Rating: 
Summary: Well explained MySQL concepts
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Well explained MySQL concepts
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect...
Review: Finally a book that does not spend chapters telling you how to log into MySQL and create a table. I've been heavily using MySQL for 3 years, and know a lot about it, but have still learned significant things on nearly EVERY page of this book. Jeremy has a massive amount of *experience* using MySQL in real world applications, and has figured out how to communicate that in writing. Buy it and read it twice.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect...
Review: Finally a book that does not spend chapters telling you how to log into MySQL and create a table. I've been heavily using MySQL for 3 years, and know a lot about it, but have still learned significant things on nearly EVERY page of this book. Jeremy has a massive amount of *experience* using MySQL in real world applications, and has figured out how to communicate that in writing. Buy it and read it twice.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacking substance and will not benefit the pro DBA
Review: Hi there
Coming from an Oracle and SQL Server world, not alot changes really between the enterprise class DBMSs, many of the same best practice principals apply. Unfortunatly, this book falls WELL short of the mark.
The book only glances over tuning, with no thorough look into the startup parameters for example. Indexing, stats collection etc is also very poor and there are no discussions on internals (to save us all from reading the code!).
The replication chapter was OK, but I would seriosly suggest that the modelled replication model for load balancing is a really bad idea and a maintenance/cost nightmare.
For a prod dba from Oracle or SQL, you will be very disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on MySQL
Review: I have read many books on MySQL and found this one the best. The book is perfect for me, Systems Architect, Oracle DBA. I found answers for most of my questions on MySQL from the systems, high performance, replication and other advance areas. The book is not for novice users, you need to have some experience in RDBMS to appreciate it. I plan on launching enterprise web site using MySQL, High Performance MySQL answers most of my questions and cleared doubts that I have had on MySQL.
Rating:
Summary: Focused, practical advice on MySQL
Review: If you are thinking about rolling out a large MySQL installation this book is for you. Chapter five, on query performance tuning is worth the price of admission, and the rest of the book is good in addition. In particular the backup and replication chapters are also very good. The tone of the book is light, which makes it's scant 250 pages a quick read. Graphics are used sparingly and to good effect.
For systems administrators and DBAs this is a must have book. For engineers it might be worth a look. It's probably not worth the money if you are just using MySQL on an ISP and doing low volume work.
Rating:
Summary: A must for MySQL Administrators
Review: If you interact with MySQL on a regular basis, High Performance MySQL should be the next book that you read. High Performance MySQL does a great job at covering techniques on benchmarking your current configuration and how to increase performance at 3 major levels: 1) database architecture, 2) server tuning, and 3) scaling horizontally (with multiple servers).
Database architecture is where it really begins. Zawodny and Balling did a great job explaining the different storage engines along with their advantages and disadvantages, working with transactions, how to get the most of your database through indexing and how to optimize query performance.
Zawodny and Balling also did an excellent job on covering server tuning. It just wasn't a turtorial on 'this is how you should modify your configuration files.' The authors whent into great detail in explaining different hardware configurations, what to look for in RAID configurations and different filesystems, and how to solve various bottlenecks.
For the most part, the authors reserved a complete 60 pages of the book for Replicaiton and Load Balancing configurations. The authors provided several scenarios to choose from along with the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, you are going to need it!
Review: Sooner or later the "small" application you have developed using MySQL will grow, and yes, MySQL will have to be a bullet proof solution.
This book has everything you need to know about what it takes to use MySQL seriously, either in corporate enviroments or web applications, just to use some examples.
Even if your application is not very complex or big, with this book you will notice that MySQL has got a full suite of solutions packed with it that can help you maintain your database 24 x 7 or recover from an inevitable disaster.
A MUST HAVE for the serious or wannabe MySQL administrator!
Rating:
Summary: High Performance INDEED!
Review: There's mysql documenation, and then there's this book. This book is like taking having the opportunity to pick at a seasoned pro's brain! I have almost every MySQL book out there and while the others merely taught me how to use MySQL, this one taught me how to push make it work FAST and EFFICIENT! I honestly couldn't believe how much insight and experience I gained from this book. Almost every single page was fun and easy to read. I can honestly say that I can design and build one (...) database now as a direct result of this book. Thank you so much guys!
|
