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Preconfiguration, prepackaging and automation of many IT functions are key attributes of the new unified computing systems, and this is a trend that is gaining serious traction on a global scale. Spending hours configuring a server or storage array for a virtualized system is fast becoming drudgery of the past.
Oracle made a major contribution to this trend June 27 by announcing its first Oracle Virtual Machine Template for MySQL Enterprise Edition. This software shortcut is designed to enable more efficient and lower-cost deployments of virtualized MySQL environments by eliminating almost all of the standard manual configuration it requires.
If the instructions are followed correctly, Oracle said, this new template will provide a preinstalled, preconfigured and certified software stack that includes Oracle VM Server for x86, Oracle Linux with its branded “Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel” (either Red Hat compatible or Oracle’s own Linux v2.6 version) and MySQL Enterprise Edition.
Oracle claims the template offers the following user benefits:
- Faster deployments: Users can reduce installation and configuration cycles both for initial deployments and to provision replicated scale-out environments.
- Better reliability: Using a preinstalled and preconfigured software stack, one that has already undergone extensive integration and quality testing and is certified for production use, helps ensure a reliable and trusted environment.
- Higher uptime: With MySQL’s replication capabilities plus Oracle VM’s built-in high availability features, both planned and unplanned downtime can be reduced.
The new template also provides users with access to the comprehensive suite of MySQL management tools, including MySQL Enterprise Monitor, MySQL Query Analyzer, MySQL Workbench and MySQL Enterprise Backup.
Oracle said that similar VM templates are also available for Oracle Applications, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Database, Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris.
Oracle Has Kept Its MySQL Promise Thus Far
It wasn’t all that long ago that the MySQL community was wary about how much support Oracle was planning to give the open-source database after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems in January 2010. After all, MySQL often competed for the same business as Oracle’s standard database.
However, the world’s second-largest software company has indicated its commitment to the open-source database numerous times during the past 18 months. The new VM template is the latest example.
CEO and co-founder Larry Ellison was steadfast from the beginning-in fact, even before the merger was concluded-in contending that MySQL largely served a different market than Oracle DB and that the open-source database community had nothing to worry about: Oracle wasn’t about to shutter MySQL.
In fact, he said, Oracle would invest more into MySQL than Sun had been able to afford. Industry sources have told eWEEK that this, too, has been borne out.