mariadb

Artificial intelligence (AI) and vector databases are on everyone's lips these days. Since MariaDB will soon be coming onto the market with vector database functionality, as a database consultant I thought it was about time I got to grips with the subject so that I have at least a hint of what it's all about...

Since I'm not so much of a theoretician but rather like to do something practical, I've built a small "AI" prototype that anyone can build very quickly and easily on their laptop (without a GPU)...

Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) und Vektor-Datenbanken sind heute in aller Munde. Da MariaDB demnächst auch mit Vektor-Datenbank-Funktionalität auf den Markt kommt, habe ich es als Datenbank-Berater für an der Zeit befunden mich etwas mit dem Thema zu beschäftigen, damit ich wenigstens einen Hauch Ahnung davon habe um was es geht...

Da ich nicht so der Theoretiker bin sondern eher gerne etwas praktisches mache, habe ich einen kleinen "KI" Prototypen gebaut, den jeder auf seinem Laptop (ohne GPU) sehr schnell und einfach nachbauen kann...

Due to an application error, our replication stopped for 5 days (over Easter). After the problem was solved, the replication was supposed to catch up, which turned out to be very slow. All the usual tricks (innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit, sync_binlog, etc.) had already been exhausted. So we tried our hand at parallel replication of the MariaDB server.

Parallel replication is deactivated by default:

Aufgrund eines applikatorischen Fehlers ist unsere Replikation während 5 Tagen stehen geblieben (über Ostern). Nachdem das Problem gelöst war, sollte die Replikation aufholen, was sich als sehr zäh herausstellte. All die üblichen Tricks (innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit, sync_binlog, etc.) wurden bereits ausgereizt. Also haben wir uns an der parallelen Replikation des MariaDB Servers versucht.

Per default ist die parallel Replikation deaktiviert:

Recently I had to test a new MariaDB feature that was developed at our request (MDEV-33782). To test this feature I had to build the MariaDB server myself from source, which I have not done for a long time. So a new challenge, especially with CMake...

I followed the MariaDB documentation Get, Build and Test Latest MariaDB the Lazy Way to build the server.

Kürzlich musste ich ein neues MariaDB Feature testen, welches auf unseren Wunsch entwickelt wurde (MDEV-33782). Um dieses Feature zu testen musste ich aber den MariaDB Server selber aus den Quellen bauen, was ich schon seit längerem nicht mehr gemacht habe. Also eine neue Herausforderung, insbesondere mit CMake...

Auch im Jahr 2023 haben Sie wieder die Möglichkeit, sich bei unseren 3 Schulungspartnern in Essen, Köln und Berlin MariaDB und MySQL seitig fit zu machen.

Folgende Termine können wir Ihnen für das Jahr 2023 schon jetzt anbieten:

For this how-to we were working with a MariaDB 10.6.5 database server and the newest MariaDB MaxScale 6.3.0 (aka 2.6) load balancer/proxy.

As a starting point we had a working MariaDB Master/Master replication with one active Master (M_a) and one passive Master (M_p). Whereas the passive Master was set to read_only. As a replication user we used the user replication.

Das FromDual Seminarprogramm für 2022 steht. Mit unseren Schulungspartnern Linuxhotel in Essen, GfU Cyrus in Köln sowie der Heinlein Akademie in Berlin bieten wir auch 2022 wieder zahlreiche MariaDB und MySQL Schulungen an:

Storage Engines like InnoDB, Aria and MyISAM are Row Stores. They store rows one after the other in blocks or even directly in a single file (MyISAM). On the other hand a Column Store like MariaDB ColumnStore stores all the same attributes (columns) of the rows together in chunks.

This is how the table sales_fact looks like:

Table of Contents

• Hardware requirements
• O/S (Linux) settings
• Installation
• Configuration
• Cross Engine Join User
• Start ColumnStore
• Create the Cross Engine Join User in the database

If we do customers database configuration analysis we check on one side if the most important MariaDB server system variables (innodb_buffer_pool_size, ...) are set appropriately but also if some MariaDB server system variables are configured completely wrong.

Fortunately MariaDB introduced in MariaDB 10.1 the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES view where you can find all the relevant information. But one!

Many customers come to us and ask us whether to use MariaDB or MySQL. The answer is not so simple. FromDual is a neutral and vendor independent MariaDB/MySQL consulting company. So we should not have (in the meaning of neutral) a clear preference. For us internally we have chosen our strategy according to some clearly defined criteria. But what we have chosen for us is not necessarily the right choice for you.

MariaDB has some time ago introduced or reused the sql_mode = 'oracle'. What they basically try to do is to implement a subset of the Oracle PL/SQL language. Because we receive more and more request from customers about MariaDB's Oracle PL/SQL it is worth investigating a bit more in this feature and summarize the state of the art of this topic in this article.

See also our former articles about the MariaDB sql_mode = 'oracle':

Table of Contents

• How to make MariaDB Pull Replication as secure as possible
• MariaDB Push Replication
• Pushing data with the FederatedX Storage Engine and Triggers
• Traffic mirroring with MariaDB MaxScale or ProxySQL

How to make MariaDB Pull Replication as secure as possible

Recently we had the case that a customer claimed that MariaDB 10.3 Binary Log is using 150% more space on disk than MySQL 5.7 Binary Log. Because I never observed something similar, but to be honest, I did not look to intensively for this situation, we had to do some clarifications.

First we checked the usual variables which could be candidates for such a behaviour:

Because we conduct many customers in MariaDB Galera Cluster upgrades and because these customers sometimes have pretty old MariaDB Galera Cluster set-ups I think it is good to have a rough MariaDB Galera Cluster Upgrade Path.

For an Upgrade Path we have to consider a few things:

Because upgrading from MariaDB 10.4 to MariaDB 10.5 (non-clustered) seems not to be a problem [ 1 ] we take the challenge and try to create a receipt based on the MariaDB 10.3 to MariaDB 10.4 Galera Cluster upgrade documentation [ 3 ]:

Before you start

Before you begin with the upgrade you should consider a few things:

Ausschreibungszeitraum: Q4 2020 bis Q2 2021. Später bitte nicht mehr melden.

Einer unserer Kunden sucht eine/n erfahrene/n MariaDB/MySQL Datenbank-Administrator/in. Arbeitspensum: 80 bis 100% in Festanstellung. Arbeitsort: Hauptstadt Bern (Schweiz).
Erfahrung im Betrieb von MariaDB/MySQL Datenbanken im Enterprise-Umfeld sind erforderlich sowie gute MariaDB/MySQL sowie Galera Cluster Kenntnisse notwendig. Einsatzfeld hochkritische, produktive MariaDB Galera Cluster.

Auszug aus der Original-Stellenausschreibung:

Ausschreibungszeitraum: Q4 2020 bis Q2 2021. Später bitte nicht mehr melden.

Einer unserer Kunden sucht eine/n erfahrene/n MariaDB/MySQL Datenbank-Administrator/in. Arbeitspensum: 80 bis 100% in Festanstellung. Arbeitsort: Hauptstadt Bern (Schweiz).
Erfahrung im Betrieb von MariaDB/MySQL Datenbanken im Enterprise-Umfeld sind erforderlich sowie gute MariaDB/MySQL sowie Galera Cluster Kenntnisse notwendig. Einsatzfeld hochkritische, produktive MariaDB Galera Cluster.

Auszug aus der Original-Stellenausschreibung:

When you are for too long in business you think you know already everything and you are getting lazy. This happened to me again a few weeks ago. A customer asked me about the SQL Error Log Plugin. First I though he was talking about the MariaDB Error Log or the General Query Log. But then I have learned that there is something "new" I did not know yet...