The latest from the MySQL community

Welcome to the 75th edition (a.k.a. the Diamond Edition) of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs. Let’s get things started with some views of the recently finished UKOUG Conference & Exhibition. On blog.gralike.com, Marco Gralike put together a list of articles offering just that, including reporting from Doug Burns, Mark Rittman, Daniel Fink, [...]

On my second blog I stated I would demonstrate a case where a denormalized Star schema is 50 times slower than a normalized data model.  Well, while writing this I looked at the tables again and realized that I didn't have optimal indexes and my statistics weren't optimal.  Yeah, I feel a bit foolish.  Once I fixed those issues there wasn't a performance difference.  I'll go more into this during the post test discussion. 

First, these are the table that will be used to test the performance of the normalized and denormalized data models.  The ProductNormal table represents the normalized table, has 10 million rows, and is about 0.8 gig. 

create table ProductNormal (
     productId int(11) not null,
     productName varchar(32) not null,
     productGroupId int(11) not null,
…

A friend of mine asked me: I’m hoping you can help me out with something — I’m trying to optimize a search feature. Since it uses a MySQL database, the search already uses the LIKE statement to get matches for a search query, we might be needing something more flexible. I found mention on MySQL’s website [...]

Today I’m very pleased. My UDF lib ‘lib_mysqludf_xql’ has been mentioned in an article by Jon Stephens about ‘Using XML in MySQL 5.1 and 6.0′.

The lib_mysqludf_xql you can query relational data and return XML. It will give you the same functionality as SQL/XML in Oracle and MS SQL. Compares to other methods like using CONCAT or generating XML in a PHP script, this method is much easier and will perform much better.

You can find the library at mysqludf.org, including some documentation. You can also find a bunch of other nice libs there.

Do note that you need to have root privileges on the server to install MySQL UDFs.

If you are interested in the MySQL packages in Debian, join #debian-mysql on OFTC. Most people involved into the packages are hanging around there.

Neither of the books I’ve been an author of has been just me. For Practical MythTV (Christmas is coming, buy it for all your TV and tech loving friends!), Michael Still and I worked hard to get a well rounded and practical (not to mention good) book. I think we succeeded - certainly has gotten positive reviews (check the amazon page).

For my second endeavor (just to make it fun, I was working on both at the same time) we have a much longer list of authors. The aim was to write a study guide for those wishing to be certified in MySQL Cluster. Being a developer with a fair bit of knowledge in the product (and somebody who also presents and writes) - I was a natural …

Today's entry, provided by Terry Chay, is entitled Filter Input; Escape Output: Security Principles and Practice.

Name

Terry Chay

Blog

terrychay.com/blog/

Biography

When Zend puts your face on a trading card, you've either arrived in the PHP world, or you're a terrorist. Terry Chay is a …

We are just passed the time of year when we give thanks (in the US anyway) and we are coming up on the time when we all try and be giving.  I feel like my last few blog posts have been a little too negative and want to make up for that.  So, I want to say thank you to some people for what I have in my professional world.

Daniel deGrandpre and Richard Moss, dealnews.com
I have known both these guys since I was a kid.  I was so excited when they offered me a full time job working on the internet.  I was in a Dilbert world and they rescued me.  Richard gave me the best recommendation I have ever heard.  I listed Richard as a reference for the job I had before dealnews.com.  The interviewer told me that when she asked Richard why she should hire me, he said “Because if I had the money, he would be working for me.”  A year later, when I told her I was leaving …

I like driving. It relaxes me. I especially like driving in the Carolinas versus driving the freeways in Los Angeles. In LA, you have to intentionally calm yourself down before going to the on ramp of the 101, 5 or the 10. Here, in South Carolina, it is possible to drive highway speeds on the highways (in LA, it is possible, but only at night time or early in the morning).When I heard that

Today I received the "MySQL 5.1 Cluster Certification Study Guide".

I will compare this book to the "MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide" from MySQL Press. This is the book I used to study for the MCDEV (Certified Developer) and MCDBA (Certified DBA) exams.

The MySQL study guide was published by MySQL Press which is a cooperation with a n old-school publisher.

The MySQL cluster study guide  is published by Lulu.com which is an online on-demand publisher.

Lulu.com Cons:
1. The print quality is worse.
2. The paper is less white.
3. The layout is more compact. The margins are really small.

Lulu.com Pros:
1. On-demand print. This will make updated versions possible.
2. The book is smaller (small margins) and is very easy to carry with you (handy if your …