Oracle + Open Source

two worlds inexorably colliding

Archive for category open-source

DBJ: DRBD & Virtualbox Setup

Jan 4

Posted by Sean Hull in databasejournal, high availability, mysql, open-source | 2 Comments

In part two of our article on DRBD and High Availability, we take you step-by-step through setting up Sun’s Virtualbox software, creating a couple of VMs, and then installing CentOS on those.  These two virtual Linux boxes then serve as two nodes in our DRBD mirrored disk setup which we use as a platform to install MySQL.

DRBD, MySQL and the Virtualbox Setup – Database Journal

Keep on the lookout for our third part in the series next month.  In that issue we’ll explain how the Linux Heartbeat project can be used to control the whole setup, and provide automatic failover in the event that one node goes down.

DBJ: More MySQL Scaling

Nov 11

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source | No Comments

In this second part of our piece on scaling, we talk about running more instances of MySQL either on a single server or multiple servers, to get faster overall response for your queries.  This will require some work with your application making decisions about where it will find its data or where it should make changes, but with some work you can drastically improve overall response for your applications.

Bigger and Better MySQL – DatabaseJournal.com

Open Insights 61 – Medicine of Austerity

Nov 2

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, openinsights | No Comments

In our latest newsletter we discuss what economists are dubbing the “medicine of austerity” aka paying the piper or tightening your belt.  And we think that this medicine will surely include open source technologies.

Open Insights 61 – Medicine of Austerity

Open Insights 58 – Ownership

Aug 3

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, openinsights | No Comments

In our latest newsletter we take a trip to the Brooklyn Flea, and talk with the purveyors not of homemade beer, but homemade beer making equipment.  We share some insights at how enthusiasts, technology geeks, open source aficionados and passionate detail oriented folks in many niches share a common trait in common.  That of ownership.  Owning the details, the skills, and mastery over a topic or area.  The proverbial “subject matter expert”.

 Open Insights Newsletter Issue 58 – Ownership

Open Insights 51 – Stretch Your Database Dollar

Jan 9

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, openinsights | No Comments

Over the holidays I had the chance to catch up on some podcasts I hadn’t listened to.  In particular Financial Times has an excellent weekly one called “Digital Business”.  In the last one for 2008, Peter Whitehead interviews a few people to get their forcasts for 2009.

Of particular interest to our readers was his mention that Open Source will continue to grow in importance, as budgets get squeezed.  Limited budgets mean looking at every dollar, so this month’s Open Insights issue 51, we talk about stretching your database dollar, and where and when open source database technologies may be right for you.

review: High Performance MySQL 2nd Ed.

Nov 13

Posted by Sean Hull in high availability, migration, mysql, open-source, oreilly, replication, review | No Comments

I just finished reading the recently released 2nd Edition of High Performance MySQL by Baron Schwartz, Peter Zaitsev, Vadim Tkachenko, Jeremy Zawodny, Arjen Lentz & Derek Balling.  I’ve posted a review here on Amazon.

Wow, that’s quite a list of authors, but when you look at the material, you see why.  This book is a very indepth look at the MySQL server.  Intended for the intermediate to advanced DBAs and developers who want to know the inner workings of the server, as well as how to use many of it’s advanced features.

For instance the chapter on replication was quite good.  Given that you probably setup replication in five minutes, and are wondering weeks or months later why it’s not working, this chapter will give you some answers.  Using non-deterministic functions?  Mixing MyISAM and InnoDB tables in the same transactions?  Seeing some errors in your slave error log that don’t make sense?  After  finding out that there is something wrong, you may be more surprised that your slave can be out of sync with the master, and not even let you know about it.  The chapter recommends Maatkit’s mk-table-checksum as an assistant to identifying these problems.

All in all the book is superb, so take a look at the review for details, and go get yourself a copy!!

review: Backup & Recovery by W. Curtis Preston

Oct 22

Posted by Sean Hull in mysql, open-source, oracle, review | 1 Comment

Just finished up O’Reilly’s Backup & Recovery by W. Curtis Preston.  The title is wide-reaching, covering backups at the operating system as well as on all the popular database platforms, including Oracle, MySQL, Postgres, Sybase, SQL Server and DB2.  Preston has an amazing grasp of a spectrum of technologies and platforms, and as an Oracle & MySQL DBA myself, I’d use this as my backup reference text any day.

I’ve posted my review of Backup and Recovery over at Amazon.

Sun Shines on MySQL

Jan 16

Posted by Sean Hull in mysql, open-source, oracle | No Comments

As many of you may have already heard, Sun officially announced their purchase of  MySQL today.  After the last few years with Oracle pushing Linux and commodity hardware, Sun has certainly taken the hit.  I guess this is their turn to hit back.

With MySQL 6.0 out, increasingly we find the full compliment of sophisticated database features in MySQL.  But a lot of the devil is in the details.  Where Oracle has had problems with the sheer size of the codebase, and addressing security vulnerabilities, and other bugs in a timely manner, MySQL has the problem of a mature codebase.  Some of these features are newly available, and if my experiences with replication are any indication, often have hidden gotchas and “features” which are not emphasized in the literature.

The next question on my mind is, how does Oracle’s purchase and now ownership of Innobase impact the above purchase.  It means a direct competitor owns a core component which provides transactional support to your database.  A very good question.

Time will tell, so stay tuned.

2007: Best OTN Articles

Dec 19

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | No Comments

Justin Kestelyn has posted an excellent article on his blog listing the Most Popular Technical Articles of 2007.  Among the top ten articles an amazing SIX discuss open-source technologies such as running Oracle on Linux, Linux administration, or PHP programming and integration.   Good stuff!

Unbreakable Linux Network – Insider’s View

Dec 5

Posted by Sean Hull in open-source, oracle | No Comments

Wim Coekaerts is the VP of Linux Engineering at Oracle.  He was basically the guy who put Linux on Oracle’s radar back in the day.  I remember his OCFS project, oss.oracle.com and the Oracle RAC on Linux with Firewire project.  Those were interesting days.  I had the opportunity to meet Wim this year at Oracle’s OpenWorld.  He’s a very down to earth, no-nonsense guy, and gives the straight scoop on all the exciting things that are happening on the technical side.

The latest newsflash for those who have been sleeping at the wheel is that Oracle is offering support for RHEL called Unbreakable Linux Network.  ULN is basically an up2date or yum network service which will feed you the latest RPMs.  These RPMs have been rebranded for Oracle, but are not a fork or a new distribution.  What you’ll also find as a ULN subscriber is that a little rpm called oracle-validated-configuration is available.  This little package will include lots of Oracle specific tweaks to make installing on Linux that much easier!

For those who’d like to hear all of this from the horses mouth, please read Wim’s Post on Unbreakable Linux.