to generate a gpg key, run the following:

gpg --gen-key

when that completes, run

gpg --list-keys

for instance, to get the key information from my pub key, I run:

$ gpg --list-keys cjcollier@mysql.com
pub 1024D/6CC27EA8 2001-04-27
uid C.J. Collier
uid C.J. Collier
uid C.J. Collier
uid [jpeg image of size 9187]

After you generate it, you should publish your public key:

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --send-keys

mine looks like this:

$ gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --send-keys 6CC27EA8
gpg: sending key 6CC27EA8 to hkp server pgp.mit.edu

You can get my GnuPG key with the following command:

$ gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 6CC27EA8

Let me know what your ID is when you complete this. When I see you
next, I'll sign your …

Hello MaxDB users, administrators, hobbyists and community!

This, the third of our weekly articles on MaxDB, will cover the installation of the MaxDB server and associated tools. One of the features the team is most proud of is MaxDB's ease of installation and the speed with which it occurs. It's been estimated that a DBA with no prior knowledge of the system can complete a basic installation in less than 15 minutes. Please note that this does not include download time.

More here:
http://wiki.colliertech.org/index.php/MaxDB:Installation

I was sending an email to a co-worker today and noticed two funny spelling suggestions as replacements for MySQL tools I was writing about in the email. It prompted me to stick the entire list of MySQL tools into the email and see what else the spell checker comes up with. Here goes:

mysqldump - dumplings
mysqlhotcopy - photocopy
myisamcheck - checkmates
mysqlaccess - inaccessiblity
mysqladmin - maladministration
myisamlog - mythologist
mysqlimport - importantly
mysqlbug - mealybugs
mysqlmanager - managerially
mysqlshow - showgirls

Showgirls is pretty funny, but my favorite is the replacement for mysqladmin. Maladministration is defined as:

To administer or manage inefficiently or dishonestly. (dictionary.com)

I think this could be the framework for a great …

My web hosting company provide some great statistics for me to look at with relation to my site www.mysqldevelopment.com. It's been interesting watching visitor and hit numbers grow over the last year since the site went live. A year ago for the month of February we had just 251 visits, this year however we have had 3446 in February as of about 5 minutes ago, and there are still 6 days to go in the month.

But this figure is up drastically from January 2006 and late last year. Each month last year was better than the previous one but growth was steady and we peaked in terms of traffic in November when the site had a lot of activity due to the release of 5.0 and me winning the first week of the 5.0 challenge. But visitor numbers only reached 2847 for November and were around 2500 for the months either side.

So I was just wondering if this was something thats …

The www.MySQL.com web site has always had a lot of traffic, but as MySQL has become more popular we've seen a steady increase in the last year.  In particular, our number of page views and downloads has increased dramatically since the release of MySQL 5.0.  We get over a million page views per day and generally over 50,000 downloads per day.  A lot of the traffic goes to our developer zone http://dev.mysql.com where we have lots of technical articles, interviews, documentation, forums and of course, software downloads.   Our reach and page views per user have steadily increased as …

Bård’s proposal on Web Application Clustering with MySQL is now a scheduled part of the 2006 MySQL User Conference. He and I will be presenting the session together at the conference in Santa Clara on Wednesday, April 26 from 5:20pm - 6:05pm.

If you can’t get a discount to the registration fees for the MySQL UC, you are either waiting too long or not trying hard enough.

First off, there’s the $200 early registration discount that ends March 6, then there are the various other discounts:

So you've read about at least some of the many sessions that will be at the MySQL Users Conference, but want to see the grand picture? No worries, there is The Grid!

Yes it's big, there will be choices to make as an attendee. But I've tried to schedule things in such a way that if you have a specific job (like DBA), or have a specific area of interest, you can probably pick one session at any time that will be the most interesting for you - and often, multiple sessions for a particular target audience will be in the same room. For instance, many of the DBA sessions will be in Ballroom F.

You can also download an the grid in iCal format, see the link at the top of the grid page. There may still be some small changes, so do make sure you keep up-to date.

( …

A few years ago, I wrote an article entitled "The Foundation of Excellent Performance" (still available at http://www.tdan.com/i016fe03.htm) where I argued against the notion that SQL code was the number one contributor to performance in a database-driven system. Instead, I stated in the article that I firmly believed how good physical database design was far and away the leading component of superior database performance. In addition, I showed that Oracle's own research illustrated how poor design was the main culprit behind database downtime (planned or unplanned). In the years since then, I've not changed my stance and still think that any DBA who wants a high-performance database has got to invest in intelligent and savvy physical design to produce the kind of response times that make end users smile instead of scream.

Network World just published an excellent story on open source M&A, and whether commercialization of open source is harmful or helpful to open source software development. The best quotes in the article come from large enterprises that use open source:

Barry Strasnick, CIO, CitiStreet (and JBoss customer):

"I believe what will really determine the success or failure of commercial firms purchasing open source vendors is the extent to which they can keep the key developers. One of the main reasons that CitiStreet likes to deal with vendors such as JBoss is that our senior technical staff can deal with their technical staff, instead of having to deal with useless layers in between. We don't buy software because of fancy brochures or well-dressed sales staff. We buy software to gain benefit from great programmers.Could JBoss possibly …