phpMyAdmin is popular with both individuals and enterprise users who want a graphical interface for administering MySQL databases. Although the app has an expansive list of features, most people don't use it for much beyond basic tasks such as creating new databases. Here are some features tucked beneath phpMyAdmin's folds that can make you more efficient.

On Linux systems, initialization (init) scripts manage the state of system services during system startup and shutdown. When the system goes through its runlevels, the System V init system starts and stops services as configured. While this tried-and-true technology has been around since the dawn of Unix, you can now create modern and efficient CentOS 6 init scripts by using Upstart, an event-based replacement for System V init.

MySQL is a fine database, but the open source community has been nervous about its future since it was acquired by Oracle in 2009. Some users have sought alternatives in MySQL forks such as MariaDB. Others have considered migration to PostgreSQL, a mature database with a track record of more than 15 years. If you want to explore PostgreSQL, here's how to get started.

One of the most important responsibilities of any administrator is to make regular backups. But unlike backing up regular data, backing up databases isn't a straightforward affair. Designing an effective strategy for taking backups of production MySQL servers depends on a lot of factors. Depending on your situation, your best MySQL backup tool might be mysqldump, AutoMySQLBackup, or MySQL Workbench.

For years, MySQL has been the king of open source database servers. It powers a large part of the web and numerous applications worldwide. However, concerns about the future of MySQL since its acquisition by Oracle, combined with an increasing demand for performance and scalability, have driven people to consider alternative options, such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB. Switching to either of those alternatives, however, is not a simple proposition. MariaDB, by contrast, offers enhanced performance in a DBMS that can be a drop-in replacement for MySQL.

MySQL Proxy transparently passes information between a client and a MySQL server. The proxy can audit the information flow in both directions and change it if necessary, which could be useful for protecting the MySQL server from malicious queries or for altering the information clients receive without actually making changes to the database. The proxy can also do load balancing between MySQL servers, and perform flow optimization by directing SELECT statements to read-only slave servers, which enhances MySQL scalability by allowing you to add more servers for read operations.

The MySQL relational database serves as a back end for millions of websites, and powers millions of non-Internet data-handling applications. In 2009 ownership of MySQL passed to Oracle when it bought Sun, which had acquired MySQL the previous year. Since then developers and IT managers have worried that Oracle would someday cease support for MySQL because it competes with the company's profitable proprietary database products. This fear may be justified. In August, Alex Williams wrote at TechCrunch, "Oracle is holding back test cases in the latest release of MySQL. It’s a move that has all the markings of the company’s continued efforts to further close up the open source software and alienate the MySQL developer community." We tried to get Oracle to rebut that accusation, but multiple emails and phone calls did not get a response. Does this mean it's time to move from MySQL to another open source database – and if so, which one?

MySQL monitoring is one of the most complex and important tasks a database administrator has to perform. Problems in MySQL can affect entire business processes. MySQL data is vulnerable to nonrecoverable errors, so DBAs must check status variables from the server and examine logged events. Based on this data, administrators and developers can also optimize server variables and databases accordingly. Here are some basic ways to keep an eye on your installation's data integrity.

MySQL is a powerful database, but its search capabilities are most efficient for searches based upon a single database index. If your application requires complex searching, consider adding Sphinxto the mix to gain searching speed. Sphinx's main selling point is its full-text search capability, but it can also shine with regular queries.

MySQL is the most popular open source database, but though it has a reputation for reliability and stability, it's not bulletproof. When MySQL starts throwing error messages at you, you need to be able to field them cleanly. Here's how to troubleshoot and recover from the most common MySQL problems.