Hi,
Good list of questions here. I?m going to try to address each
individually for you. On my side of the fence, I?m DB2, Informix and
AS/400 certified for Data Base Administration. Started working with
MySQL about 5 years ago, and have a total of 15 years of DBA work
history. About 70% of my DBA work these days is with MySQL.
a) What are current hot topics related to MySQL that require
professional services and support? (e.g. specific issues with the
database; corporate deoployments of MySQL requiring custom application
development and support contracts; cite examples)
Jabber comes to mind here first, but that is probably because I?m
working with it great deal these days. Almost any new Internet
communication system, which starts out, begins the development on
MySQL. The reason here is the cost of startup. MySQL as you are aware,
is basically free, and a stable system at any level.
The number of ISP?s, which don?t use MySQL, is dwindling fast. Many
still have the MS SQL system, and a few still have Oracle or DB2, but
even those are switching over. When MySQL got the transaction system
working, the greatest reason for not using it was obsolete.
Yahoo Finance, the Census Bureau and Matanuska Telephone Association
(MTA), just to name a few, have found using this database to be not
only cost effective, but support effective. The range of features,
such as regex select statements, and simple speed are enough to bring
any knowing eye looking at this database as a solution.
The greatest area in need of expertise, I have found, is related to
moving a dataset, from MS SQL or Oracle, or any other system, over to
MySQL. I?m running into these calls more often lately, though the
trend started about 2 years ago. Posts and calls like this fellow
here, are being seen much more often.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/Q_20827934.html
But to be quite honest, I don?t think there have been any ?hot topics?
for any database in quite a while. It holds data, and it gives it to
you when you ask for it. What else is there really?, on the database
side anyway. The only hot topics that come out are when databases
don?t work, which is rarely the case with MySQL.
Installations, Optimizations, Administration and Upgrades, are the
bread and butter. Jabber is new, growing in popularity and use, (and
quite remarkable by the way), but it is not adding, or implementing
MySQL in any ?hot? way, it is just using it as the base, because it is
the best base for it.
I feel I may be lacking something here for you, in the understanding
are of this portion of the question, and if you feel that way, please
use the clarification button to explain what you are trying to get out
of this in another way, and I?ll follow up for you.
b) What is the profile of several typical successful provider of such
services in the US and abroad (including an assessment of MySQL's own
services and support)?
This is a bit of a bane for MySQL support services. Since the base is
free, and it runs on Windows, and Unix/Linux, with ports to Mac now,
and the setup of this database is the easiest out there, just about
anyone with any skill on a database can figure it out pretty fast. The
amount of supporting literature is astonishing, to say the least, and
the willingness of the community to help fledglings is huge, the
average profile is a range from ?just got it working and can set it up
for you?, to ?real live dba?.
To setup and use Informix (for instance) you really have to know what
you are doing with that package, and there is very little in the way
of support or literature, for someone to grab one of the free versions
and start learning. This is also a major reason for the system?s slow
drop into obscurity. I had to take the class to get enough
understanding about the engine to work with it. The classes were good,
very informative, and pack full of information, but very expensive.
And while this did keep the market of guys out there able to support
the system down to ?the few and proud? it also limited the number of
companies, which wanted to buy in. Thus decreasing my market of
customers as well.
The market of customers for MySQL support is huge, from small
companies with a single server and three computers in the shop to
large ISP?s and major software developers.
http://www.mysql.com/portal/partners/support-consult/index.html
That link shows MySQL?s Partner?s for support and consulting, and they
do offer a certification, which I?ve never bothered with.
With the setup/installation as smooth as it is, an the administration
of the database as straight forward as it is, what it comes down to in
the field is; an understanding of relational database structures, and
indexing strategies.
I know what you are getting at with this question, but the playing
field when working with MySQL is much different than Oracle, Informix,
DB2, MS SQL or any of them. With those systems, you need to know
exactly what that engine is expecting from you, and there are very few
intuitive footholds. I?ve been working with databases for 15 years
now, and when I first saw MS SQL, I had no idea where to even start.
Hunt and peck was not an option (I quickly figured out), and the
differences in how the engine used queries, and what it would accept
(for instance, no date field) was enough to send me home with two new
books and a pound of coffee beans.
The theory, if that is the word for it, is ?keep the kiddies out?,
which I suppose is a good way to go if you are in the market to keep
only your professionals working on your software. MySQL doesn?t have
this ?theory? and is developed accordingly. In fact, if you spend some
time reading the history of MySQL, the birth of its structure is to go
against this exact stigma of the database industry.
I would guess that 70% of the professional level Perl, PHP, and C++
programmers on the market today, know MySQL enough to install,
administer and develop against the engine. With the amount of on-line
support and literature available, about half of those could fix a bad
install, create a backup and recovery system, and could even optimize
a database if they had too, and probably %75 of those, already have.
The learning curve is very shallow, and anyone with a good grip on
relational database theory, is going to pick it up and run with it in
a very short amount of time.
c) How are services and support costs viewed by users given that the
software license is free, e.g. are MySQL-related professional services
similarly low-cost, e.g. via off-shoring to India?
The cost of support is not reflected in the cost of the package. I
charge the same amount for MySQL support and development as I do for
Informix or AS/400 support. Every other DBA I?ve talked to, does the
same thing.
Software costs: There are no free kittens
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2003/0224kearns.html
Skill level and needed experience for a DBA of MySQL is the same for
Oracle, Informix or MS SQL, despite what I?ve said about the amount of
information and intuitive learning curve. Just because the information
is out there for anyone to grab and learn, doesn?t mean that the
person is able to learn or use that information effectively. The DBA
is still a DBA. The company?s buy-in was much less, but that doesn?t
equate to the skill level of the professional needed to operate the
software.
Many fledglings into the OpenSource area feel it should be this way
(I?m talking about companies here as customers, and typically these
are the small business owner), for a short amount of time. But that
changes quickly, and my phone rings in a month or so, when the guy
next door failed to grasp real database needs, and the accounting
system isn?t working now.
NASA?s comments along these lines are as follows:
http://www.mysql.com/press/user_stories/nasa.html
?Asked what aspects of MySQL were most appealing, NAIS director Jim
Bradford responded with three, paraphrased here:
Cost: Because the total cost of MySQL is limited to the cost of
technical support, given that MySQL is available for free download and
use in most cases.
Support: Due to the large developer community which can be found on
the Internet. Although NASA has used direct support from the MySQL
developers infrequently, he stated that "they were very helpful and
responsive when needed". Furthermore, NAIS developer John Sudderth
stated in an article discussing the switch that the cost for official
support was about 1 percent of the technical support expenditure for
Oracle (http://www.gcn.com/vol19_no33/enterprise/3275-1.html).
Compatibility: MySQL can easily interface with most SQL-compliant
applications through ODBC. ?
Since Oracle will only support your software warranty if you have an
Oracle Certified DBA working on it, this brings the ?need for support?
down a great deal. But I?ll bet that none of the DBA?s working for
NASA took a pay cut (or those working for Yahoo Finance) because the
software costs were less now.
Very few companies I?ve worked with, or read about, use far-away
support for databases. There are security risks evolved for one thing,
and another is, it?s not a web page or a piece of software, it is your
database. When a database doesn?t function right, a company wants to
feel the DBA support person is there, and I mean ?there?. No matter
what engine you are working on, the data is what is important. Any
company knows this. So while it is true that Internet access can
support MySQL from a distance about 90% of the time, very few
companies like the idea. Local support is always preferred.
A personal note here, I had several companies I worked with for years
up in Seattle, which found local support when I moved down to
California. They had no doubts regarding my ability, it was simply the
fact that they wanted someone who could show up that day, and look
them in the eye.
d) What is the worldwide deployment and growth rate of MySQL in the
enterprise market and how is it structured (e.g. web services, CRM,
ERP, etc)?
According to the fact sheet on their website:
http://www.mysql.com/press/MySQL_backgrounder.pdf
?MySQL?s current market penetration and aggressive growth trajectory
are creating a transition from a database market dominated by the ?Big
Three? database companies: Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle, to the ?Big
Four,? with MySQL leanding the market segment that requires a
high-speed, high-value, easy-to-use data management system?
NewsForge ? Database Deathmatch?
http://www.newsforge.com/software/04/01/13/1858230.shtml?tid=72&tid=82
? a just-published Evans study survey of 550 database developers that
shows Microsoft Access and SQL Server use increased by 6% last year.
At the same time, MySQL use increased by 30% among the same group
Survey: More Developers OK with Linux
http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=8800
"About 10% to 15% of developers said they used MySQL the first time we
asked them in early 2001," McKendrick said. "Now, about three years
later, we find four out of 10 [40%] developers now use MySQL. That
number is expected to grow to about six out of 10 [60%] a year from
now [based on] their plans for the next year."
Oracle ships 10g database, cuts price
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5152672.html
Oracle released the Unix and Linux versions of its Oracle 10g database
and dropped the price of its entry-level database to about $5,000 per
processor, matching the cost of Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 database.
A Windows version of Oracle 10g is slated for completion in a "few
weeks," according to company executives.
IBM Wants Developers to Feel the Stinger
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3306631
The database market, a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, has become
even more competitive recently, with Oracle, (Quote, Chart) IBM,
Microsoft (Quote, Chart) and open-source concern MySQL unveiling or
planning a number of improvements and advancements to their products.
Economist.com
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2413720
?Oracle must deal with Microsoft and MySQL, a Swedish firm whose ?open
source? software could win database sales just as Linux is doing in
computer-operating systems. Among the firm's wealthier customers,
meanwhile, Oracle is battling against a re-invigorated IBM. In
2000-02, according to Gartner, a research firm, Oracle's share of new
database-software sales fell from 33.5% to 26.9%, as both IBM and
Microsoft picked up extra business, with IBM outselling Oracle in both
2001 and 2002.?
Studies Show the Benefits of Open Source
http://www.linuxworld.com/story/39217.htm?DE=1
e) What pricing structure is emerging for MySQL-related services and
support (e.g. which all-inclusive fees for an entire project, or what
kind of day rates), and how does it compare to Oracle-related services
and support costs?
Again, a DBA is a DBA, though with the structure and easy of use which
MySQL provides, Perl programmers, PHP programmers and others are able
to perform most of the needed tasks on a MySQL system, without the
requirement of a ?specialist? to come in and take care of that area
for them. Security, and Backup/Recovery systems (real ones, not just
saving to CD every once in a while) is not in the tool chest of these
folks typically, and in fact, they are the root cause of insecure
databases on the web. So a DBA is needed periodically.
Personal Notes:
I get the idea from your questions here that you are trying to figure
out where to go in your certifications and efforts. Stop. If you have
the means and desire to go with Oracle, go, because everything you
learn there, will directly apply to a MySQL shop as well. This way,
you have both. You are going to need the training on Oracle, there is
no way around that, it just has to happen to get into the market for
an Oracle support person, however, it doesn?t have to happen for a
MySQL support person. Double the bang for you buck. On the other hand,
if you don?t have any certification, and step into the MySQL arena,
then you are just another one in a large crowd.
MySQL, with the rate of growth they are experiencing, will probably
over take Oracle, and perhaps even Microsoft in the near future, but
we are not talking about software, or even OS?s, we are talking about
databases.
Databases, in any company, very rarely change. It is a costly, and
profound change to move from one database system, to another. Informix
has all but ceased to exist, and I still get calls for it, and I still
get jobs for programming in 4GL. This is true because even with the
company gone, and IBM not pushing it, there is still a large footprint
of owners out there, who simply can not move to another database, and
in many cases, even upgrading is impossible. So you are not wasting
any time at all, getting an Oracle certification and throwing all your
efforts into that system. Like many a DBA before you, if you are put
in the position where you have to deal with a MySQL installation, you
will find it fast and easy to come up to speed with, having a good,
solid history behind you with Oracle.
Homepage http://www.mysql.com
Features/Docs http://www.mysql.com/doc/index.html
Notable projects/companies where each DB is used
Prominent examples
http://www.sourceforge.net
http://www.slashdot.org
http://www.mp3.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/?u
MySQL Powers Yahoo Finance
http://www.mysql.com/articles/us/yahoo_finance.html
U.S. Census Bureau Reaps Awards from MySQL-based Web Sites
http://www.mysql.com/articles/us/us_census.html
MySQL Matters to Slashdot
http://www.mysql.com/articles/us/slashdot.html
If you need anything further, or I didn?t address your question fully,
just use the Clarification Button and I?ll get an email. I may not get
back to you quickly this weekend, but I will get back to you as soon
as I am able.
thanks,
webadept-ga |
