Using mySQL

Jon Sagara

Probably should have asked in the SQL / ADO / ADO.NET forum[^]. I haven't done any programming against MySQL, except with PHP, so I can't really help. Sorry.

Jon Sagara
They gave me penicillin because I have sniffilis. -- A friend's response when asked about his trip to the doctor

Martin Cook

I've done several small projects with mySQL. IMHO the performance is better than Microsoft Access, but not as good as Microsoft SQL-Server. There are several ODBC/ADO libraries on the net. I would tread carefully though, since some of them aren't worth bothering with. The multithreading is generally OK, but once again it depends upon which library you use.

l a u r e n

we switched from sql server to mysql for a couple of biggish projects and it seems to be working well so far ... i would say its a good choice if u can live with the limitations that currently exist right now no fully tested stored procs and no fully tested sub-queries plus sides are price and portability as well as speed the dbs we moved across are as big as 20gb with tables containing up to 100 million records

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Dato

well, I used it for a Perl project a few years back. Had it running on Linux. Worked great ! Performance was great too but my requirments were nowhere near the size yours are . :suss: Dato .

Dato

Hi Lauren .. Read your post .. So performance on a DB that size was better on MySql ?? Just curious ... Also, what kind of hardware were you running ? Were you running Linux ? Just curious . thks . Dato

l a u r e n

i didnt say better but plenty good enuff for our purposes and yah its running on debian linux :)

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Ryan_Roberts

Does anybody have any experience of using mySQL? Does it work? Is it reliable? Is there a proper ODBC or ADO encapsulation? There are functional ODBC drivers, but they charge for ADO /OLEDB connectivity. The writing would be intensive, the reading much less. Wrong way round for MySQL, it is very fast with simple select staements, but write throughput is pretty bad, especialy for large BLOBS. That said I am using it as the backend for local servers in a telephony app, shifting about 1/2 GB a day. The central system uses SQL Server. SQL wise, it is very limited, no stored procedures, transactions or multiple table updates. If you need any of these features then think about using Postgres ( also free ). If your using C++, then consider using the Database template library[^]. Is really cute, gives you STL compatble database access. Ryan

BadJerry

Thanks for your post... Which ODBC/ADO library did you use? Any that you would advise to use or to avoid?

BadJerry

ah.... linux... I know that if I am to move away from MS, I might as well do it big time... but still... that fear of the unknown! How about performances on Win2k? or should I forget about it and pay my MS licences?

Gabriel 2

the performance is better than Microsoft Access, but not as good as Microsoft SQL-Server I'm not sure about this. There are some benchmarks which show Mysql to be faster than Microsoft SQL server, but I haven't read much. http://www.eweek.com/slideshow/0,3670,s=1590&a=23120&po=1&i=1,00.asp[^] Of course, Microsoft Sql Server is far more complete than MySQL, and this may make the code faster. For example, MySQL doesn't support stored procedures (they are developing them), and I'm not sure if they support foreign keys.

Gabriel 2

I've been using MySQL for some small projects. The DB engine worked ok for me and found no problems. The MySQL Control Center is still under development and they haven't released the final version. I tested a beta version a couple of month ago and found some bugs, but it's being finished. The performance was pretty good. There are even some benchmark which show it's faster than Microsoft SQL Server, but I'm not convinced about this. Anyway, if performance is not critical, I wouldn't spend much time comparing it. On the other hand, there are other important thing you should consider: * MySQL doesn't provide as many tools as Microsoft SQL. * MySQL is much more portable. Can be installed on Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP, and on UNIX/Linux. * MySQL is free * There are many things MySQL doesn't support (I'm not sure if they were added on recent versions), for example: - Stored procedures (they are being developed and will probably be available on version 5, I think there's already a beta version). - I'm not sure weather MySQL supports foreign keys. - Transactions - DB replication - user-rights - online reconfiguracion (user changes). I believe server has to be stopped to change some parameters. - auditing I've been using MySQL for a while in a Web Server and it's a interesting option for small-medium projects. I wouldn't use it to store huge/critical data.

zack

* MySQL is free hu? is it really free used in commercial projects? IMHO it is not free..

Gabriel 2

Yeap, that's what's so good about it, it's member of FSF (Free Software Foundation). You can read about it on: http://www.mysql.com/documentation/mysql/bychapter/manual_Introduction.html#Using_the_MySQL_software_for_free_under_GPL[^] Basically it says MySQL is released under two licensing systems: 1 - Free - GNU General Public License. This means you HAVE TO AGREE GNU General Public License, which is all right for most cases (Intranet and Web Server), but can get complicated if you intend to sell the software. 2 - Not free - no GPL license. Even if you choose GPL license, there are many reasons for supporting MySQL and paying for it. For example if you require support, consulting, training and/or certification you'll have to pay for it.

markkuk

It's free for commercial use if you don't direcly link MySQL libraries with your code (i.e. you use it threough ODBC or some other standard API), or if you use it commercially inside an organization without distributing it. If you want to distribute a proprietary application that integrates MySQL in it, you need to get a commercial licence.

BadJerry

The database template libray sounds cool... well it seems intellectually satisfying but I do not feel like rewriting all the db stuff in my existing app... But will have a go for future projects... Is it reliable? fast? Jerry