MySQL Server FAQ

1. What is the primary business benefit that MySQL provides?

MySQL is a proven and cost-effective database solution that will help reduce the cost of your database software infrastructure by over 90%.

For more information, read the white paper "A Guide to Lower Database TCO": http://www.mysql.com/tco/

2. How does MySQL reduce TCO?

MySQL reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of database software by:

• Reducing database licensing costs by over 90%
• Cutting systems downtime by 60%
• Lowering hardware expenditure by 70%
• Reducing administration, engineering and support costs by up to 50%

Average savings for corporate projects are between: $250,000 to $500,000. Average savings for enterprise-wide deployments: more than $10 million.

3. What additional benefits does MySQL provide?

• Easy to Install and Deploy - Users can set up MySQL in minutes enabling organizations to deliver new applications faster than with proprietary databases.
• Easy to Administer - MySQL is a low administration database that eliminates the need for highly trained, skilled, and costly database administrators to maintain the database.
• High Performance - In February 2002, eWeek published the results of their Database Benchmark Test, showing MySQL has the best overall performance and scalability (matching Oracle). To view the results of eWeek Database Benchmark test visit http://www.mysql.com/benchmarks/
• Reliability and High Availability - MySQL has a well-earned and established reputation for reliability among its 5 million user community. In addition to reliability, MySQL Cluster provides 99.999% availability.
• Embeddable Library - The embedded MySQL Server Library (lib mysqld) provides in-process data storage engine that delivers all the features of a traditional relational database but in a size which makes it ideally suited for ISVs/VARs who need a small footprint and easy to use toolkit.
• Platform Independence - MySQL runs on over 20 platforms including Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Windows, and Mac OS X giving organizations complete flexibility in delivering a solution on the platform of their choice.

4. What are the Performance and Scalability characteristics of MySQL?

In February 2002, eWeek published the results of their Database Benchmark Test, showing:

• MySQL has the best overall performance and scalability (matching Oracle)
• MySQL excelled in stability, ease of tuning, and connectivity
• MySQL offered the highest throughput (600 web pages/sec to 1000 concurrent users)
• MySQL's performance advantage came from a unique feature - the ability to use different database engines on a table-by-table basis

To view the results of eWeek Database Benchmark test: http://www.mysql.com/benchmarks/

5. How Reliable is MySQL?

MySQL has a well-earned and established reputation for reliability and performance among its 5 million user community.

In December 2003, Reasoning published the results of their Code Quality Inspection Study of MySQL, showing:

• MySQL code quality was 6x better than that of comparable proprietary code
• MySQL benefits from the large communities of programmers who ?battle test? the code
• MySQL benefits from users who not only report bugs, but track down their root cause and fix them

To view the results of Reasoning's Code Quality Analysis of MySQL: http://www.mysql.com/quality/

6. Is MySQL easy to Administer?

MySQL has a well-earned and established reputation as an easy-to-administer database. Developers have the flexibility to configure, tune and optimize MySQL.

7. What are the key Relational Database features that MySQL provides?

MySQL supports all the key Relational Database features, including:

• High-performance
• Main-memory tables with disk-based tables
• Single-User and Multi-User
• Multi-Threaded
• Multi-Process
• SQL-92 and SQL-99
• ACID Transactions
• Referential Integrity
• Cascading Updates and Deletes
• Multi-table Joins
• Row-level Locking
• Online Hot Backup
• Replication
• Clustering
• BLOBs (Binary Large Objects)
• UDFs (User Defined Objects)
• OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing)
• Unicode and Double-Byte character support
• Drivers for ODBC, JDBC, .NET and C++

8. What are the minimum system requirements for MySQL?

• Minimum memory: 1 MB of RAM
• Minimum disk-based server: 4 MB of Hard Disk
• Default disk-based server: 8 MB of Hard Disk

9. What Platforms does MySQL support?

MySQL runs on:

• Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian)
• Embedded Linux (MontaVista, LynuxWorks BlueCat)
• Unix (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX)
• BSD (Mac OS X, FreeBSD)
• Windows (Windows 2000, Windows NT)
• RTOS (QNX)

10. What industry standards and 3rd party tools does MySQL Support?

MySQL has drivers for:

• ODBC
• JDBC
• .NET
• C++

MySQL application can be developed in any popular language, including:

• C
• C++
• C#
• Java
• Delphi
• Visual Basic
• Perl
• Python
• PHP

MySQL applications can be developed using popular Development Tools, including:

• Microsoft Visual Studio
• Borland Delphi and JBuilder
• Eclipse
• NetBeans

MySQL databases can be administered using popular Database Tools, including:

• MySQL Administrator
• Quest Software Toad for MySQL
• Embarcadero ER/Studio

11. How does MySQL support ISV/VARs who want to distribute MySQL as part of their solution?

Scenario 1: Deeply Embedded MySQL

The customer has no visibility into the operation of the database. The ISV/VAR is using the embedded MySQL Server Library (libmysqld) as an in-process data storage engine that provides all the features of a traditional relational database but in a size which makes it useable for application and hardware designers who need a small footprint and need a simple and easy to use toolkit.

Scenario 2: Bundled MySQL

The customer has complete visibility and control over the database, enabling them to configure, tune, optimize, and administer the database. The ISV/VAR uses the MySQL Server as a standalone relational database.

12. What is the Installed Base of MySQL?

MySQL has an active installed base of 5 million users, with over 35,000 daily downloads.

In a July 2004 article, SD Times shows MySQL as the #3 most deployed database. With 33% market-share, MySQL is more widely deployed than Sybase or DB2. http://www.mysql.com/marketshare/

13. Where can I find Customer References for MySQL?

MySQL customers include Global 2000 organizations such as Alcatel, Apple, Associated Press, Bloomberg, BMC, CERN, Cisco, Ericsson, Google, Lufthansa, Motorola, NASA, NEC, Netflix, Nokia, Nortel, Sabre, SAS, and many more.

For case studies and articles, see: http://www.mysql.com/customers/