Manually extracting relevant information from repeated incantations of SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS while trying to figure out what InnoDB is doing is not only error prone, it's just plain hard to do. And since MySQL doesn't expose the data you really want in an INFORMATION_SCHEMA table (yet?), the option is use an external program to help: innotop.

With the year winding to a close, it's a good time to look back and think about what some of the most interesting and useful resources were. This includes software tools, web sites, blogs, and so on.

With the new year right around the corner, it's worth thinking about where you can get the biggest bang for your buck--quite literally. In a lot of organizations, budgeting is a funny exercise that requires you to "use it or lose it" at the end of the year while also having surprisingly detailed plans for next year's money.

Upgrading MySQL can be a bit of a leap of faith. You hope for everything to go well but really don't want to rely on mere hope to ensure that you don't find yourself with a nasty surprise late one night.

Out of the box, MySQL isn't exactly tuned for resilience on a busy network where things occasionally go haywire.

Working with CouchDB is very straightforward. There's virtually no setup involved and no complicated libraries to hassle with.

CouchDB is one of the most popular and mature document-oriented databases. Let's have a look at the features that make it so popular, get it installed, and start putting it to use.

When dealing with large distributed systems, knowing some basic performance and failure numbers helps you understand what you can reasonably expect both in terms of performance and reliability.

Non-SQL oriented distributed databases are all the rage in some circles. They're designed to scale from day 1 and offer reliability in the face of failures.

Programming in a higher-level language, it's often easy to forget about using lower-level Unix facilities in tricky situations. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what you might be missing.

Consistent Hashing is a useful technique for horizontal scaling while also protecting yourself against future growth as well as server failures.

How can you help to ensure availability of a of a web site or other network service? We'll look at some of the techniques at our disposal.

Sometimes you need answers to important questions quickly. When benchmarking new disk and disk-like subsystems, how can you get relevant and useful info without a lot of time?

This week we continue on the trek to locate the source of failing MySQL connections and uncover a solution.

Troubleshooting is often an adventure that takes you to unexpected places and teaches you a lot along the way.

Need a key/value store that doesn't compromise functionality for performance? Have a look at redis.

As technology evolves, it's often worth re-thinking how we do things. A small group of engineers is doing just that for MySQL.

What are the first things you should look at after learning of a sudden change in MySQL server performance?

The PBXT storage engine for MySQL is nearing a stable release. What's so special about PBXT, anyway?

Believe it or not, there are servers specifically designed to run MySQL -- not to mention other hardware that help to accelerate your databases. Here's a look at what's out there.

Install isolated side-by-side MySQL instances right the first time with this time-saving virtual manager.

Here's a look at some of the most useful MySQL tools you've probably never seen (or heard of).

What are a few of the things you really need to keep in mind when starting that next big MySQL project?

Harness the power of distributed computing using everyday Unix command-line tools and a clever little bash script.

Now it's time to get serious and look at writing some simple code that can query a running Sphinx index and take advantage of its advanced query features.

A continuing look at putting the Sphinx search engine to use.

Looking for ways to overcome indexing bottlenecks at Craigslist lead to an investigation of Sphinx, a powerful, free full-text search engine that works extremely well with MySQL.

Percona's XtraDB is a fork of InnoDB with a ton of extra options and enhancements. Here's a look at what it can do for your busy database.

Robust development from outside the Sun/MySQL sphere, new storage engines and the return of Monty are just some of the signs that MySQL is healthy, despite may reports to the contrary.