Oracle today announced the general availability of MySQL 5.7, the latest version of the open source database. According to Tomas Ulin, vice president, MySQL Engineering, Oracle, the new version delivers greater performance, scalability, manageability, plus enhanced NoSQL capabilities with JSON support and MySQL Router, which makes it easy to connect applications to multiple MySQL databases.
In particular, the new release also pays special attention to keeping pace with the latest hardware releases and improving user experience, noted Ulin.
A headline feature of the new release, said Ulin, is greater speed for the main service in terms of pure throughput speed, which can be anywhere up to three times faster than 5.6. In benchmark tests using SysBench Read-only Point-Selects, at 1,024 connections, MySQL 5.7 delivered 1,600,000 queries per second (QPS) – 3x faster than MySQL 5.6.
There is also greater speed in terms of replication, with improved mult threaded slaves for better scalability and availability. Whether an organization needs to scale out for high availability or for read scale-out, said Ulin, this will provide a lot of benefit.
The new release also adds multi-source replication, opening up a range of new use cases for MySQL, and enhanced Global Transaction Identifiers (GTIDs).
A new MySQL Optimizer dynamic cost control model provides better query performance and greater user control. “The old cost model in MySQL Server was very static,” said Ulin. There is now better cost modeling with better parameters and also the ability to tune these parameters to specific platforms, he noted.
In terms of manageability, enhancements to Performance Schema provide new probes for memory, transactions, stored routines, prepared statements, replication and locks. In addition, MySQL SYS Schema provides helper objects that answer common performance, health, usage and monitoring questions. This will be particularly helpful for the average DBA who needs to get the most relevant information, said Ulin. “Sys Schema adds views on top of Performance Schema so the most relevant things for the most people become directly visible through simple queries.”
New JSON capabilities provide the ability to operate with structured relational data in conjunction with unstructured, JSON formatted data, said Ulin. Support for new native JSON Data Type and JSON Functions allows for efficient and flexible storage, search, and manipulation of schema-less data. Enhancements include a new internal binary format, support for easy integration within SQL, and index management on the JSON Documents using generated columns.
Also now generally available is the new MySQL Router, available as a separate product, which simplifies application development by intelligently routing queries to MySQL databases for increased performance and uptime. MySQL Router also provides cross-language support for MySQL Fabric, making it simpler to manage groups of MySQL databases and delivering both high availability and scalability through automated data sharding.
Ulin will provide an overview of what’s new in MySQL 5.7 during the upcoming MySQL Central @ OpenWorld “State of the Dolphin” address in San Francisco on Monday, October 26 at 4.00 pm.
MySQL 5.7 is scheduled to be available for download at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/ on October 26, 2015.