We had several goals in mind for this book. Many of them were derived from thinking
about that mythical perfect MySQL book that none of us had read but that we
kept looking for on bookstore shelves. Others came from a lot of experience helping
other users put MySQL to work in their environments.
We wanted a book that wasn’t just a SQL primer. We wanted a book with a title that
didn’t start or end in some arbitrary time frame (“...in Thirty Days,” “Seven Days To
a Better...”) and didn’t talk down to the reader. Most of all, we wanted a book that
would help you take your skills to the next level and build fast, reliable systems with
MySQL—one that would answer questions like “How can I set up a cluster of
MySQL servers capable of handling millions upon millions of queries and ensure that
things keep running even if a couple of the servers die?”
We decided to write a book that focused not just on the needs of the MySQL application
developer but also on the rigorous demands of the MySQL administrator,
who needs to keep the system up and running no matter what the programmers or
users may throw at the server. Having said that, we assume that you are already relatively
experienced with MySQL and, ideally, have read an introductory book on it.
We also assume some experience with general system administration, networking,
and Unix-like operating systems.
This revised and expanded second edition
