Oracle’s rumored NoSQL database made its splashy debut, along with Oracle’s Big Data Appliance, on the Oracle OpenWorld 2011 main stage Monday. Less trumpeted was news that MySQL, the venerable open-source database, got an update that vows to speed query and improve cluster capabilities.
The update could allay concerns among the MySQL faithful who worried that Oracle’s ownership of MySQL (through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems) meant it would not be enhanced and supported. Many younger, web-oriented companies gravitated to MySQL, or other open-source databases instead of Oracle 11G, because of price and licensing issues.
This early-release of MySQL 5.6.3 claims a faster MySQL Optimiser to speed query performance and diagnostics. In internal testing, some query execution times are claimed to be three times faster.
MySQL VP of engineering Tomas Ulin outlined the update, as well as another for MySQL Cluster 7.2 which adds multi-site clustering capability at the show. While the existing MySQL Cluster let users distribute whole clusters to remote data centers, the new multi-site option lets them split data nodes themselves across data centers. That lets user replicate updates synchronously between data centers without having to modify their application or schema.
Ulin also told show attendees that the company is pushing to make MySQL a better Windows citizen, according to reports. The goal is to put the Windows experience on par with (or even better) than it is on Linux,
MySQL has been cross platform for years but is usually associated with Linux distributions.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kevin Severud
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