQL applications.  This brief, informative session will provide an overview of the new MySQL Enterprise Audit plugin and will include a simple, practical step-by-step "how to" approach to get up and running with the new functionality.

You can learn more and secure your seat for the presentation here.

 Thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

This post shows the construction process of the Syslog Audit plugin that was presented at MySQL Connect 2012. It is based on an environment that has the appropriate development tools enabled including gcc,g++ and cmake. It also assumes you have downloaded the MySQL source code (5.5.16 or higher) and have compiled and installed the system into the /usr/local/mysql directory ready for use. 

The information provided below is designed to show the different components that make up a plugin, and specifically an audit type plugin, and how it comes together to be used within the MySQL service. The MySQL Reference Manual contains information regarding the plugin API and how it can be used, so please refer there for more detailed information. The code in this post is designed to …

I have released SQLStats 1.3 now, and it is available for download from sourceforge. The changes are small:

• Cleaned up the build script a bit.
• Fixed a bug that caused statements to be counted twice.
• Made statement comparison non case sensitive.
• A small fix to the normalizer, that would miss a few statements in some cases.

SQLStats is a plugin for MySQL 5.5 and up that allows live monitoring of SQL statements, without using the general query log and with the added benefit of managing statements with the literals removed. read more in my previous blog-post in the subject.

Enjoy!
/Karlsson

You may have read a previous post of mine, back in April this year, where I wrote about using the MySQL 5.5 Audit interface to SQL Statement monitoring. There was a bunch of comments and some ideas, but not much happened. Until now that is.

Hereby I release the first version of SQLStats, which is a much enhanced version of what I described in the previous post. This is a MySQL Plugin for MySQL 5.5 that allows you to monitor the most recently executed, and the most frequently executed statements using 2 INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables. The thing is not very complex, to be honest, but it does do the job. So what was the job then? Well, looking at what this plugin does, it goes something like this:

• Allows you to monitor ALL SQL statements executed by the server.
• The SQL statements are "normalized", …

This blog post was inspired by a recent report of a Database Analyst at American Express stealing Credit Card data.

It’s amazing how many companies still follow a mainly “perimeter security” approach when it comes to controlling access to sensitive information—their focus is on network security using firewalls, advanced authentication options, and so on. Even with such measures, it’s very common to setup strong barriers to the outside world but very little by way of internal limits; most internal people have some level of access to servers that store and process sensitive data.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with pre-screening your stuff, or having access to the sensitive information, or setting up advanced …

Yesterday, The Pythian Group issued a press release about my book, Pythian’s partnership with Sun, and our new “MySQL Adoption Accelerator Package”. I am not a marketing guru, but I can tell you what we the package means in terms of new work that the MySQL teams have been doing.

Basically, the MySQL Adoption Accelerator Package combines customized training with a comprehensive audit of systems. The name “Adoption Accelerator” makes it sound like it’s only for new applications that are almost ready to go live. What the program actually does is have us evaluate your systems, and intensively train you in the areas you want and need. The program is designed to suit all your needs, whether it’s teaching you about one topic (say, query optimization) or an entire range of topics, from Architecture to ZFS (special issues with running MySQL on ZFS, that is, but that did not fit a cute …