Category Archives: Using MariaDB
By default, MariaDB does not check if a user reuses a password. Some security policies require users to choose a new password each time, and the Password Reuse Check plugin, available in a MariaDB 10.7.0 preview, enables this functionality.
Old passwords are stored in the mysql.password_reuse_check_history table, and the period they are retained for is determined by the password-reuse-check-interval system variable, which specifies a number of days. By default this is zero, meaning unlimited retention.
The password can be used in conjunction with other password validation plugins, such as the Simple Password Check plugin or the CrackLib Password Check plugin.
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Continue reading “10.7 preview feature: Password Reuse Check plugin”
If you are using table partitioning, you have likely heard of the ALTER TABLE … EXCHANGE PARTITION … WITH TABLE … command. It existed in MariaDB since forever. But if you check the manual (any manual) or search the web, you will see that almost the only use case of it is converting a partition to a standalone non-partitoned table, or converting a standalone non-partitoned table into a partition.
And the usage was designed back then to be anything but obvious. To convert a partition to a table you need first to create an empty table with the same structure as a partition, then you exchange it with a partition, and then you drop the empty partition.
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Sometimes there is a need to combine data from different columns into one string. For example,
SELECT CONCAT(first_name, ‘ ‘, last_name) FROM employees;
This doesn’t look too bad, but can quickly get out of hand, if you need to do something more complex than that. For example, let’s say, we also need to mention the salary here:
SELECT CONCAT(first_name, ‘ ‘, last_name, ‘ -‘, CAST(FORMAT(salary, 0) AS VARCHAR(10)), ‘ ‘, currency) FROM employees;
This preview shows a new feature for MariaDB 10.7 that was developed as a part of Google Summer of Code (MDEV-25015) by Alan Cueva, together with his mentor Vicențiu Ciorbaru.
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Continue reading “10.7 preview feature: Python-like string formatting”
MariaDB has had support for histograms as part of Engine Independent Table Statistics since 10.0. As part of Google Summer of Code (MDEV-21130), Michael Okoko, together with his mentor Sergey Petrunia, have implemented a new format (using JSON) for histograms that significantly improves the accuracy and flexibility of histograms. For those just interested in the feature details, you can skip to the “New format”, however if one is unfamiliar with the purpose of histograms, read on.
Why statistics are needed
Histograms are important for queries where the WHERE clause uses columns that are not indexed.
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Now is the time to try out the new candidate features of MariaDB Server 10.7, the next release series of MariaDB! This blog describes how the new preview releases work, and where we need your help as a MariaDB user.
The challenge: Making MariaDB mature quicker
Remember the challenges and visions I described two weeks ago? To address them we launch an experiment with several parallel preview releases of MariaDB Server 10.7 features.
This should solve two challenges mentioned in the blog: giving users early access to new functionality and making releases mature more rapidly through intensive internal testing.
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MindsDB is an AutoML framework that lets software engineers do machine learning, without having to go through the whole data science pipeline. Additionally, MindsDB has done a seamless integration with MariaDB, by making use of the Connect Storage Engine.
If you want to learn more about how you can do AI straight from inside MariaDB, register for the webinar on 18th of May 16:00 GMT. MariaDB Foundation, together with MindsDB will cover the following topics in detail:
- Why AI inside the database makes sense
- How MariaDB is built to facilitate AI integrations.
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Mark your calendar on Wednesday 24 March 2021! Topic: the MariaDB Server MiniFest on High Availability. We have a number of high-profile presenters already lined up, to present the various HA solutions in MariaDB. Our goal: to help you pick the best one.
Role model: The Server Minifest in Dec 2020
The HA MiniFest follows the format of our Dec 2020 MariaDB Server MiniFest on the Release Policy. We start at 14:00 Paris time (CET) – 9:00am New York, 21:00 Beijing.
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Machine learning is one area that cannot succeed without data. Traditionally, machine learning frameworks read it from CSV files or similar data sources. This brings an interesting set of challenges because in most cases the data is stored in databases, not simple raw files. It takes time and effort to move data from one format to another. Additionally, one needs to write some code (usually python) to prepare the data just like the ML framework expects it.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw during the MariaDB Server Fest that MindsDB, an automatic machine learning system, presented their integration with MariaDB.
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