Updates for Percona Server, the Enhanced Drop-in Replacement for MySQL, Released

PLEASANTON, CA--(Marketwire - Aug 23, 2012) - Percona, Inc., the company that makes MySQL faster and more reliable, today announced Percona Server Version 5.5.27-28.0, the latest release of the company's enhanced drop-in replacement for MySQL. The new version offers four advanced features that speed up searches, increase security, and provide administrators with more control over their Percona Server environment. Offered free as an open source solution, Percona Server offers breakthrough performance, scalability, features, and instrumentation. Its self-tuning algorithms and support for extremely high-performance hardware make it the clear choice for companies that demand the utmost performance and reliability from their MySQL database server.

Feature Highlights

Tunable Buffer Size
A tunable buffer size enables fast index creation in InnoDB. Adding an index to a table can dramatically speed up searches; however, previously the buffer was a hard-coded 1MB, which severely limited index performance. Using a fix created by the Facebook development team, Percona has added a tunable buffer to Percona Server. The default buffer size is now 8MB and can range between 1MB and 1GB.

Hardened Utility User for Percona Server as a Service (PSaaS)
For those operating Percona Server as a Service, this feature allows the specification of a "utility user" that cannot be erased by the root MySQL user. This enables a watchdog process that can connect using the utility user to, for example, reset the root password without itself being root. The new feature increases security by allowing a PSaaS offering to exist without the hosting provider needing to have a login to the virtual machine or database server. This new features enables capabilities such as "reset password" for service providers.

Extending System Variables
To provide more control over option visibility, access and range limits, Percona Server now has the following option modifiers which enable users offering Percona Server as a Service to allow their users to set server options within controllable limits:

• minimum-= : Indicates that clients cannot set the value of option_name to less than value. If the client does attempt to set the value of option_name lesser than value, the value of option_name will simply be set to value.
• range-= : indicates that clients may only set the value of option_name to a value between min_value and max_value. If the client does attempt to set the value of option_name lesser than min_value or greater than max_value, the value of option_name will simply be set to either min_value or max_value respectively.
• hidden- : indicates that clients cannot see or modify the value of option_name.
• readonly- : indicates that clients can see the value of option_name but cannot modify the value

Table "information_schema.innodb_undo_logs"
Providing greater insight into the XtraDB storage engine, this feature allows access to undo segment information. Each row represents an individual undo segment and contains information about which rollback segment the undo segment is currently owned by, which transaction is currently using the undo segment, and other size and type information for the undo segment. This information is "live" and calculated for each query of the table.

Quotes

Vadim Tkachenko, Co-founder and CTO for Percona, Inc.
"Percona continues to pay close attention to our users and the MySQL community as we look for new ways to enhance our products and provide choices for MySQL users. The latest release of Percona Server reflects this commitment and demonstrates that Percona Server is a valuable alternative for MySQL users who require higher performance from their database servers. It is truly the best MySQL database server on the market for companies looking for the greatest usability, performance and reliability."

About Percona, Inc.

Percona Inc. has made MySQL faster and more reliable for over 1,400 consulting and support customers worldwide since 2006. Percona provides enterprise-grade MySQL support, consulting, training, and development services to companies such as Cisco Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, Groupon, and the BBC. Percona's founders authored the definitive book High Performance MySQL from O'Reilly Press and the widely read MySQL Performance Blog. Percona also develops software for MySQL users, including Percona Server and Percona XtraBackup, the only open source, hot backup utility for the InnoDB storage engine. The popular Percona Live conferences draw attendees and acclaimed speakers from around the world. For more information, visit www.percona.com.

Percona® and XtraBackup® are registered trademarks of Percona, Inc. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.