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On Oracle MySQL: An Overview. Q&A with Heather Vancura 

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Q1. If you need to summarize in a nutshell, what happened to MySQL since Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL AB on 21 January 2010? 

Stewardship of a community is easy for new and emerging technology. In 2025, MySQL will celebrate 30 years of community innovation. During this time, MySQL has become one of the most-used and trusted open-source databases by millions of users worldwide. Leadership of a community at this scale can be complex. We strive to find a balance of stability and innovation, provide a stable and predictable platform for customers, and create new features for technical users. 

Oracle consistently provides stewardship and leadership of the MySQL Community by investing in engineering, community and market adoption of the technology. Oracle’s stewardship and leadership of the MySQL Community through thesecontinued investments in engineering, community and market adoption of the technology ensures the success of MySQL for future generations. Since the acquisition MySQL has continued to thrive as one of the most popular databases in the world and the top open-source database in the world. Under Oracle leadership, MySQL has been able to balance stability for customers with innovation and new features for developers and dbas. MySQL has evolved to support hyperscale environments, multi-cloud environments from many vendors, and has scaled from being used in small to medium scale deployment to very large deployments. It is commonly used in open-source projects like WordPress, Drupal, Joomal! and Moodle is used by customers like Meta, Uber and Booking.com as well.

Some key milestones
2013 — The general availability of MySQL 5.6 was announced. New features included performance improvements to the query optimizer, higher transactional throughput in InnoDB, new NoSQL-style memcached APIs, improvements to partitioning for querying and managing very large tables, TIMESTAMP column type that correctly stores milliseconds, improvements to replication, and better performance monitoring by expanding the data available through the PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA. The InnoDB storage engine also included support for full-text search and improved group commit performance.
2015 — As of MySQL 5.7.8, MySQL supports a native JSON data type defined by RFC 7159 and the general availability of MySQL 5.7 was announced later that year.

2016 — MySQL Server 8.0.0-dmr (Milestone Release).

2018 — MySQL Server 8.0 was announced including NoSQL Document Store, atomic and crash safe DDL sentences and JSON Extended syntax, new functions, such as JSON table functions, improved sorting, and partial updates. 

2019 — MySQL was declared DBMS of the year from the DB-Engines ranking

2021 — MySQL 8.0.26 & 5.7.35 Server was released, and new versions of popular Database Management System were released with 8.0.26 Connector & Component products.2024 — MySQL Version 8.4 released, MySQL Version 9.0 released in July

Also see recent blog by MySQL Community Manager, @lefred

Q2. Oracle MySQL is offered under two different editions: the open-source MySQL Community Server and the proprietary Enterprise Server MySQL. What are the similarities and differences? 

All versions of MySQL are based on of the open-source version or community edition. Innovations in the cloud versions also drive engineering of new features in the community edition.

You can find out more about the Community and contributing to MySQL on the Community page.

MySQL Enterprise Edition is similar to MySQL Community Edition, but built and optimized for enterprise related OS such as OL. It includes extensions that are targeting enterprise customers like auditing, data masking, monitoring and backup management. The latest version of MySQL Enterprise, which is free of use for developers and testing, also includes JavaScript support within the server.Oracle also offers HeatWave, an in-memory accelerator allowing super-fast OLTP and OLAP processing without the need of any ETL process which allows you to use automated and integrated generative AI and machine learning (ML) in one cloud service for transactions and lakehouse scale analytics, providing faster insights from all your data with unmatched performance and deploy apps in your choice of cloud providers. In July, Oracle announced HeatWave GenAI, which provides industry-first in-database LLMs and an automated in-database vector store. This solution is available now and enables customers to build generative #AI apps at no additional cost without moving data. It allows developers to build apps with build in AI and it allows customers to bring differentiated solutions to market at better speed. You can now try HeatWave for free.

Q3. The Open-Source Community Edition MySQL is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Can you use this version for free in open-source projects and for commercial purposes? 

MySQL Community Edition is used by many enterprise and small medium businesses alike.

MySQL Community Edition is the freely downloadable version of the world’s most popular open source database. It is available under the GPL license and is supported by a huge and active community of open source developers. The MySQL Community Edition includes:

  • SQL and NoSQL for developing both relational and NoSQL applications
  • MySQL Document Store including X Protocol, XDev API and MySQL Shell
  • Transactional Data Dictionary with Atomic DDL statements for improved reliability
  • Pluggable Storage Engine Architecture (InnoDB, NDB, MyISAM, etc)
  • MySQL Replication to improve application performance and scalability
  • MySQL Group Replication for replicating data while providing fault tolerance, automated failover, and elasticity
  • MySQL InnoDB Cluster to deliver an integrated, native, high availability solution for MySQL
  • MySQL Router for transparent routing between your application and any backend MySQL Servers
  • MySQL Partitioning to improve performance and management of large database applications
  • Stored Procedures to improve developer productivity
  • Triggers to enforce complex business rules at the database level
  • Views to ensure sensitive information is not compromised
  • Performance Schema for user/application-level monitoring of resource consumption
  • Information Schema to provide easy access to metadata
  • MySQL Connectors (ODBC, JDBC, .NET, etc) for building applications in multiple languages
  • MySQL Workbench for visual modeling, SQL development and administration

Available on over 20 platforms and operating systems including Linux, Unix, Mac and Windows.You can find out more about the latest release from July.

Q4. Please tell us about the MySQL user groups. How many are there? and how do they work? 

MySQL User Groups are active all over the world, and the MySQL Community team supports them to find locations, speakers and topics for discussion and to help promote and grow their communities. 

There are approximately 100 MySQL user groups globally. MySQL User Groups (MUGs) are volunteer organizations that strive to distribute MySQL-related knowledge around the world. They provide a meeting place for MySQL DBAs, users, developers and customer to share knowledge, experiences and network together.  Find a meeting in your area or get in touch to start one in your area if you do not already have one nearby.
We regularly publish meetings on the MySQL Blog.

Q5. Who are MySQL Rockstars? 

Rockstars is a distinction and award MySQL gives to community members. The MySQL Rockstars Award is given to those community members who have contributed their work, enthusiasm and energy to the promotion of MySQL over the past year.

Q6. What is the Oracle ACE program for MySQL? 

The Oracle ACE Program is a community advocacy program that recognizes and rewards individuals for their expertise, leadership, and contributions to Oracle technologies. Within this program, there exists a specialized category for the MySQL experts and contributors. We are pleased to see this community continue to grow and thrive to bring MySQL to an even broader global community.

Q7. How do you become recognized as an Oracle ACE for MySQL? Is this the same as MySQL Rockstars? 

TO become an Oracle ACE, there is a similar process used by the MySQL Community Team to become recognized as an Oracle ACE for MySQL and as a MySQL Rockstar. 

To become recognized as an Oracle ACE for MySQL, individuals must demonstrate a deep comprehension of MySQL, make notable contributions to the community through various mediums such as blogs, articles, or presentations, and actively participate in the MySQL community by engaging in forums, conferences, and related events.

Successful candidates receive recognition as MySQL Rockstars and gain access to exclusive benefits such as an invite only channel to discuss with the MySQL Community Team to discuss the product and Community events.

Q8. Who reviews the nominations? 

The MySQL Community Team reviews the nominations.

Qx. On a personal note, you are passionate about promoting diversity in technology. Can you tell us a bit about your activities and lesson learned in this area?

People often ask me what advice I have about promoting diversity with speakers at conferences and women in particular, working in software development. As a result of these questions, I created a presentation that shares with people concrete steps and actions they can take to be supportive and act as allies in the workplace and at conferences. What I found in doing this work, is that oftentimes people are advocating for more diversity, but they don’t know what to do, so this advice gives them practice steps they can take. In addition to allyship, I do some work to increase the pipeline of diversity working with students in their adolescence. Another lesson learned is that increasing diversity in tech isn’t just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. More diverse teams are more effective, profitable and create more innovative solutions that benefit everyone not just a specific segment of the population. It is also proven that diverse team are even more profitable!

Creating an inclusive environment, one that includes all people, helps us to attract and retain diverse teams. To realize the concrete benefits of diverse teams. I developed a talk titled ‘Top Ten Ways to Ally’ that focuses on specific actions that all people can take to make a difference at conferences, in the workplace, in meetings, online forums, social media, and other events. I believe that even if you don’t get the credit that you may think you deserve when you take these actions, we need to work together to keep up the ally work and not be discouraged by our mistakes. We are human and we will all make mistakes. 

Resources

If you would like to learn more about the MySQL Community check out the links below. 

MySQL Blog
MySQL Podcast
MySQL Fosstodon
MySQL LinkedIn Group
MySQL Community X

– Q&A with the MySQL Community Team, ODBMS.org

TOP 10 WAYS TO ALLY 

(Source:https://heathervcblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/top-ways-to-ally/)

1.Think of ally as a verb — something you actually do. Think actions like pay, hire, refer, recommend, promote, champion, sponsor. Sometimes people will tell me they can do this for any person, and this is true, but we only have a limited amount of time and resources, so think about prioritizing actions you can take for underrepresented people

2.Listen — be open, kind, direct. Listen more than you speak. Remember that it is intersectional- every person has a unique set of background and experiences. Relate as individuals.

3.Be aware of assignment distributions — real work vs housework. Ensure there is equal distribution of tasks and high priority assignments.

4.Actively create a friendly environment for you and others around you – keep the women we do have in technology (currently over 40% of women leave the tech sector within 10 years). Make sure to include all people on the team in informal activities as well as formal work tasks. While there are diversity groups that enable people to connect with people similar to each other, it is actually the informal connection times with all people on the team that are key to building strong networks and connections that will help advance careers of all people.

5.Be aware of assignment of specific character traits to women, e.g. abrasive, bossy, cold, aggressive. Think about how you would describe the same behavior in a man. Women are often judged on their behavior between being ‘too feminine’ to be effective and ‘too masculine’ to be likable.

6.Level the playing field — encourage norms such as self-promotion and salary negotiation that are often unspoken. Normalize and verbalize them. Be aware of tendencies that exist for hiring and promotion — people look for potential in men vs proof in women (this is especially important in hiring and promotions). Look at your job descriptions the wording should be inclusive and try to eliminate anything that is not absolutely necessary as a requirement.

7.Educate yourself about unconscious bias — we all have it. It is part of being human. You can learn a tremendous amount from mentoring someone different from you. When you mentor, focus on championing, sponsoring and guiding versus trying to change behavior or focusing on taking additional training.

8.Intervene in inappropriate conversations and situations it is not enough to be silent, take some action when this happens. This does not have to be a direct confrontation. Sometimes this is needed, but often redirection can be effective.

9.Speak up during meetings, forums, conferences— when you see interrupting, ‘mansplaining’, or women not being heard say something/amplify what was stated earlier, give credit to the ideas as they are articulated. Encourage input from all team members.

10.Suggest diverse speakers support, follow, include and encourage them. Public speaking is one of the best ways to raise visibility and influence in the community and workplace. An open call for papers is often not enough – specifically inviting and including diverse speakers — because you want to hear what they have to say. Social media is also a platform for visibility and influence, so look at who you are following on social media, and add more people who are different from you.

……………………………………………….

Heather VanCura is Vice President, Community Engagement at Oracle, leading the Java Community Process (JCP) program and MySQL Community Outreach team. With 20+ years of experience at Oracle and Sun Microsystems, she actively engages with the developer community as an international speaker, event organizer, and mentor. She has visited six continents and over fifty countries meeting developers and helping them to engage in standards-related and open source projects. Heather is passionate about promoting diversity in technology and volunteers with organizations like Women Who Code and IEEE Women in Engineering. Her extensive involvement includes serving on the boards of Dress for Success and FIRST LEGO League NorCal. Heather’s dedication to empowering developers and advocating for diversity makes her a respected leader in the industry. 

Sponsored by Oracle MySQL

 

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