MySQL is easy to use, yet extremely powerful, secure, and scalable. And because of its small size and speed, it is the ideal database solution for Web sites.

Some of its advantages include the following:

• It's easy to use: While a basic knowledge of SQL is required—and most relational databases require the same knowledge—MySQL is very easy to use. With only a few simple SQL statements, you can build and interact with MySQL.
• It's secure: MySQL includes solid data security layers that protect sensitive data from intruders. Rights can be set to allow some or all privileges to either individuals or groups. Passwords are encrypted.
• It's inexpensive: MySQL is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and available by free download from www.mysql.com.
• It's fast: In the interest of speed, MySQL designers made the decision to offer fewer features than other major database competitors, such as Sybase and Oracle. However, despite having fewer features than the other commercial database products, MySQL still offers all of the features required by most database developers.
• It's scalable: MySQL can handle almost any amount of data, up to as much as 50 million rows or more. The default file size limit is about 4 GB. However, you can increase this number to a theoretical limit of 8 TB of data.
• It manages memory very well: MySQL has been thoroughly tested to prevent memory leaks.
• It runs on many operating systems: MySQL runs on many operating systems, including Novell NetWare, Windows Linux, many varieties of UNIX (such as Sun Solaris, AIX, and DEC UNIX), OS/2, FreeBSD, and others.
• It supports several development interfaces: Development interfaces include JDBC, ODBC, and scripting (PHP and Perl), letting you create database solutions that run not only in your NetWare 6.5 environment, but across all major platforms, including Linux, UNIX, and Windows.

• What is mySQL?
• The benefits of mySQL…
• Putting mySQL to work: Web Database Applications…