Database Insights

Leverage MySQL 8.4 InnoDB parallel DDL for faster schema changes. Learn parallel index creation, online DDL improvements, and reduced maintenance windows.

Understand MySQL query execution from parser to storage. Learn optimizer internals, execution plans, buffer management, and physical storage organization.

MySQL offers multiple replication topologies — traditional async replication, semi-sync, Group Replication, and InnoDB Cluster. Understanding the trade-offs determines whether your failover takes seconds or minutes.

MySQL transmits data in plaintext by default, exposing passwords and query results to network interception. Here's how to configure SSL/TLS for MySQL — from certificate generation to enforcing encrypted connections.

A practical guide to choosing between read replicas and caching layers — replication lag behavior, cache invalidation strategies, thundering herd prevention, tiered read architecture patterns, and decision framework.

How to size your database connection pool correctly — the HikariCP formula, the variables that determine optimal pool size, and the mistakes that cause connection exhaustion or underutilization.

MySQL 8.0 introduced EXPLAIN FORMAT=TREE — a hierarchical, human-readable query plan format that reveals join order, access methods, and cost estimates in a way that the traditional tabular EXPLAIN cannot.

MySQL 8.0 introduced multi-valued indexes — allowing you to index individual elements of a JSON array so queries using MEMBER OF or JSON_OVERLAPS can use an index.

A production guide to zero-downtime database migrations — why ALTER TABLE causes downtime, the Expand-Contract pattern, safe migration patterns for PostgreSQL and MySQL, and tooling with Flyway, Liquibase, pt-osc, and gh-ost.

Deploy Vitess for horizontal MySQL sharding — VSchema design, vtgate routing, and migration from single-instance MySQL

ProxySQL pools thousands of application connections into a small backend pool, splits reads to replicas automatically, and lets you change routing without touching application code or restarting MySQL.

Master AWS RDS connection limits for MySQL and PostgreSQL. Learn max_connections calculation, connection pooling strategies, and optimization techniques.