Item: MySQL
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with MySQL

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using MySQL in various business applications (line of business internal) which aim for high availability and performance. MySQL workbench is also being used to organize the onsite and offsite backups of all my databases. There are actually two apps: One app for managing internal corporate item inventory and another application for serving as an internal knowledge base. Both these apps use MySQL as backend.

Pros and Cons

Pros

High availability
Performance
Security

Cons

Better support for Windows operating systems
Redesign in some areas of the MySQL workbench
More options for containerization and cloud deployment

Return on Investment

Increased developer productivity by up to 30%
Increased internal corporate efficiency by using fast and responsive apps by 20%
Reduced database licensing costs by 40%

Usability

I am happy with the overall usability of MySQL but would love to see a partial redesign of the MySQL workbench to make it even more usable and include more options for hybrid identity deployments, in various cloud computing platforms as target, including also a new IoT version for Internet of Things devices.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft SQL Server

In terms of capabilities, Microsoft SQL Server is one of the leaders in the database market. It provides a lot of features for high availability, disaster recovery, performance and security. The primary reason why MySQL 8 was chosen was due to the open source nature of the technology and for minimizing licensing costs.

Key Insights

Do you think MySQL delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with MySQL's feature set?

Yes

Did MySQL live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of MySQL go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy MySQL again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure AI Studio, Acronis Advanced Backup, Kali Linux

Likelihood to Recommend

Small footprint line of business apps with performance being the primary goal is the ideal scenario for running MySQL 8 in a corporate environment. It is well suited even for junior developers because it has a fairly simple learning curve and can be deployed into any environment regardless of the operating system or virtualization technology being used.

Using MySQL

Users and Roles

2 - We are working in the Cloud infrastructure specialist team. We are designing and building new technical solutions by assessing the customers requirements and implementing data solutions based on fast performing persistent data stores powering web applications based on modern Application Frameworks, such as .NET core. The data platforms we utilize are mainly SQL Server and MySQL.

Support Headcount Required

2 - The types of people who work full time on MySQL projects, for both design/deployment and technical support are primarily highly experienced database administrators (DBAs) who have been developing data solutions and actively working on supporting SQL database projects for at least a decade. They have embraced the MySQL service portfolio and products almost since its first introduction into the market.

Business Processes Supported

Azure MySQL Flexible server supporting a health-related .NET core app
Azure MySQL Flexible server supporting an application with a high load of financial transactions
Azure MySQL Flexible server supporting a custom fleet management system for a transportation company

Innovative Uses

Have implemented MySQL in the context of a novell .NET Blazor app which supports millions of Internet users by a start up company.
Have implemented MySQL MEMORY tables for noncritical data that is accessed often by an analytics app and significantly improves performance.
Have configured MySQL NDB Cluster for performance, scalability and redundancy in a hybrid cloud implementation of a large scale .NET core application.

Future Planned Uses

We are considering utilizing the community version of MySQL for some in-house workloads to replace existing commercial DBMS and reduce operational costs.
We are considering usage of InnoDB (RDBMS) vs MyISAM (DBMS) engines of MySQL to test and compare their pros and cons in various implementations.
We are planning to use MySQL in an upcoming container implementation with Kubernetes.

Likelihood to Renew

Given the vast spectrum of MySQL enterprise and hybrid cloud applications, we are always considering to update to the latest versions of the software to utilize all its new functional features and security updates and at the same time optimize performance, scalability and resiliency for dynamic and high throughput workloads.

Evaluating MySQL and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Cloud Solutions
Scalability

Being able to utilize MySQL in various hybrid cloud solutions, involving primarily on-premise Active Directory-based Windows Server systems on one hand and Microsoft Azure with Azure Arc on the other, has been the primary selection factor for implementing MySQL. Also scalability and high performance was another driving factor in our design and planning sessions.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We might have been able to choose a paid version of MySQL in certain projects if the budget would allow us to do so. Nevertheless, MySQL community edition has been offering us similar performance, security and scalability levels, providing the trust and credibility that we need for enterprise-grade implementations. Choosing InnoDB vs MyISAM would be another factor to think about.

MySQL Support

Support Rating

We have never contacted MySQL enterprise support team for any issues related to MySQL. This is because we have been using primarily the MySQL Server community edition and have been using the MySQL support forums for any questions and practical guidance that we needed before and during the technical implementations. Overall, the support community has been very helpful and allowed us to make the most out of the community edition.

MySQL Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

Given that we have been using the community edition in most of our implementations we made use of the MySQL support forums for any issues that we encountered during the MySQL configuration process. Also, the non-community edition implementations were budgeted at specific cost which could not account for technical support costs, so official support for these cases was not an option.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of MySQL Support

As mentioned in a previous section of this review, we have always been receiving exceptional support by the MySQL technical support forums members and all the answers we have received were targeted, focused and to the point. So we were happy to receive prompt replies which assisted us in resolving any minor issues in the implementation environment.

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