MySQL:Overview

Overview
What are the features of MySQL?

What is MySQL

 * A significant SQL (Structured Query Language) database server particulary for Web Applications, developed by T.c.X. DataKonsultAB.
 * MySQL, can be downloaded from http://www.mysql.com, offers the database programmer with an array of options and capabilities rarely seen in other database servers.
 * MySQL is often bundled with other web development tools. The most common is WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP). The WAMPServer software (Apache, MySQL, PHP on Windows) is available for downloading from http://www.wampserver.com/en/ . There are versions for Linux (LAMP) and Mac MAMP).
 * MySQL is free of charge for those wishing to use it for private and commercial use.
 * Those wishing to develop applications specifically using MySQL should consult MySQL's licensing section, as there is a charge for licensing the product.

Also read MySQL on Wikipedia

My SQL Capabilities
Capabilities range across a number of topics, including the following:
 * Ability to handle an unlimited number of simultaneous users.
 * Capacity to handle 50,000,000+ records.
 * Very fast command execution, perhaps the fastest to be found on the market.
 * Easy and efficient user privilege system.

Who is using MySQL
This database server has gained enormous popularity within corporate circles, including the following organizations:
 * Silicon Graphics (http://www.sgi.com)
 * Siemens (http://www.siemens.com)

Plus, one of the worlds largest online encyclopedia
 * Wikipedia. Wikipedia use a Content management system called Media Wiki. Other wikis also use this including: WikiEducator, WikiVersity, WikiCommons

Others include
 * WordPress - http://www.wordpress.org (Blogging Software). Used by http://www.wordpress.com, http://www.edublogs.org, and (from Nov 2010) Microsoft moved their LiveSpaces blogs to wordpress.com )
 * Moodle - a common Learning Management System (e.g. EITOnline )
 * Joomla - a content management system
 * LimeSurvey - an online survey tool

Note that most projects using MySQL are Open Source so you can usually download and use the software for free for both private and commercial use.

Apache Cassandra
Another database you should be aware of is Apache Cassandra. Grown out of projects that in many cases started out with MySQL but simply had too many transactions (like Facebook and Twitter), Cassandra was open sourced by Facebook in 2008. In 2010 the largest production cluster has over 100 TB of data in over 150 machines (The Apache Cassandra Project, 2009). For Twitter the number of daily tweets grew more than twenty-fold between January, 2009, from about two million a day to nearly 50 million a day by January 2010.

Notice the difference here, databases like Facebook and Twitter have a huge number of records being added all the time, whereas Wikipedia has relatively few additions, with most access by people just reading the content.

Resources

 * MySQL Tutorials and Reference Guide (2011)