You will be hearing a lot from me and others about the product end of life (EOL) of MySQL version 5.6 which will be February 2021.
Why?
While MySQL 8.0 is a vast leap forward over previous versions and MySQL 5.7 is fantastic, there are a lot of software still running and still dependent on MySQL 5.6. And those sites running 5.6 need some encouragement to upgrade.
MySQL 5.6 came out in February of 2013 and will no longer be supported in 2021. It has had a good run but if you are still running 5.6 then you need to upgrade. And while I urge you to do so sooner than later, I know that some of you have more than full plates and need to plan for this upgrade.
So what you do you? First -- read this blog by my very clever colleague LeFred.
Second -- read the very fine MySQL Documentation. Remember you can upgrade directly from MySQL 5.6 to 5.7 but those wanting to go to 8.0 still need to make the 5.7 as an intermediate step. And I really recommend that 8.0 upgrade as it has so many new features and some really big performance gains too. Heck - The new MySQL Shell (mysqlsh) has a utility to check your MySQL 5.7 instances for potential issues before you upgrade to 8.0!
Third -- do not forget the MySQL Forums and the MySQL Community Slack channel. They are there for you to ask questions and get answers.
Lastly - Do not neglect Planet.MySQL.com to keep track of the pulse of all things MySQL.
And yes, I will be reminding those out there to upgrade up until next February.
