Tips and tricks of MySQL

MySQL is probably the best known relational database management system. As the “M” of the LAMP web development platform, this open-source solution is very popular worldwide.

However, its popularity does not mean that everyone who uses it necessarily gets the most out of MySQL. In fact, it can be a complex and tricky beast with which even experienced users can try their best to keep things running smoothly.

There are various useful MySQL tips for beginners and advanced users of the system. But first, you should take the time to remind yourself what MySQL is and what it is for…

Just about management

The Database Management System (DMS) is a software application designed exclusively for managing data stored in a database. There are several different types of DBMS, and MySQL is known as relational DBMS. This means that its structure allows users to identify and access data related to another part of the information contained in this database.

MySQL uses structured query language (SQL) to access and manage any database. Model-based client-server, it works on many platforms. The MySQL server processes all database instructions or commands and plays a key role in the overall system operation. A wide range of potential applications includes management and access to data from huge commercial databases. This is also important for web development, as it appears together with Linux, Apache, and PHP in the LAMP stack used to build applications and websites.

MySQL tips and tricks

1. Do not use MySQL as a queue

Queues in an application can have an extremely negative impact on performance, increasing the latency of the application, and slowing down the server. This is due to the fact that the queues serialize your workload, preventing the parallel execution of tasks. They can also lead to the creation of a table that contains data on unfinished production along with long-outstanding jobs.

Key MySQL tips include a caution to prevent queues (or queue-like templates) from entering your applications. For example, avoid setting the status of an element so that a certain process may require it before acting with it. A typical example is to mark an email as unsent, send it, and then mark it as sent.

2. Fast reception of unique data

When managing a huge database, obtaining unique values is an important part of MySQL. You can do this from one or more columns in your database. The SELECT DISTINCT query in MySQL helps you do this.

Imagine a database called “workers” from which you want to see unique names in the “surnames” column. Your query will look like this:

SELECT DISTINCT

surnames

FROM

ORDER BY

surnames;

To get unique combinations from more than one column in the database, your query must not change much. The following instructions will return the unique city and state combinations from the customer database:

SELECT DISTINCT

state, city

FROM

WHERE

state IS NOT NULL

ORDER BY state, city;

3. Follow the basic rules of indexing

It’s easy to get confused about indexes and how MySQL server uses them. Poorly designed indexes really slow you down, reducing your performance. When developing indexes and queries, remember the three main purposes that indexes serve on a database server:

• Indexes allow the server to find groups of adjacent rows.
• They allow the server to read the rows in the desired order without the server constantly wasting time sorting the rows.
• In addition, they allow the server to satisfy all requests from the index, which means that the server does not need to access the full table.

If you keep these objectives in mind, you can ensure that indexes and queries are properly designed. This makes query execution much faster and more efficient.