Database and enterprise application giant Oracle on May 17 released a new version of MySQL Enterprise, the first major upgrade of the open-source relational database since Oracle acquired MySQL with the buyout of Sun Microsystems. The major new component of this release is MySQL Enterprise Monitor 2.2, which provides new query performance monitoring tools.
Oracle issued on May 17 a new edition of MySQL Enterprise, the first major
upgrade of the open-source relational database since Oracle completed the
acquisition of MySQL's former parent, Sun Microsystems.
But the release will do little to assuage the suspicions of MySQL users and
open-source community members that Oracle won't give the database full and
enthusiastic support since it acquired the technology in the buyout of Sun
Microsystems. That's because this release was under development well before Oracle
closed its $7.4 billion buyout of Sun.
The most important component of the latest release is MySQL Enterprise
Monitor 2.2, which provides performance monitoring tools that Oracle officials
say will enable user organizations to more efficiently manage MySQL servers and
reduce downtime by discovering performance problems before they cause service
outages.
Enterprise Monitor 2.0 provides GUI-based tools that continuously monitor
the MySQL database and guide developers in implementing MySQL best practices.
Database administrators and developers need tools "that help them manage
their MySQL servers efficiently and allow them to identify performance issues
before they become expensive, time-consuming problems," Tomas Ulin, director of
MySQL Development with Oracle, said in a statement.
It also provides improved database query performance, improved security and
integration with MySQL Support, which provides 24/7 support for the
development, deployment and management of MySQL applications.
The integration with MySQL Supports eliminates that time that database
administrators spend examining the results of the common diagnostic tools used
to discover problems by automating the process. The User and Security Model is
integrated with existing LDAP authentication and other commonly accepted
security methods.
Enterprise Monitor 2.2 includes enhancement for collecting, viewing and
searching query performance data, which allows developers to analyze query
response patterns that may slow system resources and response times.
The monitor also includes Query Analyzer Execution Notices that are designed
to pinpoint problem queries to allow database administrators and application
developers to fix performance problems.
Another major feature is MySQL Enterprise Connector Plug-ins, which link up
with an application's existing connectors to enable users to gather and send
SQL Query responses and other performance data to a query analyzer.
One analyst suggested that Oracle can hardly take credit for a new release
it really had little to do with. "The release was well under way before the
acquisition, so this really has very little to do with Oracle in my opinion,"
said Joseph Martins, managing director of Data Mobility Group, an IT industry
analyst.
Giving Oracle the credit "would be a bit like giving an incoming [president
of the United States]
credit for the programs implemented by an outgoing [president of the United
States]. All this says to me is that Oracle
hasn't rocked the boat-yet."
But Martins said he isn't very concerned that Oracle will try to suppress
the open-source database. "I'm sure MySQL will survive whether it's in the
hands of Oracle or elsewhere. Customers can be certain of that. The
community isn't going to let MySQL fail. It's really that simple," he
said.
However, Martins declined to comment on the potential performance or feature
improvements of the new version, which he has yet to evaluate. "Let's hope it's
of higher quality than the last one. If Oracle could make any contribution to
MySQL, it would be in cleaning up that horrendous development cycle and overall
quality control," he said.
Oracle completed the $7.4 billion buyout of Sun Microsystems in late January
2010 after battling for the best part of a year with U.S.
and overseas regulatory authorities to gain approval of the deal. Less than a
month before the deal closed, more
than 14,000 MySQL enthusiasts around the world signed a petition asking
regulators to reject the deal on the grounds that Oracle, as one of the world's
largest producers enterprise relational databases, would not effectively
support the competing open-source MySQL database.
Oracle issued statements
before and after the deal denying that it wouldn't fully support and invest
in MySQL, and it also rejected suggestions that it would somehow divest itself
of MySQL or turn management of it over to the open-source community as a
compromise that would win regulatory approval of the deal.
John Pallatto is eWEEK.com's Managing Editor News/West Coast. He directs eWEEK's news coverage in Silicon Valley and throughout the West Coast region. He has more than 35 years of experience as a professional journalist, which began as a report with the Hartford Courant daily newspaper in Connecticut. He was also a member of the founding staff of PC Week in March 1984. Pallatto was PC Week's West Coast bureau chief, a senior editor at Ziff Davis' Internet Computing magazine and the West Coast bureau chief at Internet World magazine.
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