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MySQL Runs The Web
By Joe Purcell
Expert Author
Article Date: 2011-07-26
Not only is the LAMP software stack the most common web implementation, but MySQL is also built into the leading CMS engines: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, and others. It is used by the largest websites in the world: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Flickr. When looking at database architectures, SQL is here to stay, and of them MySQL will continue to run the web.
One glance at MySQL's list of customers and one can tell that MySQL is the world's most popular database for the web, from NASA and the US Navy to the New York Times and Walmart. Over 25% of all websites use a MySQL based CMS. Those are massive statistics. Yet, will MySQL's market share decrease with the onset of the need for web scale databases?
It will absolutely not happen because it is not capable. Facebook's Michael Stonebraker comments on their setup of MySQL which implements memcached as well. He states that "old SQL" needs to be retired and promotes a "new SQL" as the alternative. Yet, that is just describing the progression of the same product--MySQL.
The bottom line is SQL is here to stay and MySQL is currently the best implementation of SQL for the web. Certainly it was designed decades ago, likely without considering the need to handle petabytes of data and thousands of queries every second. All that means is that it needs to adapt, and it is doing just that with MySQL Cluster. Companies will continue to turn to MySQL developers, as market trends show:
Alternatives, like Mongo, need just as much, if not more, expertise to scale. It is true that Facebook has been able to scale MySQL to such mass entirely because it has competent database managers on board. Yet, their case is a special one. The average website does not need to handle uploading and serving terabytes of data every day, and if it does, it doesn't matter what database engine you are using, you will still need high dollar competent database managers on board.
Hopefully, the near future will see MySQL implement great tools found in software like dbShards and a more integrated and seamless use of memcached. It is not that SQL is in crisis, but that databases are stressing everything from database architecture to the systems they run on. In the mean time, MySQL will continue to run the web.
About the Author:
Joe Purcell is a technology virtuoso, cyberspace frontiersman, and connoisseur of Linux, Mac, and Windows alike.
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