What is MySQL Database

What is MySQL Database?

MySQL is a database management system which is used to maintain relational databases. It is an open source software backed by Oracle Corporation. This was originally founded by a Swedish company called MYSQL AB which was later acquired by sun microsystems and finally is with Oracle Corporation. As it is an open source database system, the source code can be modified according to our needs. It also offers premium services if a commercial license is purchased from Oracle Corporation. MySQL is a scalable, fast and reliable database management system which can run on any platform like Windows, Unix, Linux, etc and can be installed on the desktop or any server machine. It is also very to master compared to other database management systems existing in the market like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, etc. MySQL is most suitable for web applications MySQL is an essential component of the LAMP stack, which includes Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. LAMP is a platform for web development using Linux as the operating system, the web server of apache, relational database management system of mysql and object-oriented scripting of PHP. There are many top websites using mysql. Apart from this, there are numerous corporations using mysql as their relational database management system. Few examples include Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. MySQL works on a client-server model, the MySQL server being the core handling all commands.

Under a client-server networked environment, MySQL server is available as a separate program. Also, it is available as a library which can be linked to separate application. There are several utility programs supporting the administration of MySQL database. On the other hand, mysql clients are installed on computers in the network. Instructions are sent from mysql client to mysql server and then the mysql server acts on it accordingly. Inspite of mysql is installed on one machine, it is capable of sending databases to multiple locations and users are able to access the same using different MySQL client interfaces. The results are displayed as these interfaces transmit the SQL statements to servers. There is no need for users to learn new commands as mysql can be operated using existing SQL commands only. Data replication and table partitioning can also be done in mysql which allows users to have better performance and more durability. Multiple storage engines like NDB, InnoDB etc. can be used to store and access data. MySQL is written in C and C++ and is accessible over numerous platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac, and others. This relational database management system supports millions of record in databases and many datatypes like both unsigned and signed integers upto 8 bytes long, binary, varchar, double, char, float, time, blob, enum, text, date, year, date, timestamp, varbinary and OpenGIS spatial types. Fixed- and variable-length string types are also supported. Mysql can connect to mysql server by using a lot of protocols like TCP/IP etc. Along with that it also supports several client and utility programs administration tools such as MySQL Workbench and several command-line programs.

There are few projects developed based on MySQL like below:

• Percona Server with XtraDB is an enhanced version of MySQL which offers horizontal scalability.
• Drizzle, an open source database management system which is lightweight and developed based on mysql 6.0
• MariaDB, a popular replacement for mysql which uses MySQL APIs and commands

Few Advantages of using MySQL are as follows:

• Scalability:

Mysql provides excellent scalability to manage and coordinate with the deeply embedded apps using a smaller footprint even in massive warehouses containing a massive amount of data. Flexibility on demand is a great feature by Mysql. The E-commerce businesses can completely customize with unique database server requirements as mysql is an open source solution.

• Security:

Mysql is one of the most secure database management systems over the whole world and used by most popular web apps like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, etc. The recent version of mysql provides support and security for transactional processing which provides great benefit for any business especially in case of any e-commerce business which requires a great number of money transfers.

• Performance:

Mysql is designed to serve most demanding apps and ensuring proper speed also at the same time. It offers enhanced performance by providing unique memory caches and full-text indexes. Thus, whether it is an e-commerce website executing millions of queries each day of any type of transactional processing system mysql offers a unique storage-engine framework facilitating administrators to configure mysql server without any flaw ensuring high performance.

• Cost effective:

Mysql offers enterprises significant cost saving by ensuring proper management and dependability which can save time for troubleshooting which will be otherwise wasted on performance problems and in fixing downtime issues.

• No downtime:

Mysql offers a wide range of high-availability solutions which provides round the clock uptime with the help of master/slave replication configurations and specialized cluster servers.

• Complete Workflow Control:

Mysql offers a comprehensive solution providing self-management features automating space expansion and database administration. It offers minimal setup time and can be used sooner which can be installed in UNIX, Windows, Linux, Macintosh, etc.

• Open source solution:

Mysql being open source addresses several issues like debugging, maintenance, fast upgrades, and enhanced user experience. The secured processing provides effective transaction for processing of large datasets.

• Transactional Support:

Mysql is the most preferred transactional database engines in the market as it provides full data integrity. It offers unrestricted row-level locking, isolated- consistent- durable -completely atomic transaction support and multi-version transaction support.

Conclusion: What is MySQL Database?

MySQL database management system can be mastered by anyone having basic knowledge of Structured Query Language. It is the most popular open source database software and can be integrated with several programming languages like java, python, etc. There are a lot of career opportunities available in the market for mysql and big corporations like Yahoo, Suzuki, etc are using it.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to what is MySQL database. Here we have discussed the Basic Concepts and Advantages of MySQL. You may also look at the following article to learn more –

1. MySQL Operators
2. MySQL Server
3. What is SQL Developer?
4. Uses of SQL