MySQL
MySQL is one of the most widely used relational database management systems (RDBMS) for Internet applications such as websites nowadays. The name “MySQL” is composed of the name My, from the daughter of a co-founder and SQL (Structured Query Language). Many CMS such as TYPO3 use MySQL as the database system. The great advantage of a database system is the possibility of being able to process large amounts of data quickly.
How it came about
In 1994, MySQL was developed by MySQL AB, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in February 2008. Today, MySQL and Sun Microsystems is owned by Oracle, which is always working to improve the RDBMS. The MySQL source code is freely available, as it was originally developed as freeware. The open source software is written in C and C ++ and compatible with most operating systems.
How it works
Basically, the idea of MySQL consists of a MySQL server and the MySQL clients. The MySQL server is the database management system, through which the data stored in databases is accessed and distributed. This data can then be requested by one or more MySQL clients. Multiple databases can be established on the MySQL server, in which the data is stored in two-dimensional tables (relations). Each table can contain columns in which the data has a specified data type (such as integer (whole number)). These data types can consist of numeric types, strings (char, text) or types of date and time (date, time). Uppercase and lowercase has no bearing on the data in tables. The rows of a relation are called tuples and provide a concrete combination of column values (attribute values). All tuples can be specifically queried via a database engine. The database language SQL is used to define and edit the data structures in the MySQL database (insert, change, delete) and query the databases. Generally, MySQL is suitable for a very large number of different databases, which can receive requests from multiple clients simultaneously. MySQL databases can be made publicly accessible via the Internet or used internally on an intranet. The requesting client may be a simple command line program, complex software or a web application. Access to MySQL databases can be controlled with access rights as with any other database system. Therefore, it is possible, for example, that a browser can access only specific databases, but changes may be carried out only by administrators.
Advantages
The MySQL database system offers many advantages. This includes that the software is generally considered very secure and stable. At the same time MySQL is very flexible, as there are interfaces to many scripting languages for web applications. Generally, RDBMS is considered particularly easy to operate. MySQL can be used with different platforms and is available as open source software, as well as a commercial license version.
Applications
MySQL is very useful in areas where performance and extensive data management is required. A preferred area of application is data storage for web services. Using the MySQL architecture, access from the Internet can be handled through the MySQL server. MySQL is used, among others, by Facebook, Google and YouTube. Another application is the use of MySQL as an embedded database system.
Enhancements and advancements
MySQL continues to evolve, since the open source software is widely popular and prevalent. Thus, in the years 2008-2012 a number of innovations were introduced such as the query cache for storing frequently used SQL queries and supporting of Views. The current version of MySQL 5.6 offers many special applications and useful features, thus providing a versatile tool.
Benefits for SEO
With the use of appropriate operators, MySQL can be especially beneficial when you need to process large databases quickly. MySQL can, for example, manage large datasets with product data of an online store in order to optimize them for import into price comparison search engines. Just as many keyword tools are based on MySQL databases where keyword rankings are stored with the corresponding URLs and can be accessed by users later in edited form. Thus, the database system does not serve search engine optimization such as on-page optimization directly, but it provides the basis for web analytics tools that operate on the basis of large data volumes.