MySQL Database

Review by Ran Wei:

Some background first: I’ve used MySQL for two decently-sized programming projects in the past, on the developer side. More recently I was hired to design, build and administer the back-end of a web application. MySQL seemed the natural choice. With background only in the developer’s role, I had a huge amount to learn.

I started out by buying the MySQL Administrator’s Guide and Reference:

http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Administrators-Guide-Language-Reference/dp/0672328704/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855803&sr=8-4

and a more general book on Database Administration:

http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855921&sr=8-1

The former was pretty terrible, and it’s all available online anyways so there’s absolutely no reason to buy it. Why is it so bad? Despite being written by MySQL, it is completely impractical and totally bogged down with details. I defy you to figure out how to efficiently back up your database by using that guide. I couldn’t.

The latter was very useful for introducing concepts like data normalization and, while a little out of date, gives a quick sense of the products that are out there. I highly recommend it as a first read. but it’s not MySQL specific – so where to go then?

Finally, I found this book. It took me about 1 minute to find the tools I would need to back up a database and another 10 seconds to find a detailed discussion of what’s going on when you back up a database.

It’s also very recent (as of 2009/06) – it really reflects the state of the tools out there and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the developments I had been reading about in my online research were reflected in the book. Instead of glossing over complex topics like MySQL Cluster, memcached, DRBD, Linux HA (see, I wasn’t kidding about its coverage), it points you to external resources that are actually helpful.

I haven’t yet read all of it but, to my knowledge, there is nothing comparable out there. If you have a good idea of the basics behind database administration and need a practical guide to how to actually administer a MySQL database, including the tools available to you, I’d seriously recommend that you take a look at this book.

LIMITATIONS:

- I was a bit concerned about the book’s information on early-stage tools like MySQL Proxy and MySQL 6.0. They haven’t been released for general use and are not certified as stable, but the book just lists them with other tools as if you could just drop them in. Be careful.

- As another reader pointed out, it’s not the easiest read. But then, if you’ve never used SQL, never mind MySQL before, then trying to understand concepts like the difference between READ COMMITTED and SERIALIZABLE isolation levels will surely result in pain and death. This book is much better if you have a question like “How do I backup a MySQL database?”, “How do I make a trigger”, or “How do I set up replication?”

Review by Marke Schoonover:

On the front cover of MySQL Administrator’s Bible is a sentence that reads:

“The book you need to succeed!”

I must say, I do agree. Authored by two very experienced DBAs, Sheeri Cabral and Keith Murphy, they’ve combined their talents to cover what you really need to know to succeed. This book is very versatile. If you’re new to MySQL, or experienced in another database and have to start administrating MySQL, you need this book. I can honestly say, even if you have years of MySQL experience, you will learn something new. I did. Divided into four parts, MySQL Administrator’s Bible covers your First Steps with MySQL, Developing with MySQL, Core MySQL Administration and Extending Your Skills.

First Steps with MySQL starts with a gentle introduction to MySQL with company information, which seems to be changing annually, and most importantly, the MySQL community itself. What makes MySQL so fantastic is the community. After that, you’ll be lead into installing and configuring MySQL on various platforms including Linux, Windows and Solaris while touching on post installation configuration too. Basic security is covered as well as some tips on troubleshooting and accessing your new MySQL installation using tools included with MySQL or using third party software.

Developing with MySQL covers the MySQL Language Structure and if you’re coming from another RDBMS, it covers how MySQL deviates from the SQL standard by extending that standard to make MySQL the number one open source database used on the Internet. After that, this section covers the same type of topics covering just about any other mainstream databases such as using stored procedures, cursors, events, views and transactions.

The Core MySQL Administration is the heart of this book. It covers MySQL server tuning, covering all major storage engines including MyISAM, InnoDB, Falcon, PBXT, and NDB engines including the first time I’ve seen in print, the Maria storage engine. An entire chapter is devoted to implementing cache tables and using the query cache. Memcached is also mentioned, and mentioned again in the final section. Continuing on with what I consider the most important job of a DBA, backup and recovery. Databases are very central to running a business, any data loss could put a company out of business. Be prepared.

This section gives a solid introduction to the topic of dealing with users, and how they are managed within MySQL. Count on covering GRANT/REVOKE, using SHOW GRANTS and mk-show-grants MaatKit tool. Partitioning, logging and replication and measuring performance rounds out this section.

If you have experience with another RDBMS, plan on spending a significant amount of time in this section. Not that the other sections aren’t important, they are, but this is the bread and butter of what a MySQL DBA does on a daily basis.

Extending You Skills section can be considered getting your Masters in Database Administration. Just about every DBA will have to tackle improving queries and the tuning of indexes. The second most important job of a DBA is monitoring performance of your MySQL server. Don’t let your users be your first line of monitoring! Be proactive, there are plenty of open source monitoring tools available. The most popular are discussed, as well as MySQL Enterprise and third party companies too. MySQL Data Dictionary is covered in in detail over 58 pages. This is the most I’ve read in any book about the data dictionary.

Last but not least, most high performance MySQL systems involve scaling up or out. It covers the usual suspects of replication, MySQL Cluster, and memcached. MySQL Proxy is initially covered and has an appendix to expand on that information. MySQL Proxy itself is worthy of its own book. (hint, hint ) Two more appendices cover MySQL Functions and Operators, and additional resources.

Even though this book targets MySQL 5.1/6.0, there is plenty of information that will apply to 5.0. If you’re still on 5.0, don’t hesitate to pick up a copy. This will be a book that can stay with you as your upgrade to 5.1 and beyond. The companion website – [...]contains all the code from the book too, rounding out this fine tome.

What didn’t I like about the book? There are only a couple of things, all personal I’m sure. First, I really don’t care too much for tables of options from the various tools. Most open source tools are developed rather quickly and options change. This could render portions of the book out of date quickly.

The other thing I noticed that wasn’t mentioned in the book was the community versions of MySQL supported by Open Query and Percona. The latter has their own storage engine, XtraDB and backup solution, XtraBackup.

All in all, this is a very solid book on administering MySQL. This book digs deeper, the experience of the authors really show. Well done Sheeri and Keith!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a copy of MySQL Administrator’s Bible.

Review by Frank Stepanski:

For people like me who have a good understanding of MYSQL, the next logical step would be this book. I already know about stored procedures, transactions and the basics of triggers, but I want to learn more about these topics in more “real-world” scenarios in how to develop larger, enterprise-wide applications. Also I want to know more about other advanced topics that I may not even know to think about. If this sounds like you as well, then read on…

The author starts in with reviewing how business requirements and the software development cycle can be part of database development. This a great chapter for people like me who would like to learn how different approaches are taken from different IT perspectives in a team environment (business analysts, application developers, and project managers) This chapter gives you a good understanding of how the other side thinks.

The next chapter focuses on the importance of proper indexing and strategies as pertaining to data storage. Because once your databases reach to the multiple gigabits of storage space, you need to very focused on how long each request takes. A few seconds here and there begin to add up and can cause serious issues if not taken into consideration early in your database design. Like me who only deals with small to an occasional medium-size database I never really had to think about this before.

The next chapter focuses on transaction processing in MYSQL which is one of the more difficult concepts for many and I am in the process now of reading it. I really like the author’s explanations and examples. Each point is explained thoroughly and in an easy to read manner.

The rest of the book goes into more advanced topics (system architecture, benchmarking and profiling, security, replication and clustering) as well as giving more detail and explanation to topics that may only be briefly covered in other MYSQL books (stored procedures, functions, and views).

If you already know the basics of MYSQL and want to really advance your knowledge with “real-world” scenarios, this is the book for you.

Review by Michael Hillyer:

I am pleased to see a new trend emerging in the MySQL books I get to review, and that is a trend toward more advanced books that assume the reader is already familiar with how to create a table and construct a basic SELECT query. Pro MySQL by Mike Kruckenberg and Jay Pipes is a shining example of this new trend. This book cuts through the basics to provide in-depth information on not only how to use MySQL, but on how the MySQL server actually works.

One example of this is their chapter on Index Concepts. Rather than focus on the basics of how to create an index, this book gives you depth by talking about seek times, buffering, and the actual structure of things such as a B-Tree index. As a result you not only know that an index on a certain column will improve performance, you also know why.

This book is also the first I have seen that takes a chapter to really dig into the MySQL source code and illustrate some of the internal workings of the MySQL server, such as the client protocol, complete with flow charts and diagrams. The System Architecture chapter is a great place to start if you are looking to understand the server internals or modify the MySQL source code.

There is a nice SQL Scenarios chapter that covers some common use cases for things such as finding duplicate and orphan records, retrieving random rows (properly), working with GIS data, and (my favorite) working with hierarchical data. The authors cover the Nested Set model nicely (which I have previously written and presented about), covering the basics of using nested sets. This provides a good starting point from which one could easily jump the Celko’s Trees and Hierarchies book.

The book carries on with a good introduction to stored procedures, functions, cursors, views, and triggers to round out the first half of the book, and then spends the second half of the book focusing on administrative tasks.

There is quick coverage of installing and configuring MySQL, with more emphasis given to configuring MySQL than installing it, as is appropriate to a book on advanced MySQL usage. Following installation and configuration comes coverage of user administration, where once again flow charts are used effectively to show the authentication process within the MySQL server.

I was pleased to see the MySQL GUI tools being covered in print, as user administration was shown both using the command-line mysql client and MySQL Administrator. It was good to see the authors recommend that administrators think in terms of user roles, even if roles are not yet implemented in MySQL (the authors suggest the use of scripts to grant and revoke roles, a good workaround in the interim).

This book will certainly be noted for being one of the first to print with coverage of MySQL Cluster, as well as a full chapter on the new INFORMATION_SCHEMA, or MySQL Data Dictionary, as the authors chose to name the chapter.

All in all this is a really solid book for the experienced MySQL user who wants to go futher, and certainly lives up to its name.

Review by Richard Bejtlich:

I read and reviewed MySQL Press’ MySQL Tutorial by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson two years ago. I thought Tutorial was a great, concise (267 pages including index) MySQL overview. I hoped The Definitive Guide to MySQL 5, 3rd Ed (DG, 748 pages) would extend my understanding of MySQL beyond the coverage in the Tutorial. Unfortunately, I found the Tutorial did a better job addressing important information than the DG. While there is some good information in the DG, I recommend staying with books published by MySQL Press.

The biggest problem with the DG stems from this statement on p xxvii: “No previous knowledge of SQL or database design is assumed.” The first seven chapters, however, frequently direct confused newbies to chapters 8-10, where database design and SQL syntax is introduced. An author who recognizes that he is losing readers should take a hard look at the organization of his book.

DG is also far from a “definitive guide.” I wanted to learn more about JOIN statements, but only 3 confusing pages (pp 197-9) cover JOINS — compared to 7 in the much shorter Tutorial. Worse, here is how the author “introduces” the LEFT JOIN and ON statements: “One variant consists in creating a table list with LEFT JOIN and then forming the linking connection with ON.” How is anyone (especially newbies) supposed to consider that informative?

I was also interested in learning about MERGE tables, since I use them in an open source project. DG has nothing to say on the subject, although the Tutorial gives at least 2 pages. The DG also makes the unfortunate decision to omit the semicolon from the end of all MySQL commands. Sure, they may not be in the SQL standard, but every single other MySQL book I’ve seen uses them. That is especially important for new MySQL users.

The DG also spent far too much time on areas I felt were best addressed elsewhere. I really don’t care to learn how to install Apache, PHP, and Perl on various platforms. I also didn’t need to read so much about integration with PHP. Other books with MySQL and PHP in the title are the right place to discuss that subject. I admit I skipped reading Part IV, on programming interfaces, along with ch 12 (GIS) and the SQL and API references (ch 21, 23).

On the positive side, I had not read anything on stored procedures or triggers before (ch 13). I also picked up some tricks on security and logging from chs 11 and 14. I learned of some new administration tools in ch 5. I still wish the author had spent more time addressing SQL syntax and explaining what it meant, and less on peripheral issues. Performance and tuning are two subjects outside of core SQL syntax that should be in the book but are not discussed thoroughly. I should note that I thought the translator for DG did a great job. I didn’t notice any real rough spots that may have been the result of poor translation.

If the fourth edition of the DG receives a major overhaul, you might consider buying it. I am astounded by the number of positive reviews for this and previous editions, since I believe the DG does not address enough of the subjects that really matter to MySQL administrators.

Apress does publish many outstanding books, such as Running IPv6 or several titles on Python. I recommend checking out those works.

Review by Boyd E. Hemphill:

First a bit about me: I MySQL 4 certified both core and professional. I have 2.5 years production experience with MySQL and 6 years with databases in general.

I bought this book based on the table of contents thinking I would get a good read on the differences between versions 4 and 5. Then I would begin my journey towards certification.

While this book may be good at telling me about 5, I have found so many factual errors in the first 200 pages that I am going to set it aside for fear that I will be mislead on topics that are new to me.

Here are some examples:

- The author says it is possible to drop a table where foreign key constraints are in place. This is false. The server will return an error and InnoDB status will provide detail.

- The author states that the location of orphan records in a child table can be done by a simple subselect. While this is true, in any table larger than a few thousand rows the query will take forever. This should be done with an outer join.

- The author states (pg 153) that MySQL is case-sensitive in regard to database and table names. This is true in operating systems that are case sensitive (Linux, OS X, Unix) but not Windows. While it may not seem like a big deal, a DB using InnoDB tables will not port from Linux to Windows if varied case is used in these names.

-On page 8 the author states that use of MyISAM tables precludes hot backups. MySQL has shipped with mysqlhotcopy since version 3.23 (Note InnoDB does require the purchase of InnoDB Hotbackup)

-On the same page the author states that MySQL is unsuitable for OLAP applications. Again this is false. MyISAM tables provide a number of very powerful features that support data warehousing. MySQL has even partnered with Business Objects on just this type of system.

Given these and many other details, it appears to me that this book was written by someone who uses MySQL is one specific way, thus it defines their experience with the system.

I strongly recommend against this book.

Review by :

I read a lot of computer books both as part of my day job (unix sysadmin) and on the side (wrote 2 computer books). Normally I’m not moved to write nice things about the competition, but this book is truly impressive.The organization of the chapters is logical, proceeding from introductory to advanced topics in clearly defined stages. The author thankfully resisted the current trend of giving the chapters cutesy names that communicate nothing. The writing is clear and concise. The indexing is superb. The coverage of the subject matter is unbelievably complete, encompassing not only MySQL and general database theory, but also almost every other aspect of database programming.In the six months I’ve been working with it I’ve never been unable to find the answer to a MySQL question in this book. Indeed, the Appendices are so good that I have found answers in here when the books I was reading on PHP and the Perl DBI turned out to be wrong.MySQL is a very impressive achievement in all respects.

Review by Adam J Foxson:

I have purchased many books on SQL. I USUALLY purchase books (I own over 30) from Oreilly, as I did with their MySql/MSQL book which was absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the MySQL book by Other New Riders. I really must say this book is PERFECT. It covers EVERY major topic. It is SUPERBLY written, both novices and experts alike can easily learn, follow, and understand this book. It’s an extraordinarly effective tutorial, learing guide, and reference. It gives clear, easy to follow instructions and examples on everything, and anything you need to do in reguard to databases. I give this book my HIGHEST possible recommendation. This book was worth every single penny I paid for it.

Review by Cor Bader:

I love NuSphere. NuSphere MySQL was a snap to install. I was able to host a web page pretty much right at the start (after I got used to the directory structure and some of the features). This was perfect for a beginner like me. Perl, apache, php and mysql work right from the start. This setup is perfect for learning Web Development and administration. I’ve wanted to learn Apache and php for a while, and NuSphere definitely kicks you right into it. The nice thing is you don’t even need to be connected to the net to start learning. This package comes with pocket reference guides to Perl, apache, and php. Plus the big book on MySQL.A good knowledge of Linux/Unix and command lines well is needed.

Review by :

I’d read reviews of NuSphere MySQL on other websites, which said it was great for newbies: easy installation and great tools. I’m a veteran internet programmer, but finally bought it for two reasons: I needed an easy way to get my customers up and running quickly, on a common webserver platform, and I wanted versions of the tools running under Windows as well as Linux.This package turned out to be a lifesaver. It comes with lots of features, including out-of-the-box, easy to install and use, Apache, Perl, PHP and MySQL, all configured correctly, and working on multiple platforms. I found the integrated phpmyadmin utility a great way to manage my MySQL databases.Best feature: remote install, so I can install it on a headless machine at my ISP.

Review by :

This well written guidebook covers a hundred real-life time saving scripts and command-line magic.
Everything your local *nix guru knows that you don’t; narrow the gap!Highlights include CVS commands, creating unchangeable files (even by root!), filtering
and organizing apache log files (for example, listing the top 20 broken links, sorted
and numbered by frequency of occurrence), modifying the titlebar to display load average,
host, current directory, etc., ntop and httptop and much more.I’ve been using *nix for 6 years now, and I found this book both a refreshing review of
previously known concepts as well as a great introduction to some new utilities and tools.

Review by Ales Kavsek:

I can’t help myself not to begin this review with a big *thanks* to O’Reilly for choosing Linux to launch this new series.
First thing that crossed my mind after opening this tiny book, was a notion of close resemblance with another O’Reilly book that I read recently, “Unix Power Tools”. Book is organized in almost identical way, short articles (anything from a page or two, to several pages) that are presented with a clear writing style, examples and efficient layout. Articles are cross-referenced in such a way that you can easily start reading the book from whatever end you wish.
The hacks that I like the most are those in chapters on Server Basics, Backups, SSH and Information Servers (BIND, Apache, MySQL, OpenSSL). If you’re hardcore Linux sysadmin you’ll probably appreciate hacks in other chapters too; Networking, Revision Control and Monitoring. For me, the most challenging hacks in this book are the ones that deal with tunneling (IPIP/GRE encapsulation, vtun over SSH), due to complete lack of experience on my side, otherwise I found the book well worth the price and time to read, even if you’ll end up with only one or two implemented hacks in your production environment. (If I could only say this more often in my reviews .
Keep in mind, this is not the book that’ll likely collect the dust on your bookshelf after you’ll read it. Mine is always close to the Linux box that I manage (in a good company with already mentioned “Unix Power Tools”).I’m really looking forward to other books from O’Reilly Hacks series, what about 100 hacks on Oracle, MySQL, regular expressions “one liners” (with sed, awk, grep, perl…), Windows NT…

Review by D. Nicholson:

I have 16 years experience as an adjunct instructor at a community college. I have a BS in Engineering and I’m 3 credits away from my Master’s in Comp Sci.

I’m taking time from my class prep to write this review…

I have been assigned to teach a Visual Basic programming class with this book. Had I been given the opportunity to read the text beforehand, I would have fought hard to use some other book. The example code is formatted so poorly that I am embarassed to use it in class. Some of the example code in the book doesn’t even match what’s available for download on the WROX web site. The QC staff at WROX should be reassigned. I’ve QC’d many programming textbooks myself and I can see that this stinker was rushed to print without enough editing.

Don’t be fooled by the title. The majority of the examples are SQL Server-specific. OK, Visual Studio has a SQL Server bent, given that both are Microsoft Products. That’s no secret. However, if the title of the book references Oracle and MySQL, then all the examples should also. If a particular paradigm can only be implemented in SQL Server, then the authors have a responsibility to provide work-arounds for the other DBMS’s that are listed on the cover of the book. Arrrgh.

Chapter 1 covers the History of Data Access. That doesn’t fit with the remainder of the book. Part of chapter 2 covers normalization, also not a good fit with the remainder of the book. The authors even admit that the book is aimed at software developers who have prior knowledge of ADO .Net and SQL Server. That implies prior knowledge of normalization and database design.

Recently I was at the bookstore with my 11 year-old. I was agonizing over which ASP .Net book (both WROX titles) to purchase, so I held up two possibilities and asked her to help. She noted that one cover had 3 author’s faces on it and the other had two. She concluded that the book with 3 faces must be better. I couldn’t argue with that logic. This book has seven faces on it, but it just doesn’t deliver.

Review by August Wind:

I was really looking forward to this book, for both ASP.Net and WinForms development, since I really thought that’s what the book was really about. Boy was I surprised. if that was all it had, I’d probably be very happy. However – that was just the tip of the iceberg! It has quite a wide focus, so, in some cases, it was kind of dificult to know where the book is going.

However, The reader is somewhat warned right off the bat, that the book focuses mainly on the new features of ADO.Net 2.0, so prior knowledge of ADO.Net is expected, but I believe there is still a lot of text that covers a lot of the basics – just without a hand-held experience.

For those so inclined, there’s quite a bit of information concerning subjects like usinc CLR objects, TSQL Enhancements, Notification Services, Service Broker and Reporting Services, though it’s definitely not JUST about SQL Server. There is quite a bit on the popular open source databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, along with a chapter on Oracle, just for good measure.

Many times, on different forums, I find questions concerning how to create a Database/table/etc, in code. Professional ADO.Net 2 has this plus a whole lot more about SQL Server server-side programming

Going into the book, I knew there were quite a few new features of ADO.Net, but I really had no idea concerning the extent of new features. This book contains 584 pages of great information. Though what I’d consider a bit wordy, at times, I’ll definitely keep this book around.

If all you do is ASP.Net web page development, maybe this isn’t the book for you – but if you do a lot more and really like ‘nuts and bolts’, and widening your experience, I think it’s a go!

Review by Jack D. Herrington:

I was hoping that there would be more about designing databases. Though I was pleasantly surprised at the solid introduction to MySQL that the book gives. In fact it spends the first two thirds of the book on the basics, before getting into optimization and finally programming.

The design aspect of the book is in the third chapter, which is one of the books best. There is some good high level material on the fundamentals of schema design, and then material on relation mapping, and then into it’s implementation in MySQL.

There is a lot to like in this book. And I like the fact that someone is finally giving some attention to MySQL, which, if it’s not the most advanced database in the world, is probably the most ubiquitous. This is a fine book for anyone who works with MySQL.

Review by Harold McFarland:

The first three chapters of this book deal with the basics of MySQL including basic concepts, column and table types, keys, indexes, and normalization. The authors have written an excellent introduction to MySQL that provides all the core information you need to start using it right away. The chapter on finding the bottlenecks is one of the best sections in the book and details some of the finer points to be considered when creating your database. On the other hand, the part on optimizing queries is excellent for the beginning MySQL student (which is the target audience for this book) but not as good as it could be for the more experienced MySQL user. Perhaps I am just more sensitive to this area because of all the badly done queries I have had to deal with before. A good understanding of just this part can make a tremendous difference in optimization. If you are new to SQL queries the authors have done a great job of explaining why this is important and how to understand it when a query takes under a minute to run and then after a small change takes twenty. The last section covers accessing the MySQL database via other programming languages such as PHP. Beginning MySQL Database Design and Optimization is a recommended read for its target audience – the beginning MySQL programmer.

Review by macktheknife:

I have just started learning some PHP & MySQL development using “PHP & MySQL Web Development” published by Sams and “Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL” from O’Reilly. Prospective readers might be wondering the difference between the two in deciding which one to buy, so I hope to shed some light on the issue.Sams: The Welling and Thomson book is more “hands-on” in that it takes the reader step-by-step in developing an e-commerce website. The chapters are organized in a goal-oriented manner: PHP, MySQL, the basics of e-commerce, security, and design of the site.O’Reilly: The Williams and Lane book is structured in a similar way by showing readers PHP and then MySQL. Examples to reinforce concepts are also provided. While the O’Reilly book also tries to take the reader in developing an e-commerce site, it is a bit more theoretical. Also, there are some differences in focus: the O’Reilly book has a section on using JavaScript while the Sams book has a final chapter on creating PDF files using PHP.If I had to choose just one book, I would go with the Sams book due to its more gentle learning curve. However, I believe that the O’Reilly book is no slouch, and I will probably come to appreciate it more once I gain more experience in PHP and MySQL development.One last word about my programming background: I knew a bit of Perl, Java, HTML, and JavaScript before tackling PHP and MySQL. I consider myself to be an “advanced beginner” (an oxymoron, of course). To get the most out of these two books, you should know HTML well enough to read it (you should at least recognize some tags) and it would definitely be helpful if you have some programming experience. You could very well make PHP your first programming language, but I would advise against it. Start with something like Perl (whose syntax is very similar to PHP’s).I highly recommend both books to prospective PHP and MySQL developers who are willing to spend some time and effort.

Review by D. Emmett Pickerel:

I’ve been entrenched with JSP heavily for the last couple of years, so I haven’t familiarised myself with PHP yet. I needed a book that would show me a larger picture than I got in a web developer’s job, and showed me how to put it together with more modern techniques.
This book is a perfect example of why I choose O’Reilly whenever in doubt. Chapter 1 is an overview of how web applications are put together. Chapter 2 goes through all the basic PHP syntax (stuff that would take other books several fluffy dry chapters to process). Chapter 3 gets you through all the mySQL and sql basics so you feel comfortable with that, too.
There’s no 4 page tutotial entitled: “Using a text editor: Wordpad” There’s also no kitch “Employee Database” example cop-out. Instead, Hugh and Dave give a realistic and usable storefront application. This book alone is probably enough for the independent web developer to get a functional site up for her/himself or a client.

Review by farout:

Here is my background:

Java, Cold Fusion, ASP.net, C#, Rails; sys admin for Windows and Unix boxes.

Picked up several books to learn PHP – yuck!

Picked up this book. Wow. In 2 days I was on my way!

1. all the code examples actually work. Yes, it’s true. I know it’s shocking.

2. the explanations are excellent. Wow can this person communicate. Again shocking.

3. Tons of examples. Talking is great but I learn through code examples. There are plenty here. That is why in 2 days you will be like: Wow I can code in PHP.

4. Here is the best part – Nixon helps you setup everything so it works. I mean in less than 30min I was running PHP via Apache on my Windows using Mysql. I have days with other books trying to make things work because the author did not care enough to actually help me do setup.

Then pick up the PHP Web Dev Wellin/Thompson book and bang with Nixon’s – you are a PHP intermediate level programmer.

Really – that easy.

I wasted so many hours with other books – crap. Live and learn.

Thank you Robin Nixon. This book is a godsend. With the hours I saved, I am partying – yee ha!

Review by Running Bill:

I agree with what’s already been said about the code working and the author communicating well. Too often I’ve been disappointed with an over-abundance of typos or just bad instruction, both really frustrating when already faced with the challenge of learning something new. But this book definitely delivers there.

The reason I was really excited about this title and why I’m loving it so much as I go through it is that it focuses on combining all three and talks about real-world situations. You might read a PHP or javascript book that does the job teaching you those on their own but when it’s time to close the book and use them on a real website, you’d be lost or Googling a LOT of things. Most “cool” sites do a good job of making their scripting languages work well together, and this book will show you how to do that, and it serves as a great jump-off for more advanced scripting later. It’s like the author said “I know what you’re trying to accomplish, here’s how to do it.”

Awesome job and I hope to see more like this!

Review by Robert P. Beveridge:

Kevin Yank, Build Your Own Database-Driven Web Site with PHP and MySQL (Sitepoint, 2009)

I have just finished my first read through Kevin Yank’s Build Your Own Database-Driven Web Site with PHP and MySQL. I can tell you that it will not be my last read through it, by any means. While there are a few places it glosses over and a few rather shocking omissions in the name of simplicity, it was (and I can rarely say this with a computer book) exactly what I was looking for.

Using simple, easy-to-understand tutorials, Yank takes you through the development of a very simple website that has a database as its back end. This should not surprise you, given the title of the book. Impressively, it neither manages to talk down to its reader (assuming a complete newb) nor spirals off into overly technical jargon (assuming a MySQL-certified reader). Granted, if you’ve been a database developer for ten years (that would be me) some of this will be redundant, but it’s a good refresher course for basic database concepts and a perfect way to immerse yourself in MySQL if you’re coming from a different DBMS. That said, my main problem with the book was Yank’s breezy passing by the idea of using the InnoDB engine and letting your code handle foreign key constraints. That’s workable (though very, very iffy) for the four-table database Yank builds here, but any real-life (read: complex) solution will quickly get unmanageable; any minor change to the table structure, depending on how many tables it relates to, could require hours of hunting and changing code. As any programmer learns within the first ten minutes of starting his first programming course, that is a recipe for bugs.

My other problem with it, though this is far more minor, is that (I think) content management systems like this usually store site settings in the database as well, and Yank doesn’t address this at all beyond logins and passwords, choosing to refer the user to learning CSS. I thought CSS was dead, or close to it. I’d have expected that in a book written in 2004, but in 2009? But my inexperience with web apps–I’ve always been a back-end developer–may be more at fault than Yank’s writing, so I’ll defer judgment on that to those who actually know what they’re doing with this stuff, who will hopefully get round to reviewing the book eventually. In any case, the stuff that’s actually here, the parts on data access and getting your data from database to website, are clear as well as being very easy to understand and implement, and that’s a rare thing in computer books. Highly recommended, though you’ll need other books to cover the places where this is lacking. ****

Review by Mauricio Quiroga I. Websites:

This is a good book in an overall point of view. If you want to learn from the ground up without any help from any web editor this is your choice. It is a little difficult for a beginner but the examples in the book are pretty clear and straightforward.

What is most interesting about this book is the use of php templates and the coding style that the book wants the reader to learn. The book shows a wide use of php templates.

Review by Ales Kavsek:

As an Oracle DBA, I was looking for a book that can help me better understand MySQL core concepts and differences compared to my primary working platform. I was looking for a book with the flavor of Oracle Concepts Manual. I partially read official MySQL reference manual but didn’t find (get?) all the answers (nor I really enjoyed reading it – sorry AB doc. team!).
I think this book filled my knowledge gap on MySQL perfectly. Actually, this book could easily bear different title, such as “MySQL concepts guide” or something like that. You’ll probably read the book in a couple of days, thanks to the author’s clear writing style.
Let me give you an example. Some technical topics are difficult to explain in a few sentences, like the one on letter I (Isolation) from ACID rules for ‘safe’ transactions. Just compare the explanation on “phantom reads” from this book with the one you’ll find in Oracle Concepts Manual (freely available on-line from OTN). Now, which one did you understand on the first pass?
Thanks to clear and short explanations, right from the beginning of the book, I learned some important technical facts about MySQL that I could easily put in perspective with my Oracle background. For example:
-”All InnoDB tables have primary keys”
-”InnoDB tables are similar to Oracle index-organized tables.”
-”MySQL will only ever use one index per table per query!”
-”MySQL doesn’t cache rows for MyISAM tables, only indexes…as opposed to InnoDB”
-”…counts are very fast on MyISAM tables and slow on InnoDB tables…”
Obviously the chapters that I liked the most in this book are the ones that covers core things very well:
“2. Storage Engines”,
“4. Indexes”,
“5. Query Performance” and
“10. Security”.
All other chapters are fine but not essential for my current use of MySQL (like the excellent chapter on replication where it’s obvious that Jeremy poses vast practical experience with replication from his workplace at Yahoo!).
The only complaint that I have is the one on “Storage Engines” chapter. In my opinion multi storage engine architecture is the most important advantage of MySQL over all other database vendors
products. I wish author’s went a little deeper with the details (and thanks but no thanks, I don’t want to read source code , especially InnoDB engine is not covered enough (hmm…or maybe it’s just me, after all .
Overall this book is highly recommended to all DBAs, the existing MySQL DBAs as well as to all others that work with other RDBMS and want a fast way to pick the most important technical nuances of MySQL.

Review by Harold McFarland:

While the authors go over the basics of MySQL briefly in the first couple of chapters this is not a book for the new MySQL administrator. It assumes a good deal of basic knowledge about MySQL. On the other hand, if you know the basics and need to get that extra knowledge to move your system from one that just works to one that truly performs then this book is for you. From the initial steps of benchmarking your system and tweaking the indexes the book moves on to improving your performance through optimizing queries and server performance tuning. This includes examining all aspects of your system from disk and file system selection to minor configuration changes that may make great changes in performance. Once the server is working at its optimum for your needs the book turns to how to scale your SQL system up to multiple servers and configure replication, load balancing, and high availability systems. The main text of the book ends with a section on backup, recovery, and security. If you need performance, reliability and security beyond the standard configuration and need to maximize throughput this is the book you will want to have at hand. “High Performance MySQL” is one of the best optimization and performance books available for the intermediate to advanced user of MySQL – very highly recommended.

Review by Pearly:

I’m a DBA for a mid-sized manufacturing company. We were about to upgrade our SQL Server to Oracle 10g, which was going to set ups back a lot of money. I had been experimenting with MySQL and bought this helpful book to give me a better understanding of how to make it run fast. I really liked the case studies, because they cover a lot of different senarios. To make long story short, I was able to convert the SQL Server database to MySQL, and things have been going great.

Review by :

I read a lot of computer books both as part of my day job (unix sysadmin) and on the side (wrote 2 computer books). Normally I’m not moved to write nice things about the competition, but this book is truly impressive.The organization of the chapters is logical, proceeding from introductory to advanced topics in clearly defined stages. The author thankfully resisted the current trend of giving the chapters cutesy names that communicate nothing. The writing is clear and concise. The indexing is superb. The coverage of the subject matter is unbelievably complete, encompassing not only MySQL and general database theory, but also almost every other aspect of database programming.In the six months I’ve been working with it I’ve never been unable to find the answer to a MySQL question in this book. Indeed, the Appendices are so good that I have found answers in here when the books I was reading on PHP and the Perl DBI turned out to be wrong.MySQL is a very impressive achievement in all respects.

Review by Adam J Foxson:

I have purchased many books on SQL. I USUALLY purchase books (I own over 30) from Oreilly, as I did with their MySql/MSQL book which was absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the MySQL book by Other New Riders. I really must say this book is PERFECT. It covers EVERY major topic. It is SUPERBLY written, both novices and experts alike can easily learn, follow, and understand this book. It’s an extraordinarly effective tutorial, learing guide, and reference. It gives clear, easy to follow instructions and examples on everything, and anything you need to do in reguard to databases. I give this book my HIGHEST possible recommendation. This book was worth every single penny I paid for it.

Review by Sean P. Hull:

Well, the first thing you want to do when you finish a book like this is go on and on about how impressed you are. This is one of the best database technology books I’ve read, and the best one on MySQL.

Digging into the book I would say I was an intermediate DBA. With 12 years experience on Oracle I was a seasoned DBA. And although I’ve used MySQL for about 10 years, I had not used all of the high end or newest 5.0 and 5.1 features. After reading this book, or while reading it, you’ll be ready to dig into everything from MySQL master-master replication (not to be confused with multi-master), creating a logging server, optimizing your query cache, or even using some of the Google MySQL patches to add some much needed but missing feature to MySQL.

The book is organized pretty well. Keep in mind that this is not a beginner book. If you’re looking for more general across the board MySQL book, I’d recommend the APress Pro MySQL by Kruckenberg and Pipes Pro MySQL (Expert’s Voice in Open Source). It is also very good, but hits more of the beginning topics (as well as some advanced ones). So given the intermediate to advanced audience, this book dives right into benchmarking and profiling at the beginning.

Queries… those pesky SQL commands that you send to your database. They’re so important to performance, yet so sadly misunderstood. This book devotes two chapters to the topic, one about schema and index optimization, and one about query performance. These two work together. You need to understand indexing to make best use of them, and how to write good queries to get only the data you need. The indexing chapter hit on index types supported by MyISAM, and ones for InnoDB. It talked about rebuilding, and when it’s important, and statistics, and how they are different across the different storage engines. And this is a key point. Going into this book with my Oracle background, I had a lot of questions about how the optimizing engine aka the cost-based optimizer, works and interacts with the storage engines. It’s all laid out here in clear detail. It was pretty obvious that these others are closely involved with the actual database development, and/or interviewed some of them to get the information correct. This is something I’ve had a hard time finding in other books, and really key to understanding how to optimize and tune queries. Where does the query cache sit, when and how are queries parsed, when does the optimizer pickup statistics, and how does it use them. You’ll learn all the ins and outs of the explain facility, which you’ll of course need to know to tune queries.

The next chapter on advanced features covered the query cache in detail, how to set it up, how to tune it, and how to monitor it. The chapter also covers UDFs, cursors, stored procedures, views, full-text searching, merge tables, partitioning and so on. One other topic it really investigated was distributed (XA) transactions. You might at first think these are an advanced topic that most users don’t need to know about unless your application uses them. After all, who needs to query tables in a remote database when your application can connect and do that? Well it turns out MySQL is using XA transactions internally all the time within it’s storage engine architecture. One case is when you have a transaction which uses two storage engines, ie tables with different storage engine attributes. But that’s not all. MySQL also treats the binary log mechanism to be a storage engine in it’s own right, so interaction between your InnoDB table transactions, and the binary log is effectively an XA transaction.

The next two chapters talk about server settings, and optimizing the OS and Hardware. All important topics, and given substantial coverage. Hand these chapters to your storage engine guru, system administrator or read them yourself if you wear all those hats!

A chapter on Replication, of course we expected to find a. What you’ll be glad about is that it’s 65 pages of the nuts and bolts of using replication after the five minutes it took you to set it up in MySQL. It’ll help you keep your databases in sync, and help you identify them when they’re not. What, my replication slaves might be out of sync? There is also coverage of the new row-based replication, and how it may help alleviate many of the current limitations of MySQL replication. There is also solid coverage of various replication topologies, from single master and many slaves, to distributed master, master-master, and how to create a logging server. You’ll also learn why MySQL doesn’t support multi-master replication, which is where both masters received updates, and are forced to resolve conflicts, and a whole host of new problems.

After that come a few chapters on topics outside the database tier, but equally important, from load balancing, to HA, tuning your webserver to caching and so on.

The finishing chapters include backup, security, and using the built-in server status commands. And finally a chapter on other tools for interacting with and monitoring your MySQL database.

Ok, great… a wonderful book. Any criticisms. Well I save those for last because they’re really minor. If you read the book cover-to-cover you’ll probably take notes like I did, so you’ll be doing your own summarization. But at the end of various chapters, so chock full of new and very useful information, I sometimes wished there was exactly that, a summary of the topics, and quick list of bulletpoints. That would give one an easy way to look up advice for tuning specific areas and so on.

All-in-all though this book is really a tour de force for understanding MySQL database technology. Go get a copy!

Review by James Byers:

If you read the first edition and were underwhelmed, this is a vastly improved book. This second edition is entirely rewritten, more than twice as long, and covers a wide array of topics in depth, giving detailed advice and analysis in every chapter. The authors’ advice on Innodb tuning, query optimization, and advanced replication issues is very strong. If you are responsible for a non-trivial MySQL installation, get this book.

Review by Michael Hillyer:

I’ve previously stated that I am glad to see good books on advanced MySQL usage appearing such as Pro MySQL, High Performance MySQL and the like. Well, now there is a book that makes be glad to see good books for beginners: MySQL Crash Course by Ben Forta.

While experienced MySQL users should steer clear of this book, MySQL Crash Course is an excellent book for the beginner. It starts right from the basics, talking about what a database is, what SQL is, what MySQL is, then hits the ground running talking about constructing queries, sorting, using functions, etc.

The book has a good, easy to read format for each section that discusses the purpose of the section, shows a sample query, its output, and an analysis. The book wisely hides the advanced details not relevant to the beginner (such as no discussion of isolation levels in the section on transactions, just the basics of BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK, etc) and sticks to the facts for the version it is targeted against (MySQL 5.0, with sections on triggers and stored procedures).

It was nice to see that the book even covers areas such as the aforementioned stored procedures and triggers, along with views and basic maintenance and performance tuning sections.

All in all, MySQL Crash Course by Ben Forta looks like an excellent book for the beginning users just getting started with MySQL and perhaps SQL in general.

Review by S. Uebelhoer:

Anyone who wants to understand MySQL MUST buy this book. Even if you’re not the hard core programmer, but – like me – just “heavy uses” PHP/MySQL apps like the great “Drupal” CMS (http://www.drupal.org)! I have had quite some books on SQL, but this is the best introduction ever. Most books tend to be quite heavy on the reader, especially if you have to get to know MySQL while at the same time being busy with your every day job. This one however I started reading on a half hour plane ride, and finished off at night in front of the TV and in just that one single day I had found the key to MySQL! Go buy it!

Review by Daniel McKinnon:

The ‘Learning’ series of books by O’Reilly is one of my favorites by far. The thing the separates ‘Learning’ books from other ones is the fact that these books (for the most part) assume that the reader has a very limited knowledge of said subject matter and ramps them up in logical succession until the point where they are comfortable and developing/designing like a seasoned pro. A ‘Learning’ book won’t make you into an uber pro overnight, but if you are the type that better learns away from the classroom and would rather spend said time (and a lot less money) sitting in front of a computer at home with a book on your lap, you could do a lot less than this O’Reilly line of books.

With ‘Learning MySQL’ the tradition most definitely continues. ~600 pages await the reader who picks up this gem and you don’t need to have any extensive database experience in order to be able to pick this up and start cracking! From the basics of installation on Linux, Windows and the Mac to basic SQL like writing queries and stored procedures, the foundation is all there. Continuing on to discussing security, performing backups and tuning, this is an exceptional book broken up logically and smoothly into 6 parts and 18 chapters:

01. Intro

02. Installing MySQL

03. Using MySQL Monitor

04. Designing Databases

05. Basic SQL

06. Datbase Structures

07. Advanced Querying

08. More MySQL Goodies

09. Managing Users & Privileges

10. Backups & Recovery

11. Using An Options File

12. Configuring & Tuning The Server

13. Web Database Applications

14. PHP

15. PHP Application Case Study

16. Perl

17. Perl With MySQL

18. Serving Perl Pages To The Web

The chapters on PHP and Perl will show you how you can write web apps to interact with your MySQL database and move far beyond the basics or returning tables and rows to the fun you can really have with MySQL!!!

If you are using MySQL for fun or work, this is a great guide for all new/amateur programmers that want to get working efficiently in no time at all!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Review by Joe Johnson:

As a new user of MySQL with no previous SQL experience I found this book extremely helpful. This book helped me get my project up and running in very little time. I was especially impressed that even though the examples in the book did not directly correlate to what I was trying to accomplish it gave me enough general knowledge of MySQL to easily put together my project.

Review by David L. Hickman:

I built several web sites using PHP/MySQL and the only two books I use day-to-day are “MySQL Cookbook” and “PHP Cookbook”.

If you’re already somewhat familiar with MySQL, this book is a great reference for the SQL and database manipulation you already know how to do. In addition, the examples push the envelope of what is possible with MySQL making it a good learning tool for becoming truly expert.

Some of the information in the book I found useful includes:

- simplifying complex SQL using temporary tables.

- using FULLTEXT searches (similar to pattern matching but more efficient and easier to code when you’re looking for the same text in several columns at the same time).

- effective use of LEFT JOIN’s for finding rows in one table that don’t have a match in another table.

- effective use of LAST_INSERT_ID( fieldName + 1 ) for transactionally updating a numeric field without using transactions and without locking a table.

- numbering output rows using SQL variables (select @rownum := @rownum + 1; (see chapter 13.9))

I really can’t say enough good things about this book. It’s comprehensive, easy to read and just plain awesome.

Review by :

There are many databases out there. MySQL is one of the better ones. It’s a free (for personal use) database system which can be easily integrated into a web application on virtually any system. It has supports most of the standard feature found in most database system and has quiet a few features unique to MySQL. This particular book is a good reference for the experienced user as well as for new comers and as an added bonus even covers MySQL 4.0.This is book was my first introduction to O’Reilly’s cookbook series. It provides solutions to some of the most common challenged faced by the particular subject being covered (in this case MySQL). I thoroughly enjoyed it and was quiet impressed with it. Too many technical books simply introduce the concept without relating it to real world applications.This particular book introduces all of the most basic concepts of database manipulation (table creation, data insertion, data deletion, data update). As well as writing simple and advanced SQL statements to retrieve data. It approaches database design using 4 of the most popular languages (Perl, PHP, Python and Java). These are only a few of the many possible languages which can be used to manipulate a MySQL database.MySQL cookbook touches on a variety of different topics which I don’t have the space or time to cover in detail, but here is a list of them: * Handeling duplicates
* MySQL on the Web
* Processing Web input with MySQL
* Using MySQL-based Web Session ManagementOne of my favorite topics covered in the book is the idea of storing binary data such as images within a database. Although not ideal for most cases (unless you need fast access to a vast array of images), just the idea of it has a certain kewlness effect.Well, overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It needs to touch slightly more on the basic concepts of databases, and it can become the only book you’ll ever need for MySQL.

Review by W Boudville:

Well the book certainly seems to cover MySQL’s features quite comprehensively. But, as it is a reference manual, it does not attempt to teach you MySQL or the theory of relational databases. For a given MySQL command, the book’s explanation is succinct and useful. Provided you already have a background in the area. Much of the book’s discussion is probably already available in equivalent form in the online help. But hardcopy is nice to have.

Going through the functions, what you might appreciate about MySQL is that many of these are generic SQL functions. If you come from any other SQL implementation, your background will be relevant to much of the book.

Review by Rob Wehrli:

The book is “A Desktop Quick Reference” just as billed on the cover. It is explicitly MySQL-centric and doesn’t stray from that core message. It is extremely up-to-date considering the rapidity of movement in MySQL development progress.

I feel that its author, Russell Dyer is the kind of person who is easy to talk to and immediately be comfortable with based on his style and presentation in this book.

The content of this book is very well organized in keeping with the finest traditions at O’Reilly & Associates. There is an installation guide, tutorial, SQL syntax reference, MySQL built-in functions section(s), command-line utilities reference and programming languages API references for PERL, PHP and C. These API references demonstrate commonplace MySQL usage through clear, easy-to-read examples that make good sense.

It is a very comprehensive text that reads as easily as a favorite novel yet is concise enough to be your first “go-to” on MySQL issues you may face day-in and day-out. It is truly the “most advanced kingfisher” (cover animal) on the topic and, like the Pied kingfisher, it is lightweight and demonstrates keenly honed survival skills.

I use MySQL daily and I find it very useful and enjoyable. I don’t want to become an SQL guru or even a DBA, as a programmer, I enjoy having MySQL In A Nutshell close at hand so that I can focus on writing code. Thank you Mr. Dyer (and the folks at O’Reilly) for a job well-done! I heartily recommend it to everyone using MySQL. The convenience of this publication clearly outweighs its cost. Newcomers and RDBMS “old-timers” will appreciate this book equally.

Review by :

This is such a good book that I wanted to take the time to write a review and give it 5 stars, which it richly deserves. The other glowing reviews helped me to choose this book over others, and they were right on the money.I’m an experienced C/C++ programmer on Windows, but I knew nothing about PHP and MySQL — and very little about Apache and Unix — prior to opening this book. I’ve now read about 80% of it and, in the process, I’ve built a commercial-grade Website with user registration and shopping cart facilities, which was my objective. Reading this book was a very efficient use of my time — it gave me exactly what I needed to build a practical Web application system with PHP and MySQL, and very little extraneous stuff.The main prerequisite for this book is a working knowledge of HTML, and just a little background in procedural programming. Some of the earliest examples use HTML tags for tables and forms, with PHP use thoroughly explained, but without many notes on the HTML. A beginning programmer can learn effectively from this book, but as an experienced programmer I felt that it also worked well to bring me up to speed quickly on a new language.Another value of this book not mentioned in other reviews are the many good recommendations for organizing your PHP code (applying basic software engineering principles) as your Web application gets larger and more complex. Many, many Websites have been built haphazardly and are now difficult to maintain because they haven’t followed the excellent advice in this book.I did notice the typos mentioned by other reviewers, but after reading 80% of this (867-page) book I feel they are very minor and really do not detract from the book significantly at all.All in all, this is one of those rare books that is probably worth ten times the amount that you pay for it, and much more if you use it effectively.

Review by macktheknife:

I have just started learning some PHP & MySQL development using “PHP & MySQL Web Development” published by Sams and “Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL” from O’Reilly. Prospective readers might be wondering the difference between the two in deciding which one to buy, so I hope to shed some light on the issue.Sams: The Welling and Thomson book is more “hands-on” in that it takes the reader step-by-step in developing an e-commerce website. The chapters are organized in a goal-oriented manner: PHP, MySQL, the basics of e-commerce, security, and design of the site.O’Reilly: The Williams and Lane book is structured in a similar way by showing readers PHP and then MySQL. Examples to reinforce concepts are also provided. While the O’Reilly book also tries to take the reader in developing an e-commerce site, it is a bit more theoretical. Also, there are some differences in focus: the O’Reilly book has a section on using JavaScript while the Sams book has a final chapter on creating PDF files using PHP.If I had to choose just one book, I would go with the Sams book due to its more gentle learning curve. However, I believe that the O’Reilly book is no slouch, and I will probably come to appreciate it more once I gain more experience in PHP and MySQL development.One last word about my programming background: I knew a bit of Perl, Java, HTML, and JavaScript before tackling PHP and MySQL. I consider myself to be an “advanced beginner” (an oxymoron, of course). To get the most out of these two books, you should know HTML well enough to read it (you should at least recognize some tags) and it would definitely be helpful if you have some programming experience. You could very well make PHP your first programming language, but I would advise against it. Start with something like Perl (whose syntax is very similar to PHP’s).I highly recommend both books to prospective PHP and MySQL developers who are willing to spend some time and effort.

Review by Ran Wei:

Some background first: I’ve used MySQL for two decently-sized programming projects in the past, on the developer side. More recently I was hired to design, build and administer the back-end of a web application. MySQL seemed the natural choice. With background only in the developer’s role, I had a huge amount to learn.

I started out by buying the MySQL Administrator’s Guide and Reference:

http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Administrators-Guide-Language-Reference/dp/0672328704/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855803&sr=8-4

and a more general book on Database Administration:

http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244855921&sr=8-1

The former was pretty terrible, and it’s all available online anyways so there’s absolutely no reason to buy it. Why is it so bad? Despite being written by MySQL, it is completely impractical and totally bogged down with details. I defy you to figure out how to efficiently back up your database by using that guide. I couldn’t.

The latter was very useful for introducing concepts like data normalization and, while a little out of date, gives a quick sense of the products that are out there. I highly recommend it as a first read. but it’s not MySQL specific – so where to go then?

Finally, I found this book. It took me about 1 minute to find the tools I would need to back up a database and another 10 seconds to find a detailed discussion of what’s going on when you back up a database.

It’s also very recent (as of 2009/06) – it really reflects the state of the tools out there and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the developments I had been reading about in my online research were reflected in the book. Instead of glossing over complex topics like MySQL Cluster, memcached, DRBD, Linux HA (see, I wasn’t kidding about its coverage), it points you to external resources that are actually helpful.

I haven’t yet read all of it but, to my knowledge, there is nothing comparable out there. If you have a good idea of the basics behind database administration and need a practical guide to how to actually administer a MySQL database, including the tools available to you, I’d seriously recommend that you take a look at this book.

LIMITATIONS:

- I was a bit concerned about the book’s information on early-stage tools like MySQL Proxy and MySQL 6.0. They haven’t been released for general use and are not certified as stable, but the book just lists them with other tools as if you could just drop them in. Be careful.

- As another reader pointed out, it’s not the easiest read. But then, if you’ve never used SQL, never mind MySQL before, then trying to understand concepts like the difference between READ COMMITTED and SERIALIZABLE isolation levels will surely result in pain and death. This book is much better if you have a question like “How do I backup a MySQL database?”, “How do I make a trigger”, or “How do I set up replication?”

Review by Marke Schoonover:

On the front cover of MySQL Administrator’s Bible is a sentence that reads:

“The book you need to succeed!”

I must say, I do agree. Authored by two very experienced DBAs, Sheeri Cabral and Keith Murphy, they’ve combined their talents to cover what you really need to know to succeed. This book is very versatile. If you’re new to MySQL, or experienced in another database and have to start administrating MySQL, you need this book. I can honestly say, even if you have years of MySQL experience, you will learn something new. I did. Divided into four parts, MySQL Administrator’s Bible covers your First Steps with MySQL, Developing with MySQL, Core MySQL Administration and Extending Your Skills.

First Steps with MySQL starts with a gentle introduction to MySQL with company information, which seems to be changing annually, and most importantly, the MySQL community itself. What makes MySQL so fantastic is the community. After that, you’ll be lead into installing and configuring MySQL on various platforms including Linux, Windows and Solaris while touching on post installation configuration too. Basic security is covered as well as some tips on troubleshooting and accessing your new MySQL installation using tools included with MySQL or using third party software.

Developing with MySQL covers the MySQL Language Structure and if you’re coming from another RDBMS, it covers how MySQL deviates from the SQL standard by extending that standard to make MySQL the number one open source database used on the Internet. After that, this section covers the same type of topics covering just about any other mainstream databases such as using stored procedures, cursors, events, views and transactions.

The Core MySQL Administration is the heart of this book. It covers MySQL server tuning, covering all major storage engines including MyISAM, InnoDB, Falcon, PBXT, and NDB engines including the first time I’ve seen in print, the Maria storage engine. An entire chapter is devoted to implementing cache tables and using the query cache. Memcached is also mentioned, and mentioned again in the final section. Continuing on with what I consider the most important job of a DBA, backup and recovery. Databases are very central to running a business, any data loss could put a company out of business. Be prepared.

This section gives a solid introduction to the topic of dealing with users, and how they are managed within MySQL. Count on covering GRANT/REVOKE, using SHOW GRANTS and mk-show-grants MaatKit tool. Partitioning, logging and replication and measuring performance rounds out this section.

If you have experience with another RDBMS, plan on spending a significant amount of time in this section. Not that the other sections aren’t important, they are, but this is the bread and butter of what a MySQL DBA does on a daily basis.

Extending You Skills section can be considered getting your Masters in Database Administration. Just about every DBA will have to tackle improving queries and the tuning of indexes. The second most important job of a DBA is monitoring performance of your MySQL server. Don’t let your users be your first line of monitoring! Be proactive, there are plenty of open source monitoring tools available. The most popular are discussed, as well as MySQL Enterprise and third party companies too. MySQL Data Dictionary is covered in in detail over 58 pages. This is the most I’ve read in any book about the data dictionary.

Last but not least, most high performance MySQL systems involve scaling up or out. It covers the usual suspects of replication, MySQL Cluster, and memcached. MySQL Proxy is initially covered and has an appendix to expand on that information. MySQL Proxy itself is worthy of its own book. (hint, hint ) Two more appendices cover MySQL Functions and Operators, and additional resources.

Even though this book targets MySQL 5.1/6.0, there is plenty of information that will apply to 5.0. If you’re still on 5.0, don’t hesitate to pick up a copy. This will be a book that can stay with you as your upgrade to 5.1 and beyond. The companion website – [...]contains all the code from the book too, rounding out this fine tome.

What didn’t I like about the book? There are only a couple of things, all personal I’m sure. First, I really don’t care too much for tables of options from the various tools. Most open source tools are developed rather quickly and options change. This could render portions of the book out of date quickly.

The other thing I noticed that wasn’t mentioned in the book was the community versions of MySQL supported by Open Query and Percona. The latter has their own storage engine, XtraDB and backup solution, XtraBackup.

All in all, this is a very solid book on administering MySQL. This book digs deeper, the experience of the authors really show. Well done Sheeri and Keith!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided me with a copy of MySQL Administrator’s Bible.

Review by Michael Hillyer:

Quite simply, this book should be on the shelf of anyone who intends to take the MySQL Certification exams.

The book was written by Paul DuBois, certainly the top author of MySQL related books. Paul’s style is very readable and the book provides extensive coverage of the exam material.

In fact, the book is so extensive because it was written not only by Paul, but by Carsten Pedersen, certification manager at MySQL AB. The book was written by the people who created the exam, and it shows. I can tell you right now that if you read the certification study guide and know its content, you will pass the certification exam. There is not a question on the exam that is not covered by this study guide.

The exercises are good, though not always formatted the same as what you will encounter on the actual exam. Doing the exercises should reveal how well you understand a given topic in the guide.

Here’s an overview of what the book covers:

* MySQL and MySQL AB

* MySQL Software

* Using MySQL Client Programs

* Data Definition Language

* The SELECT Statement

* Basic SQL

* Update Statements

* Joins

* Importing and Exporting Data

* MySQL Architecture

* MySQL Installation and Configuration

* Security Issues

* Optimizing for Query Speed

* MyISAM Tables

* InnoDB Tables

* Advanced Server Features

Finally, here is the best part about the MySQL Certification Study Guide: it’s free. In the back of the guide is a voucher code for 25% off the cost of a certification exam, or roughly the price of the book. If you are serious about taking the MySQL Certification exams, you can’t go wrong with this book.

Review by Kevin Benton:

I found myself wanting more when it came time to try the practice exam questions. The book comes with PDF’s that serve as the practice exam. What I expected was software that would simulate the test. I’m taking the DBA class next month and I don’t expect any issues passing the exam, though I would feel more comfortable forking out the $ to take it if I had a wider pool of questions to study from.

The book does a fairly good job of covering both exam tracks (DBD & DBA) from what I’ve seen thus far and is laid out in a practical way for those preparing for the exam. This book is not intended as a reference, though some new admins may choose to use it like that.

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Post-exam follow-up:

The certification study guide did a good job of helping me pass the exams the first time through. Primary goal – accomplished. If you plan to attend the MySQL 5.0 DBA class, I got a copy of my own in the class so I wound up with an extra (so I keep one at work and one at home). Combine this with the on-line resources available and the value of this book increases.

I do find myself recommending this book to other developers and administrators to learn how to improve their MySQL skills, but I don’t recommend it as a reference. It accomplishes its purpose well, however, I think it could have been better by having more of the information we need after the exam is over. This is not a manual for MySQL and clearly does not stand on its own for that purpose. If your goal is to get certified as a DBD or DBA, this book will likely help. If your goal is to use this book as your only manual for MySQL, this is not the best investment of resources to that end.

Hits:

o Helped me pass the MySQL DBA exam first-time with very thorough study and having taken the MySQL 5 DBA class.

o PDF files for exam prep materials and a full PDF of the book itself

o Has some nice query optimization explanations in it.

o Provides nice resources for those who are upgrading their skills from MySQL 3.x, 4.x.

Misses:

o Does not cover MySQL Cluster.

o CD did not contain software that helped me take practice exams.

o Resource not intended to be used as a full reference of MySQL.

o Many of the prep questions were given before the material to answer the questions were presented.

Note: I would increase my rating of this book to four stars, but Amazon won’t let me change the rating in my review.

Review by Richard Bejtlich:

I read and reviewed MySQL Press’ MySQL Tutorial by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson two years ago. I thought Tutorial was a great, concise (267 pages including index) MySQL overview. I hoped The Definitive Guide to MySQL 5, 3rd Ed (DG, 748 pages) would extend my understanding of MySQL beyond the coverage in the Tutorial. Unfortunately, I found the Tutorial did a better job addressing important information than the DG. While there is some good information in the DG, I recommend staying with books published by MySQL Press.

The biggest problem with the DG stems from this statement on p xxvii: “No previous knowledge of SQL or database design is assumed.” The first seven chapters, however, frequently direct confused newbies to chapters 8-10, where database design and SQL syntax is introduced. An author who recognizes that he is losing readers should take a hard look at the organization of his book.

DG is also far from a “definitive guide.” I wanted to learn more about JOIN statements, but only 3 confusing pages (pp 197-9) cover JOINS — compared to 7 in the much shorter Tutorial. Worse, here is how the author “introduces” the LEFT JOIN and ON statements: “One variant consists in creating a table list with LEFT JOIN and then forming the linking connection with ON.” How is anyone (especially newbies) supposed to consider that informative?

I was also interested in learning about MERGE tables, since I use them in an open source project. DG has nothing to say on the subject, although the Tutorial gives at least 2 pages. The DG also makes the unfortunate decision to omit the semicolon from the end of all MySQL commands. Sure, they may not be in the SQL standard, but every single other MySQL book I’ve seen uses them. That is especially important for new MySQL users.

The DG also spent far too much time on areas I felt were best addressed elsewhere. I really don’t care to learn how to install Apache, PHP, and Perl on various platforms. I also didn’t need to read so much about integration with PHP. Other books with MySQL and PHP in the title are the right place to discuss that subject. I admit I skipped reading Part IV, on programming interfaces, along with ch 12 (GIS) and the SQL and API references (ch 21, 23).

On the positive side, I had not read anything on stored procedures or triggers before (ch 13). I also picked up some tricks on security and logging from chs 11 and 14. I learned of some new administration tools in ch 5. I still wish the author had spent more time addressing SQL syntax and explaining what it meant, and less on peripheral issues. Performance and tuning are two subjects outside of core SQL syntax that should be in the book but are not discussed thoroughly. I should note that I thought the translator for DG did a great job. I didn’t notice any real rough spots that may have been the result of poor translation.

If the fourth edition of the DG receives a major overhaul, you might consider buying it. I am astounded by the number of positive reviews for this and previous editions, since I believe the DG does not address enough of the subjects that really matter to MySQL administrators.

Apress does publish many outstanding books, such as Running IPv6 or several titles on Python. I recommend checking out those works.

Review by Boyd E. Hemphill:

First a bit about me: I MySQL 4 certified both core and professional. I have 2.5 years production experience with MySQL and 6 years with databases in general.

I bought this book based on the table of contents thinking I would get a good read on the differences between versions 4 and 5. Then I would begin my journey towards certification.

While this book may be good at telling me about 5, I have found so many factual errors in the first 200 pages that I am going to set it aside for fear that I will be mislead on topics that are new to me.

Here are some examples:

- The author says it is possible to drop a table where foreign key constraints are in place. This is false. The server will return an error and InnoDB status will provide detail.

- The author states that the location of orphan records in a child table can be done by a simple subselect. While this is true, in any table larger than a few thousand rows the query will take forever. This should be done with an outer join.

- The author states (pg 153) that MySQL is case-sensitive in regard to database and table names. This is true in operating systems that are case sensitive (Linux, OS X, Unix) but not Windows. While it may not seem like a big deal, a DB using InnoDB tables will not port from Linux to Windows if varied case is used in these names.

-On page 8 the author states that use of MyISAM tables precludes hot backups. MySQL has shipped with mysqlhotcopy since version 3.23 (Note InnoDB does require the purchase of InnoDB Hotbackup)

-On the same page the author states that MySQL is unsuitable for OLAP applications. Again this is false. MyISAM tables provide a number of very powerful features that support data warehousing. MySQL has even partnered with Business Objects on just this type of system.

Given these and many other details, it appears to me that this book was written by someone who uses MySQL is one specific way, thus it defines their experience with the system.

I strongly recommend against this book.