Database Insights

A complete guide to MySQL JSON functions — JSON column type, JSON_EXTRACT and arrow operators, JSON_SET vs JSON_INSERT vs JSON_REPLACE vs JSON_MERGE_PATCH, functional indexes, and multi-valued indexes for arrays.

Master MySQL index data structures and optimization strategies. Learn B+ tree internals, index selection, covering indexes, and real-world performance case studies.

A production guide to MySQL full-text search — FULLTEXT index creation, MATCH AGAINST in natural language and boolean modes, the 50% rule, InnoDB vs MyISAM FTS, combining with B-tree indexes, and comparison against Elasticsearch.

Essential MySQL diagnostic queries every DBA needs. Quickly identify slow queries, lock contention, replication lag, memory issues, and connection problems.

MySQL replication filters let you replicate only specific databases or tables — but misconfiguration can silently drop transactions. Here's how to use binlog-do-db, replicate-do-db, and replicate-do-table safely.

A comprehensive guide to MySQL replication lag — why it happens, why Seconds_Behind_Master lies, how to measure accurately with pt-heartbeat, and how to fix it with multi-threaded replication and LOGICAL_CLOCK parallelism.

A production guide to online MySQL schema changes — when to use pt-online-schema-change vs gh-ost vs MySQL 8.0 INSTANT DDL, configuration parameters, the cutover mechanism, and a step-by-step safety playbook.

GTIDs eliminate manual binlog position tracking in MySQL replication. This guide covers enabling GTIDs, CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_AUTO_POSITION, and failover.

Configure MySQL timeout variables correctly for your workload. Learn wait_timeout, interactive_timeout, lock_wait_timeout, and net_read_timeout best practices.

Optimize MySQL connection management for maximum throughput. Learn connection pooling with HikariCP, ProxySQL load balancing, and thread pool configuration.

Performing online schema changes on MySQL tables with triggers is a known pain point — pt-osc creates conflicting triggers, and gh-ost has its own limitations. Here are the safe approaches.

MySQL 8.0 significantly improved geospatial support with SRID-aware columns, spatial reference systems, and accurate geographic distance calculations. Here's how to use it in production.