The  MariaDB Foundation announcement spawned some interesting commentary about the state of open source databases.  One recent headline cited the "beleaguered MySQL community." Beleaguered is a delightful adjective.  The OED tells us that it means beset, invested, or besieged.  Much as I like the word, I do not think it is an accurate or useful description of the MySQL community.  This article and others like it miss the point of what is happening to MySQL and its users.

Let's start by disproving that the notion that the MySQL community is beleaguered.  I don't …

It's the end of the year and, before the world ends ;-) , I feel the pressure to follow up on last year's article "2011, a great year for MySQL in Review". I'll adopt a similar format and mention things in context, covering products, marketing, momentum, etc. at a high level. I may have missed something and I hope my colleagues will contribute to the list.

I really do think it's been the best year for MySQL so far... well, at least since when I signed my contract with MySQL AB at the end of 2007. We're just at the beginning of our journey and I wish to the MySQL family, to our community and ecosystem an even better 2013!

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If you are reading this, it means that world moves on and somebody somewhere was wrong in predicting the end of it. The ageless Log Buffer Edition presents you yet again some cool blog posts just before the holiday season to top up your excitement. This Log Buffer #300 is as sweet as the holidays...

Learn about the MySQL Server and other MySQL products by taking the authentic MySQL for Beginners course. This course covers all the basics from MySQL download and installation, to relational database concepts and database design. This course is your first step to becoming a MySQL administrator.

You can take this course through one of the following delivery types:

• Training-on-Demand: Start the class from your desk, at your base and within 24 hrs of registering. Read Ben Krug on Day 3 of his experience taking the MySQL for Beginners course Training-on-Demand option.
• Live-Virtual Class: Attend this live class from your own office - no travel …

Screenings, shows, premieres and parties. Where the stars have been spotted this week? No not on the red carpet in LA, but in this Log Buffer Edition. In Log Buffer #299, stars of Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL are twinkling. Get mesmerized!!! Oracle: Pythian’s very own Marc Fielding is revealing the hints behind the Automatic...

This is just a small bug-fix release of the plugin. It has actually been quietly released for a while now. If you have downloaded the plugin recently, you have the latest version. To be sure, check the version in the Console, or you can see it in the file name.

There are two bugs fixed:
1. Deployment on an OMS hosted on Solaris didn’t work. (And I suspect it could be the same for Agents on Solaris.)
2. Changing thresholds on the metrics caused the error “Modification of Target Monitoring Settings has Failed”. Also, applying monitoring template was failing for the same reason.

If you didn’t know that you could setup threshold and customized the thresholds that are set out of the box with the plugin, then you are not fully using Enterprise Manager. You can do that in the MySQL target menu — Monitoring -> Metric and Collection Settings. When alert or warning conditions are met, Oracle EM can raise …

Fetching data from a database to then get it into an Excel spreadsheet to do analysis, reporting, transforming, sharing, etc. is a very common task among users. This task can be accomplished in several different ways and with different tools getting the same result; but users may find the process rather complicated, too technical and lengthy. With MySQL for Excel the task of importing data from a MySQL database to an Excel spreadsheet becomes an easy one and accessible to all types of users.  Here is a quick guide describing how to import data to Excel using MySQL for Excel.

It’s always sunny in the database arena, even if the data is engulfed in the clouds. Innovation rays keep databases illuminating and bloggers make hay in this sunshine and this Log Buffer Edition sift through all those blog post and brings you Log Buffer #298. Oracle: When Michael Abbey writes it, it stays written. His...

MySQL Connector/Net 6.5.5, a new maintenance release of our 6.5 series, has been released.  This release is GA quality and is appropriate for use in production environments.  Please note that 6.6 is our latest driver series and is the recommended product for development. It is now available in source and binary form http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/#downloads and mirror sites (note that not all mirror sites may be up to date at this point-if you can't find this version on some mirror, please try again later or choose another download site.)

From Movember to UKOUG, Pythian is stomping the grounds with massive thuds. This Log Buffer #297 collects various great blog posts from across the database world once again. Enjoy the Log Buffer Editions. Oracle: Andre Araujo posts about the union of MoBros, all of them DBAs :) Are you in UK and got penchant for...