Select a MySQL Web Hosting Provider

What Is It?
MySQL originally was founded and developed in Sweden by David Axmark, Allan Larsson and Michael “Monty” Widenius. The first internal release of this database type occurred on May 23, 1995 at the Swedish company MySQL AB,

which now is a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems. As of February 26, 2008, MySQL is owned, developed and supported by Sun Microsystems, one of the world’s largest contributors to open source software.

Therefore, it stands to reason that MySQL is the most popular open source database software, with over 100 million copies of its software downloaded or distributed throughout its history. As of August 2007, MySQL offers MySQL 5.0 in two different variants: the MySQL Community Server and Enterprise Server. Both have a common code base. MySQL Enterprise Server is a flagship model released once per month. Sources can be obtained from MySQL’s customer-only Enterprise site or from MySQL’s BitKeeper repository, both which operate under the GPL license. The MySQL Community Server is published on an unspecified schedule under the GPL and contains bug fixes that were shipped with any previous MySQL Enterprise Server release. MySQL binaries no longer are included with every Community Server release.

Who Is it For?

MySQL is a key part of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python), an open source enterprise software stack. LAMP provides an alternative to expensive proprietary software stacks for companies that seek lower costs in addition to freedom from database platform restrictions. MySQL provides superior speed, reliability, and ease of use, and Web, Web 2.0, SaaS, ISV, and Telecom companies have adopted MySQL database solutions for powering high-volume Web sites, business systems, and packaged software solutions.

Outside business concerns, the average Webmaster or inexperienced blogger may have become accustomed to MySQL operations during ordinary Web tasks. MySQL often is available through Web hosts, since blogging software such as WordPress demands the use of a database system that is user-friendly and that reduces the load on server operating systems.

Features

MySQL databases are open to receiving a variety of libraries to connect them to all major programming languages through language-specific APIs. The MySQL server and its official libraries mostly are implemented in ANSI C/ ANSI C++. Further, MySQL is popular for many Web applications and acts as the database component for LAMP, MAMP and WAMP platforms such as Linux, Mac, Windows, Apache, Perl, Python, etc. Its popularity for Web applications often revolves around its connections with PHP and Ruby on Rails, or languages essential for running popular content management systems such as blogs and open source software content management systems (CMS).

Other features include the MySQL Cluster, which delivers a fault-tolerant database clustering architecture to deploy highly available and mission-critical database applications; MySQL Embedded Databases designed for OEMs/ISVs who want to cost-effectively embed or bundle a reliable and high-performance database; MySQL Database Drivers for JDBC, ODBC and .Net enabling developers to build database applications in the language of choice, and MySQL Databse Tools that provide a comprehensive set of open source visual database tools including MySQL Administrator, MySQL Query Browser, and the MySQL Migration Toolkit.

Compatibility

MySQL is written in C and C++ and the SQL parser uses yacc and home-brewed lexer. A document describing some of the internal structures of the code and the coding guidelines is available from the MySQL web site. For users who want to know instant compatibility, MySQL operates smoothly on a wide variety of platforms including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, i5/OS, Linux, Mac OS X, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and most Windows systems. Other compliant platforms include Novell NetWare, Warp, QNX, IRIX, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, and Tru64. MySQL does not function on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista.