MySQL 8.0.28 Release Note Commentary

 MySQL Server version  8.0.28 was launched a few days ago and without a lot a fanfare. Which is a shame and I wish we had more of a splash for every release.  The release notes are available here. 

I would like to highlight some of the changes.

There are over a hundred bug fixes and big thanks to Hope Lee, Casa Zhang, Øystein Grøvlen, Song Zhibai, Facebook, Hobert Lu, Brian Yue, Zhai Weixiang, Murakami Kohei,  Venkatesh Prasad Venugopal, and the Tencent team.

The Highlights

This release does not have a lot of 'wow' new features but shows a lot of solid work in evolving the product. 

• The new audit_log_disable system variable permits disabling audit logging for all connecting and connected sessions.
• The output from EXPLAIN FORMAT=TREE was ex-encoded ranges for multi-valued indexes Now, hex-encoding is used only for string types having a binary character set. Strings with non-binary character sets are now printed  as plain text, with escaping for any special characters. 
• Now, hex-encoding is used only for string types having a binary character set. Strings with non-binary character sets are now printed in EXPLAIN FORMAT=TREE output as plain text, with escaping for any special characters. 
• The shortcuts ASCII for CHARACTER SET latin1 and UNICODE for CHARACTER SET ucs2 are now deprecated, and you should expect their removal in a future version of MySQL. Using either of these now raises a warning; use CHARACTER SET instead.
• The character sets ucs2, macoman, macce, dec, and hp4  along with all of their collations, are now deprecated, and subject to removal in a subsequent release of MySQL. You should use utf8mb4 instead of any of the character sets just listed.
• The GnuPG build key used to sign MySQL downloadable packages has been updated. The previous GnuPG build key is set to expire on 2022-02-16. For information about verifying the integrity and authenticity of MySQL downloadable packages using GnuPG signature checking, or to obtain a copy of our public GnuPG build key, (Yup, it took a little while to get the new key out there when '28 was first published -- appologies!)
• A new Performance Schema statement metric, CPU_TIME, is now available, enabling you to measure the CPU time spent on a query.
• The number of distinct windows which can appear in a given SELECT is now limited to 127. The number of distinct windows is the sum of the named windows and the implicit windows specified as part of any window function's OVER clause. In order to use a large number of windows, it may be necessary to increase the value of the thread_stack server system variable. (Not sure just how you count the number of implicit windows!)    UPDATE from Justin Swanhart - I was reading your latest blog post.  In a query each window function that uses OVER which does not use a named window is an implicit window.  If all of your window functions are framed the same they can share a named window, and you can have basically unlimited window functions.  But if you use OVER for each of them, then you are limited to 127.

So, please download this new version ASAP.

MySQL Track at SCaLE 19x

 SCaLE 19X – the 19th annual Southern California Linux Expo – will take place  March 3-6, 2022 in Pasadena, CA. 

SCaLE is the largest community-run open-source and free software conference in North America. It is held annually in the greater Los Angeles area.  A year might have been skipped due to Covid-19 but it looks like we will be back in person this year.  

The MySQL Track features nine talks on a variety of subjects from some of the best  known MySQL experts.  

Dave Stokes - MySQL New Features

MySQL now features quarterly releases that come with new features. So if you do not know about hash joins, replica set, dual password, or other new features then you need to be in this presentation.

Peter Zaitsev - State of MySQL Security in 2021

In this talk we will look into the state of MySQL Security in 2021.  We will cover the new security focused features available in MySQL (and MySQL Compatible variants) as well as share best practices to consider for secure MySQL deployment.

Peter Zaitsev - 18 Things To Do When You Have a MySQL Bottleneck

The presentation will be focused on dealing with an unexpected high traffic event as it is happening.

Pep Pla - Forward to the Past: Point in time recovery for MySQL

Disasters happen. Somebody runs a process that renders the data in your database unusable, inconsistent, or just deleted. Wouldn't it be great to be able to recover your database to the state just before the disaster happened?

Pep Pla -- I need some (MySQL) backup!

"If you have a hammer, all you see is nails." also known as the Law of the Instrument describes the cognitive bias that involves over-reliance on a familiar tool. To protect MySQL data, a DBA must have a toolbox full of the proper utensils. To know only one approach is not enough.

Mattias Crauwels - MySQL backup best-practices in 2022

Backups are important for your business! I will give you some best practices on how to do it properly!

Michael Marx - The Great Migration: Galera Cluster to InnoDB Cluster

InnoDB cluster has several advantages when  you need highly available data and in this presentation you will see how to convert from Galera for better performance.

Michael Marx -  MySQL enhanced with Heatwave

HeatWave is a massively parallel, high performance, in-memory query accelerator for Oracle MySQL Database Service that accelerates MySQL performance by orders of magnitude for analytics and mixed workloads.

Dave Stokes - MySQL Indexes

MySQL indexes can greatly speed up your queries, or doom you database to performance night mares.  Learn about the various types of indexes, how test them, and how to use them efficiently. 

Hopefully I will see you at these talks in March or at the MySQL Booth in the expo hall!