I was trying to demonstrate to a client how to monitor queries that generate internal temporary tables. With an EXPLAIN plan you see ‘Creating temporary’. Within MySQL you can use the SHOW STATUS to look at queries that create temporary tables.

There is the issue that the act of monitoring impacts the results, SHOW STATUS actually creates a temporary table. You can see in this example.

mysql> select version();
+-----------------+
| version()       |
+-----------------+
| 5.1.31-1ubuntu2 |
+-----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> show global status like 'created_tmp%';
+-------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name           | Value |
+-------------------------+-------+
| Created_tmp_disk_tables | 48    |
| Created_tmp_files       | 5     |
| Created_tmp_tables      | 155   |
+-------------------------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> show global status like 'created_tmp%';
+-------------------------+-------+
| …

With thanks to Patrick Galbraith and his DBD::drizzle 0.200 I am now able to test client benchmarks side by side with MySQL and Drizzle.

For simple benchmarking with clients, generally when I have little time, I use a simple Perl framework mybench. I was able to change just the connection string and run tests.

The diff of my two scripts where:

---
> my $user      = $opt{u} || "appuser";
> my $pass      = $opt{p} || "password";
> my $port      = $opt{P} || 3306;
> my $dsn       = "DBI:mysql:$db:$host;port=$port";
---
< my $user      = $opt{u} || "root";
< my $pass      = $opt{p} || "";
< my $port      = $opt{P} || 4427;
< my $dsn       = "DBI:drizzle:$db:$host;port=$port";
---

It’s too early to tell what improvement Drizzle will make. Just running my …

Following up on yesterday's post about Peter Drucker's principles of effective executives, I asked former CEO of MySQL Mårten Mickos to discuss the principles that we has used in building an effective executive team. After all no single executive can be successful on their own; to build a high-performance culture requires a discipline that extends across the entire leadership.

read more

There is a very simple test to show MySQL replication in action and to also better understand the basics of MySQL Replication. With a configured MySQL environment we can run the following test on your MySQL master, and monitor the MySQL slave.

If you would like to try this, you can use MySQL SandBox which can launch a MySQL Master/Slave configuration in seconds. You can get started with MySQL Sandbox and Download 3.0.04.

Sandbox setup

$ make_replication_sandbox ~/mysql/mysql-5.1.35-osx10.5-x86.tar.gz
$ cd ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_1_35/

On the master

We will use a modified version of the numbers procedure found at …

Where are you going to invest your time and money. You may invest in your kids, your work, your hobbies, and more. As you make these decisions, your passion is one consideration, but another is the return on your investment. Of course, you want your investments to be successful. The best way to ensure success is to bet on winners. In other words, you want to invest your time and money on things you are confident will be successful. This holds true in your personal and your professional life.

When Alexandre Dumas (on a side note, my wife refers to me regularly as a Dumas) said that "Nothing succeeds like success" he was encapsulating this same decision process and the conclusion that people want to bet on winners, and that by so doing, they are perpetuating that winning.

So what does this have to do with open source software (OSS)? I received a note from Roland Bouman about a prior post, where he said: "I got seriously involved in …

Where are you going to invest your time and money. You may invest in your kids, your work, your hobbies, and more. As you make these decisions, your passion is one consideration, but another is the return on your investment. Of course, you want your investments to be successful. The best way to ensure success is to bet on winners. In other words, you want to invest your time and money on things you are confident will be successful. This holds true in your personal and your professional life.

When Alexandre Dumas (on a side note, my wife refers to me regularly as a Dumas) said that "Nothing succeeds like success" he was encapsulating this same decision process and the conclusion that people want to bet on winners, and that by so doing, they are perpetuating that winning.

So what does this have to do with open source software (OSS)? I received a note from Roland Bouman about a prior post, where he said: "I got seriously involved in …

Mark Leith, on of the MySQL Support Team managers wrote some time ago a very nice utility I use often called Statpack.

My use of Statpack is very simple. Take two snaphots of SHOW GLOBAL STATUS and compare to produce a text based version of the statistics.

Over time I’ve grown to love it’s simplicity, but notice a number of shortcomings. Being open source there is always the ability to modify, improve and give back. This post is more about detailing those little annoyances that I’d like to improve, or see improved. It is also a means to collate points into one location that I often forget about over time.

I welcome any input, and specifically help in this open source venture.

Here is my wish list that I can currently remember. I do plan to action, time permitting.

1. In Statement Activity, the total percentages are great to …

In a comment to my prior post , Roland Bouman raised the issue mixed messages inherent in the dual-licensing model of open source. There is more context to his comment, but he says: "I am all for commercial open source. I am just curious how you feel you can logically defend both ‘take us we’re open and free’ and ‘take us we offer quality paid for extras’."

There are many articles written on the topic of free open source and hybrid models, so in the words of Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride: "… let me ’splain. No, there’s too much. Let me sum up."

Open Source Software (OSS) is a …

In a comment to my prior post , Roland Bouman raised the issue mixed messages inherent in the dual-licensing model of open source. There is more context to his comment, but he says: "I am all for commercial open source. I am just curious how you feel you can logically defend both ‘take us we’re open and free’ and ‘take us we offer quality paid for extras’."

There are many articles written on the topic of free open source and hybrid models, so in the words of Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride: "… let me ’splain. No, there’s too much. Let me sum up."

Open Source Software (OSS) is a …

OK, you’ve released your open source product and built a huge userbase. Now your shareholders/investors are pressing you to monetize that userbase. How do you do it? There are many ways to monetize open source. For simplicity, let’s segment the revenue sources according to who is paying:

Users :
Your users probably downloaded your product for free. Some are willing to pay for certified/approved distributions, maintenance, updates, support and more. Because open source turns your product and services into commodities, you will need to leverage your brand, and the expertise that it embodies, to maintain premium pricing.

Another good revenue source is certified education. If you’ve built a large userbase, businesses clearly see value in your product. As a result, employees and job-seekers will enhance their personal value and marketability if they are certified experts with your product. Assemble copyrighted educational …