Calliope Simon's Monthly Hint for Development Manager Lindens

Hi, here's my friendly (and free!) suggestion for December, 2007.

I am aware that you use mysql extensively.

Stop using it. Mysql is not now, nor will it probably ever be capable of doing a full, clean dump without table locking, and it certainly cannot do differentials under any circumstances. Switch to a database that does. If it has to be free, use PostgreSQL, which can do full, clean dumps without table locking, and also pass differential backups to existing dumps with a bit of readme-ing.

If you were using PostgreSQL right now, we would be able to search, teleport, login, and all the rest, because you would have been able to pull a restore from an hour ago, assuming that you're buffering all your inserts in another database for periodic burst-inserts which are offset from the end of an average periodic dump by at least 30% of the full dump-time... which you're doing... right?

Right?

Of course they are not doing that. It would be considered good practise ergo they cannot be doing so.

Well surely, you don't want them to suddenly switch over everythings across difference SQL platforms, and risk massive data loss and huge downtime as they try to restore them all back, right?

I don't know what is better or not, but surely, reinstall all thousands of server wouldn't take only a few hours ;p

I'm a Postgres fan, but I'm also a MySQL fan.

None of us can be sure if MySQL is better than Postgres for SL, or the other way around. We can't know because we don't know enough about the inside of SL.

We don't know what modifications may have been made to MySQL by LL, perhaps the Google Mods or similar have been applied.

Ive personally overseen the translation from MySQL to a host of other databases, and of all of them I've never once seen PostgreSQL have *any* problems. That's why SQL is a standard. Databases that adhere to it do not have problems with migration to others which also adhere to it.