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MySQL 8.4 for Oracle DBAs

A field guide that translates Oracle DBA experience into the language of MySQL 8.4

This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-07-19
Kei

An Oracle DBA handed a MySQL database is surprised twice: first by how little seems to be there, then by how much of what you know doesn't carry over. All 79 chapters translate what you already do in Oracle — architecture, execution plans, indexing, replication, failover — into the language of MySQL 8.4, with every result measured on real servers. Continuously updated.

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About

About

About the Book

An Oracle DBA who is handed a MySQL database one day is surprised twice. First: "there's less here than I expected." Then: some of that hard-won knowledge simply doesn't carry over. Your hands still reach for the V$ views — but nothing is there. Statistics, once a managed asset, turn out to be a wavering sample. And there is no supported way to pin an execution plan.

This book was written, start to finish, to close that gap — in the form of an Oracle-to-MySQL translation. Every one of its 79 chapters follows the same structure: in Oracle it was X; in MySQL it is Y. From architecture (processes vs threads, SGA vs buffer pool, the redo + binlog dual logs), through reading execution plans, index design, replication and failover, to cleaning up hundreds of millions of rows — each chapter lays down the MySQL answer to work you already know how to do in Oracle.

What's inside

  • Main text: 9 parts, 79 chapters — plus 9 appendices covering AWS RDS for MySQL, Aurora, and the MySQL 8.4/9.x release map
  • Every chapter opens with a "Through an Oracle DBA's Eyes" section — a 1:1 mapping from the Oracle concept you already know
  • 27 Oracle-vs-MySQL comparison diagrams
  • A collection of real-world case studies — a ~500-million-row cleanup, a plan regression traced to statistics volatility, connection-pool exhaustion, and more — each written as symptom → diagnosis → cause → resolution → lessons
  • Every SQL example and its output verified against real servers (Docker MySQL 8.4, AWS RDS, Aurora) — measured results, not assumptions

This book is continuously updated. Buy it once on Leanpub and all future updates are free — including revisions that track new MySQL 8.4 minor releases and the road to the next LTS. Leanpub notifies you whenever a new version is published.

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MySQLDatabasesOracle

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Author

About the Author

Kei

Kei Kim — DBA · DA

  • (Current) STCOMM — DBA
  • Nowcom (Hankey Group) — Sr. DBE
  • Carrot General Insurance (now Hanwha General Insurance) — DA
  • At data consulting and project firms including Bispro Consulting, delivered database projects and operations for Hana Financial Group, Hanwha Life, Jeonbuk Bank, SC First Bank (Standard Chartered Korea), Saemaul Geumgo (MG), and Samsung Electronics semiconductor — as DBA, DBE, and DA

From on-premises data centers to AWS and Azure, Kei has built and operated Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Redis, and MongoDB. Oracle 9i through 19c (Exadata, RAC); MySQL 5.6 through 8.4.

Contents

Table of Contents

Preface Lab Environment Guide — Getting Started on macOS Part I: MySQL 8.4 Architecture Chapter 1. MySQL for Oracle DBAs — Shifting Perspective Chapter 2. MySQL 8.4 Overview and the LTS Release Model Chapter 3. MySQL Server Architecture — Compared with an Oracle Instance Chapter 4. Storage Engines and InnoDB Architecture Chapter 5. Memory Structures — Buffer Pool vs SGA/PGA Chapter 6. Processes vs Threads — MySQL's Connection Handling Model Chapter 7. Transactions and MVCC — Undo Logs and Isolation Levels Chapter 8. Redo Log and Binary Log Chapter 9. The Data Dictionary and System Schemas Chapter 10. Physical File Layout — Tablespaces and ibd Files Part II: Query Fundamentals Chapter 11. The MySQL SQL Dialect — Key Differences from Oracle SQL Chapter 12. Data Type Mapping — NUMBER, VARCHAR2, and DATE Equivalents Chapter 13. SELECT Basics and LIMIT — There Is No ROWNUM Chapter 14. Join Fundamentals Chapter 15. Handling NULL — IFNULL and COALESCE instead of NVL Chapter 16. String and Date Function Mapping Chapter 17. Aggregation and GROUP BY — ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY Chapter 18. Subquery Fundamentals Chapter 19. DML Fundamentals — ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE Chapter 20. DDL Fundamentals and AUTO_INCREMENT — Replacing Sequences Part III: Advanced Queries and Tuning Chapter 21. Reading Execution Plans — EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE Chapter 22. Understanding the Optimizer — The Cost Model Chapter 23. Index Internals and Design — The Clustered Index Chapter 24. Covering Indexes and Index Scan Types Chapter 25. Join Optimization — Join Order and Hash Joins Chapter 26. Subquery Optimization — Semijoins, DISTINCT vs EXISTS Chapter 27. CTEs and Window Functions — CTE Pitfalls Chapter 28. Optimizing OR Conditions — Rewriting with UNION ALL Chapter 29. Managing Optimizer Statistics — STATS_SAMPLE_PAGES and Volatility Chapter 30. Optimizer Hints and Plan Stability Chapter 31. Optimizing Pagination and Sorting Chapter 32. A Practical Query Tuning Methodology Part IV: Operations Fundamentals Chapter 33. Installation and Initial Configuration — Core my.cnf Parameters Chapter 34. Accounts and Privileges — Compared with Oracle Roles Chapter 35. Authentication Plugins — caching_sha2_password Chapter 36. Managing Objects — Tables, Views, and Triggers Chapter 37. Stored Procedures and Functions — Compared with PL/SQL Chapter 38. Diagnosing Duplicate Indexes and Foreign Keys Chapter 39. Character Sets and Collations — utf8mb4 Chapter 40. Backup Fundamentals — Logical and Physical Backups Chapter 41. Recovery Fundamentals — Point-in-Time Recovery Chapter 42. Monitoring Fundamentals — Status Variables and SHOW Commands Chapter 43. Using performance_schema and the sys Schema Chapter 44. Automating Monitoring — Building a Procedure Suite Part V: Advanced Operations — Performance Analysis and Troubleshooting Chapter 45. A Performance Analysis Methodology Chapter 46. Analyzing the Slow Query Log Chapter 47. Analyzing Locks and Deadlocks Chapter 48. Connection Pools and Timeouts — A HikariCP Exhaustion Case Chapter 49. Diagnosing Memory Problems Chapter 50. I/O and Disk Bottlenecks Chapter 51. Analyzing Replication Lag Chapter 52. Incident Response in Practice — A CPU 99% Case Chapter 53. Advanced Parameter Tuning Chapter 54. Upgrades and Migration — From 8.0 to 8.4 Part VI: High Availability and Disaster Recovery Chapter 55. Replication Architecture — Compared with Data Guard Chapter 56. GTID-Based Replication Chapter 57. Semisynchronous Replication Chapter 58. Operating Replication — Monitoring and Failure Recovery Chapter 59. InnoDB Cluster and Group Replication — From a RAC User's Perspective Chapter 60. MySQL Router and the Proxy Layer Chapter 61. Designing for DR — RTO and RPO Chapter 62. Failover and Switchover Procedures in Practice Part VII: Security and Compliance Chapter 63. Encryption — Data at Rest and in Transit Chapter 64. Audit Logging Chapter 65. Data Masking and Anonymization Chapter 66. Security Compliance Audits — Database-Level Requirements Chapter 67. The Account Registry and Access Control Part VIII: Operating at Scale Chapter 68. Big Table Design Principles Chapter 69. Chunked Batch Deletes and Archiving — an ~500-Million-Row Case Chapter 70. Online Schema Changes — INSTANT, gh-ost, pt-osc Chapter 71. Partitioning Strategies — Compared with Oracle Partitioning Chapter 72. Bulk Loading and Batch Processing Chapter 73. Managing the Data Lifecycle Part IX: Case Studies Chapter 74. Case Study: Plan Instability from Statistics Volatility Chapter 75. Case Study: A CTE Materialization Race Condition Chapter 76. Case Study: HikariCP Connection Pool Exhaustion Chapter 77. Case Study: CPU at 99% and an Automatic Failover (Multi-AZ) Chapter 78. Case Study: Cutting an Aggregation Query's Cost by 96% Chapter 79. Learning from the Outside — Reading Public Postmortems Appendix — RDS for MySQL and Aurora, and a Version Map Appendix A1. RDS MySQL Overview — How It Differs from On-Premises Appendix A2. Parameter Groups and Option Groups Appendix A3. How Multi-AZ Works Appendix A4. Using Read Replicas Appendix A5. Snapshots and Point-in-Time Recovery Appendix A6. CloudWatch and Performance Insights Appendix A7. RDS Limitations and Workarounds — Life without SUPER Appendix A8. Evaluating Aurora MySQL Appendix A9. MySQL 8.4 and 9.x New Features — the Terrain After This Book Colophon

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