MySQL 5.6 includes support for microsecode timestamp resolution, which is a great new feature.

To get the current timestamp in MySQL 5.5 you could use NOW(), SYSDATE() or CURRENT_TIMESTAMP.

mysql_5.5> SELECT NOW(),SYSDATE(),CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| NOW()               | SYSDATE()           | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP   |
+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| 2013-10-26 15:46:24 | 2013-10-26 15:46:24 | 2013-10-26 15:46:24 |
+---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

If we run the same statement in MySQL 5.6 the output is the same. This is great for compatibility, but what if we want those microsecond timestamps?

 …

The General MySQL Syntax section of the MySQL 5.6 Developer certification exam is a bit meatier than the MySQL Architecture section covered in my last post, but it’s still likely to be very familiar to experienced MySQL developers (or DBAs):

• Explain MySQL implementation of identifiers including case sensitivity, qualified names, aliases and use of reserved words
• Identify MySQL data type properties and appropriate usage
• Recognize and use common functions and expressions for all MySQL data types
• Identify and use comment syntax
• Describe and utilize prepared statements
• Describe transactions and transaction isolation levels and the impact they have on database behavior

MySQL Identifiers

• MySQL treats …

On Wednesday I’ll be leading a webinar exploring MySQL 5.6’s new replication features. And yes, as usual I’ll deliver news on the good, the bad and the ugly (that is to say the benefits, limitations and challenges).

The webinar, appropriately titled, “New Replication Features in MySQL 5.6: Benefits, Limitations, and Challenges“, is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. You can register now to reserve your spot (this webinar will also be available for playback afterward).

This session aims at exploring some of these …

Geo-enabled (or location enabled) applications are very common nowadays and many of them use MySQL. The common tasks for such applications are:

• Find all points of interests (i.e. coffee shops) around (i.e. a 10 mile radius) the given location (latitude and longitude). For example we want to show this to a user of the mobile application when we know his/her approximate location. (This usually means we need to calculate a distance between 2 points on Earth).
• Find a ZIP code (U.S. Postal address) for the given location or determine if this location is within the given area. Another example is to find a school district for the given property.

MySQL had the spatial functions originally (implementation follows a subset of OpenGIS standard). However, there are 2 major limitation of MySQL spatial functions …

MySQL 5.6 introduced a new feature called extended secondary keys. We get a lot of questions about it and find that most of them come from a few incorrect assumption. In this post I'll try to get rid of the confusion once and for all. Famous last words... here goes:

Q1: Do I need to do anything to enable extended secondary keys?

No, nothing at all. It's on by default and I can't see any sensible reason why you would want to disable it. However, it is possible to disable it by tuning the optimizer_switch: SET optimizer_switch='use_index_extensions={on|off}'.

Q2: Does extended secondary keys only work with InnoDB?

No, it should work with any storage engine that uses the primary key columns as reference to the row, which means most storage engines with clustered primary keys. I say "should" because it requires a minimum of work from the storage engine provider; it …

I've registered for the MySQL 5.6 beta exams, just like many more on Planet MySQL have done.

One of the topics for the MySQL 5.6 Developer exam is: "Write a basic .NET application that uses MySQL".

I have used Connector/Net a few times the last few years, but the last time I looked at some code involving Connector/Net was when I took the MySQL 5 Developer exam, which was long ago.

I'm using Linux on both my laptop and on servers for most projects. So I don't use or see many .NET code.

So I need a short refresh.

To use Connector/Net on Linux you will need to install Mono. The base for .NET is CIL, which exists in at least 4 versions: 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0. To compile C# code with mono you need the command which correspondends with the CIL version you are using.

• CIL 1.0: mcs
• CIL 2.0: gmcs
• CIL 4.0: dmcs

For Ubuntu …

The first section in the exam topics for both the MySQL 5.6 Developer and DBA exam deals is titled MySQL Architecture, but each has a different emphasis.  This blog will focus on those objectives listed for the Developer exam:

• Use MySQL client programs to interface with the MySQL Server interactively and in batch
• Describe SQL Modes and their impact on behavior of MySQL
• Identify characteristics which have session scope

For those of us who have spent time pulling both DBA and developer duties, this section is likely to be relatively straight-forward – perhaps even easy.  I’ll walk through the exercises and documents I’ve used to review below to kick off my Exam Cram blog series.

Using MySQL Client Programs

My first step …

As noted in earlier posts, exams for the MySQL 5.6 Developer and DBA certifications are entering a beta period, allowing candidates to register for the exams at steep discounts from normal certification exam fees.  I’ve registered to take both exams late this month, and – like Moritz – I’m starting to prepare for the exams now.  For those considering sitting for the exams, my plan is to document my exam preparation in a series of blog entries.  This won’t be a formal or official study guide, but I hope it will prove useful to those preparing for …

GUI monitoring tools for MySQL are not always suitable for all our needs or situations. Most of them are designed to provide historical views into what happens to our database over time rather then real-time insight into current MySQL server status. Excellent free tools for this include Cacti, Zabbix, Ganglia, Nagios, etc. But each of them needs to be properly configured to provide details on what is going on in our MySQL instances. And setting up one of these monitoring solutions is neither quick nor trivial (well, maybe with the exception of Ganglia).

MySQL Workbench provides …

Just a quick post to note that the content from my hands-on lab at MySQL Connect (“MySQL Enterprise Features in Practice”) has been uploaded to the content catalog, and can be found here.  This includes the 36-page lab manual and example commands and programs (mostly in Java; the package includes both compiled and source code).  For those who attended the lab, this is an opportunity to complete the exercises we didn’t get to in the 2.5 hours, and for those who missed it, an opportunity to learn more about the features and capabilities of key MySQL Enterprise products and features such as MySQL Enterprise Audit plugin, MySQL Enterprise Monitor and MySQL Enterprise Security (PAM plugin).  I hope to expand on the lab content …