MySQL Certifies Plug-In Engines, Boasts HP As Support Partner

"This program will enable us and others to come out with new dedicated storage engines," MySQL CEO Marten Mickos told CRN Wednesday.

As previously reported, MySQL has added Solid Information Systems' SolidDB to the roster of approved plug-in storage engines that already includes MyISAM, Cluster, InnoDB, and will include Falcon, PrimeBase XT and OpenOLAP engines.

MySQL has also extended its existing contract to use InnoDB with Oracle, which bought InnoBase last year, he said.

And, MySQL had already bought Netfrastructure, which brings with it the nascent Falcon storage engine.

Each of these technologies fills a particular niche, Mickos said. "InnoDB is a general-purpose storage engine, Falcon is for heavy transaction volumes, Solid is suited for the telecom/embedded space [where there is a need] for super-resilient storage engines with absolutely no downtime. The new MOLAP targets analytics," Mickos said.

Why so many engines? "In the online world, everyone has slightly different data management needs. Within the same application you will have high-speed lookup tables, transactional tables, archiving -- all with different requirements," Mickos said.

MySQL will test out the engines to "make sure they're syntactically in shape, behave well, take a quick look at performance characteristics," Mickos said.

In other news from the MySQL User Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., MySQL ISV partner Zmanda is launching the Zmanda Network, a collection of services around the open-source Amanda project. Amanda is an open source back-up and recovery technology.

Zmanda will offer two-tiered options, much like MySQL itself. The free offering will come with support in the form of free white papers, tutorials, forum access and Wiki resources, said Chander Kant, CEO of Zmanda.

"For people who deploy in a more business-ready environment, who really want to go into production with enterprise-level features and support, there will be an enterprise support option for sale," he added.

For that option, pricing will be simple. "We charge per protected system. Say you have two servers and 20 workstations you're backing up. That's 22 systems and you'll pay $50 to $250 per protected system annually, including updates, security alerts and maintenance. The price level depends on what support is warranted. The most expensive would offer 24 by 7 e-mail support and daytime phone support, for example," said Ken Sims, vice president of business development and marketing for the Sunnyvale, Calif. vendor.

In addition, MySQL said Tuesday that Hewlett-Packard has joined Dell, Novell, and Ingram Micro as a partner in reselling MySQL enterprise support.

MySQL had already worked with HP on the Linux reference architecture but now adds a reseller relationship to the mix. "This means HP is going full force with the open source stack and will deliver our support to customers," Mickos said.

HP is also a huge Microsoft alliance partner in services and other areas, a fact not lost on Mickos. "The old world of everyone being fierce competitors only is over. We partner with Microsoft, too. We use their open-source installer WiX and we're also part of their Visual Studio partner program to make sure we're compatible with Visual Studio.net," he noted.

WiX is Microsoft's Windows Installer XML, which the company put into the open source world a few years back.