… You are full of shit.

I don’t know how effective your scare-mongering cash-extortion tactics are, but they don’t really help neither your users, nor vendors, nor anyone else.

It all starts when major vulnerability databases start authoritatively spouting out crap like this:

A vulnerability has been reported in MySQL, which can be exploited to compromise a vulnerable system.
The vulnerability is caused due to an unspecified error and can be exploited to cause a buffer overflow. (Secunia)

Or crap like this:

MySQL is prone to a buffer-overflow vulnerability because if fails to perform adequate boundary checks on user-supplied data.
An attacker can leverage this issue to execute arbitrary code within the context of the vulnerable application. Failed exploit attempts will result in a denial-of-service condition. ( …

Well, the answer I always get is "DROP". Then I would say... "what if you wanted to preserve your data?" It is very common for DBAs to think only in terms of what is obviously available in MySQL, ALTER, than all of the tools that are really there. I have been placed in situations in many companies where ALTER was just not the way to go.

Given the amount of MySQL usage throughout the WEB2.0/IT industry and the fact that data sets seem to keep growing... I have come up with a great solution to ALTERING large data sets. Please keep in mind that this is an old feature of MySQL and was a great "lightning speech" at the Percona conference in 04/08.

-- THE TABLE
mysql> use test;
mysql> show table status like 't1'\\\\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
Name: t1
Engine: InnoDB
Version: 10
Row_format: Compact
Rows: …

As a frequent traveler for my MySQL consulting (last 4 weeks were Sydney, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver), I like to keep abreast of any local tech event that includes MySQL that I may be able to attend.

Now there is a consolidated location that you can use, the Open Source Events Calendar. Kudos to the MySQL Community team members Lenz Grimmer and Giuseppe Maxia who have put this together.

We need your help. If you have a local event, please submit your event request. This projects needs the support of all.

You will also find valuable conference information including dates for close of proposals. A great tool for scheduling your upcoming conference year.

If you are having an issue with adding hosts/clients/users on revision 162 it’s because of the INSERT DELAYED sql command being used. Before I release a new version, please change the following lines in the file “system/application/models/mode_app.php” Incorrect code line 70: $sql0="INSERT DELAYED INTO server_list ( line 139: $sql0="INSERT DELAYED INTO `server_client` ( line 177: $sql0="INSERT DELAYED INTO `system_users` [...]

I have a talk scheduled tonight, for anyone who's in the Southern New Hampshire area (or greater Northern New England area): http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.gnhlug.announce/743

I'll be going over a number of things, time permitting:

* memcached (in general)
* NorthScale's memcached Amazon Machine Images and Virtual Appliance
* moxi - memcached proxy
* memcached Functions for MySQL

I'll run a couple demonstrations with each, first simple memcached usage, then using two memcached instances through moxi, then I'll throw in using them with the UDFs.

I intend to see if the Boston MySQL Users Group would be interested in this talk soon as well.

Update 16-Sep-09: Apparently, all this was true and you can find more details after the announcement that posted here.

OK. It’s not often that I make predictions these days but this was on my mind for a while so here we go. Mind you, I don’t have any confirmed insider information so it’s based on some assumptions, my perspective on Oracle-Sun acquisition and some vibes I can feel in the air.

The rumors are that Oracle Exadata v2 and Oracle Database Machine v2 are going to be announced within few weeks and my take is that it’s going to happen at the Oracle Open World. I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that it will be configured with Oracle Database 11g Release 2.

Moving on to …

Today's the day I fly to Los Angeles to teach a private training class, en route to Santa Clara/San Francisco for our public training workshops next week.

Our Montreal practice teach at Station-C went great - it was an opportunity to do a road test and iron out any kinks in the delivery.

What did I learn in the process?

• Solid examples provide context.  I didn't have the best SHOW GLOBAL STATUS data for the practice teach, but I've edited my slides and our official classes will have much better information.
• Operational issues are one of the most important things people want to hear more information on.  A fair number of students know that dropping an index is not as painless as it should be, but not everyone knows about tools like Flipper and MMM.  It's not the main focus of our InnoDB/XtraDB workshop, but we will cover how to solve these …

Installing Apache2 With PHP5 And MySQL Support On Debian Lenny (LAMP)

LAMP is short for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This tutorial shows how you can install an Apache2 webserver on a Debian Lenny server with PHP5 support (mod_php) and MySQL support.

MySQL Cluster is the name given to one or more MySQL Server processes, connected to an Ndb Cluster database. From the point of view of the MySQL Server processes, the Ndb Cluster is a Storage Engine, implementing transactional storage of tables containing rows. From the point of view of the Ndb Cluster database, the MySQL Server processes are API nodes, performing DDL and DML transactions on tables stored in the cluster. Both exist independently – Ndb Cluster can be used without attached MySQL Server processes, but almost all users of Ndb Cluster connect at least one MySQL Server for DDL and administration.

Ndb stands for Network DataBase. This is a telecoms phrase where Network usually refers to a fixed or wireless telephone network, rather than the …

An Oracle advertisement in the European edition of The Wall Street Journal commits to greater investments in Sun hardware and Solaris software, but has absolutely nothing to say about MySQL.