Energy analytics views have transformed how our team stores and analyzes device data
What is our primary use case?
In my current role as a software developer, we are using MySQL in one of our old projects and in the new project as well, specifically for storing the device data from energy meters that send voltage, current, and other related information.
Basically, in our project, we have some APIs that our device calls. Once the data is received by the API server, we put it in BullMQ, and from BullMQ, we have set up the consumer that consumes the data and puts it in MySQL. Over MySQL, we built a dashboard to show the energy trend, users, and load averages both device-wise and in groups based on averages. We have created an analytics dashboard for the energy meters using MySQL.
In my work, we use materialized views by running a cron job over the server, utilizing it in two ways: one is from the application server that inserts data into another table for analysis, and the second is for making materialized views where we aggregate data such as daily averages for devices and groups of devices. Inside those views, we store group-wise metrics such as average current, average voltage, peak load, and average kilowatt usage per hour. We also present these views on our dashboard, providing users the flexibility to select devices and create views for real-time rendering.
We use Tata Communications as our cloud provider for this hybrid cloud deployment.
We have used MySQL from the start, as we had experience with it, and it is straightforward to set up and easy to manage with fewer people.
What is most valuable?
One of the best features MySQL offers is the materialized view that I use. Additionally, as it acts as a transactional database, its transactional properties are useful, although they are not much of a concern in our use case since we focus on device data.
The main feature we utilize in MySQL is the view, and I can say that it is the most valuable feature for our needs.
My organization has experienced positive impacts from MySQL, as it provides exceptional capabilities.
What needs improvement?
MySQL can be improved. While I do not see any significant improvements needed for MySQL in my use cases, I would consider it if any arise in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using MySQL in the industry for two and a half years, and I used it for approximately three years during my college time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
MySQL's scalability is currently adequate, as we have increased operations from ten thousand to twelve thousand devices, and it is working fine for us, but we will monitor for any future issues.
How are customer service and support?
We have not needed to reach out for MySQL's customer support, as the community provides solutions for any issues we face.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have evaluated other options such as PostgreSQL, as it is better for analytics queries, but its primary and secondary index concept makes updates slower compared to MySQL, which leads us to use MySQL.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for MySQL is straightforward and easy to manage with fewer people.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with MySQL, as it allows us to manage with fewer employees, focusing on business logic rather than database management.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for MySQL has been good.
What other advice do I have?
I rate MySQL a nine out of ten. I choose nine out of ten because while there should always be room for improvement, I do not see any necessary adjustments in my use case since it is working fine.
I advise others considering MySQL to start with it if they have small teams and are undecided about which database to use. It is easy to set up and allows you to focus on your business logic initially without going for more complicated databases.
MySQL meets our expectations for our use case so far. We will see what the future holds. My overall rating for MySQL is nine out of ten.
Learning projects have benefited from open source flexibility and strong documentation support
What is our primary use case?
I used MySQL mostly for college projects. I have used Postgres, but for the use case that I utilized it for, I do not think it was interchangeable with MySQL. To be frank, I do not really know the nuances.
What is most valuable?
The best features with MySQL are the fact that it is open source and a relational database. The best part about using MySQL was that it was open source, so it was pretty easy to understand and get materials to learn.
MySQL has good documentation and online support. It is pretty good in terms of integrations, continuous integrations with different tools, and customization options.
What needs improvement?
MySQL was not scaled up, so I did not use the replication capabilities. I do not think MySQL's data security features were at an industrial level for my project, so I did not make use of them. I was mostly using indexes.
I would advise people thinking about using MySQL to look up if the indexing mechanism is useful for their needs and then accordingly select the right database, and also consider if relational databases make sense for their use case. MySQL uses B-trees, so indexing could not be relevant to some use cases.
I did not use any ACID compliant transactions with MySQL.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
From my experience, MySQL was pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I know MySQL has been used in industries by a lot of companies, which means that it is scalable. That is the extent of my knowledge. It should be good because MySQL has been used by industries. I know Facebook uses it.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the documentation and online support a 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I do not deal with Oracle products anymore. That was just a one-time thing that I had for college.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Unfortunately, I do not deal with AWS, Google products, or Azure products because they are usually paid.
What other advice do I have?
MySQL is a very useful database which is used by a lot of companies, so it should be really good. I mostly dealt with MySQL in the last 12 months. My experience with MySQL overall was pretty good. I would rate this review a 10 out of 10.
Powerful Querying and Performance Monitoring Features
What do you like best about the product?
This software offers impressive querying and indexing capabilities, and it supports modern features such as CTEs. Its performance monitoring tools are also quite robust. Additionally, the replication features and speed stand out as significant advantages.
What do you dislike about the product?
Limited debugging capabilities and case sensitivity can often be a cause for unwanted issues. Transaction management is often questionable and can cause data integrity issues.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
At our organization, we rely extensively on MySql to address complex pricing algorithms. We have been able to use it to organize huge volumes of data by platform and integrate it nicely together to provide cohesive financial outputs.
Robust, Feature-Rich Database with Seamless Integration
What do you like best about the product?
MySQL is a solid relational database that offers features like auto-generated primary keys, foreign keys, and indexes. Its support for DDM and DDL queries is excellent. The database also includes an explain command, which helps you understand the details of your queries.
Integrating MySQL with various programming languages is straightforward. Personally, I have used it with both JAVA and PHP.
What do you dislike about the product?
I don't have anything to dislike about MySQL at the moment.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I have used MySQL in numerous web applications to store user data and retrieve it for display through REST APIs. MySQL offers pagination support with the limit keyword, making it straightforward to manage large datasets. Sorting records by a specific field in either ascending or descending order is also simple.
Joins are particularly helpful for retrieving data from multiple tables. Filtering results is easy as well, simply by specifying the desired fields in the WHERE clause.
Reliable, widely used, and easy to manage, but not ideal for heavy write workloads
What do you like best about the product?
I have used MySQL for both personal projects and production environments, and it has consistently proven to be a reliable option. One of its main strengths is its widespread adoption, which makes it easy to find resources, community support, and experienced developers. The installation and setup process is straightforward, making it accessible even for individuals or smaller teams.
Currently, I am running MySQL on AWS RDS, where maintenance, performance monitoring, and automated backup setup are all simple tasks. The platform streamlines database management and keeps overhead to a minimum.
What do you dislike about the product?
MySQL may not be the ideal choice for applications that require handling extremely high volumes of intensive write operations, as its performance can decline under such conditions. In these scenarios, other databases might be more suitable. However, for the vast majority of use cases—about 90% of the time—it remains a reliable and dependable solution.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
MySQL addresses the need for a dependable and user-friendly relational database, suitable for both personal and production projects. It offers an accessible approach to storing, querying, and managing structured data, all without requiring extensive prior knowledge. When I use it on AWS RDS, tasks like backups, maintenance, and performance monitoring become much simpler, allowing me to avoid spending unnecessary time on database administration. In general, MySQL enables me to maintain stable applications and keep my data secure, all while minimizing administrative overhead.
Scalable Powerfull database engine
What do you like best about the product?
normalized relational database engine, Good structured components
Creating database is easy and integrate it with .net applications is good and stable. you don't need to be an expert to implement it you can easily connect to customer support to get answers to your inquiries, I use it frequently for developing my applications
What do you dislike about the product?
Need to specify the code page at the beginning of creating the connection string in the application code
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Some applications need server operating server rather than Microsoft Windows, Linux to be exact. deploying MySQL in Linux is very easy, so I use it to develop such applications
MySQL- The most flexible DBMS!
What do you like best about the product?
Very simple to get started with and take advantage from a vast set of features. It requires a low learning curve to master it as well. In my experience, it is reliable and very efficient. It enables efficient database management and also provides a very high level of security.
What do you dislike about the product?
MySQL has it limits when it comes to very advanced functions, or instances wherein load is very high. The SQL dependant system also does not support certain languages.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The biggest benefit I see using MySQL is that it supports addition of columns to the desired position (using BEFORE and AFTER keyword), this very basic functionality is not provided with premier tools like PostgreSQL, In addition, its flexibility and reliability makes it a solid choice for both small and large projects.
Offers robust security and availability with impressive replication capabilities
What is most valuable?
My opinion on MySQL is that it is the second most popular database after Oracle, and we are using MySQL for several of our customers. So far, my experience with MySQL is very good for organizations that consider database security and availability as priorities. These features are already available with MySQL. Security is inbuilt with the database, and clusters are also possible using MySQL. Availability and sharding features are present, which is why this is a larger database.
I think its replication capabilities are very good.
MySQL has helped my customers' database management by providing better RTO and RPO. The RPO can be less, RTO can be less, using this replication software. It's an inbuilt feature of the database itself, and you don't have to purchase an additional license for the replication.
What needs improvement?
Regarding their documentation and interface, there is room for improvement. Documentation is definitely required when running multiple databases on a cluster system. The load balancer, MySQL LB, which is used to connect to the application, lacks clear documentation. When there are multiple application servers connecting to the MySQL cluster and going through the MySQL load balancer, the documentation is not user-friendly. It's there, but only technical persons with deep knowledge of the MySQL database can implement it. Most of the community users or ISVs who use MySQL don't have many technical persons or DBA experts, so they face some challenges for the high availability of connecting high available databases from high available applications. That documentation should be simplified.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
When we talk about their performance, I never hear from any of my customers about bugs, problems with stability, or updates.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the technical support for MySQL as very limited since normally everything is available on the blog post. I have never reached out to the support team or Oracle support team for MySQL-related support, so I cannot comment on this.
How would you rate customer service and support?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In my opinion, this is not a pretty expensive tool. It is reasonable because it does not base on different components. Oracle has different components, so if you need security, you have to procure a different license, but here everything is inbuilt and it's not costly.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
From their competitors, they could learn from PostgreSQL. Recently there was a discussion where a customer was planning MySQL to PostgreSQL migrations, but finally, they decided to stop moving out from MySQL because of benefits such as sharding features, availability, and clusters. These are not apple-to-apple comparisons between both products. There are some other similar options such as MariaDB, but it's not that popular. Though the base is the same for MySQL and MariaDB, it is not as widely used.
What other advice do I have?
I would assess the value of ACID compliant transactions in MySQL as good, pretty good.
When it comes to spatial extensions, I haven't used spatial extensions for MySQL database, so I cannot comment at this stage.
It's difficult to say how many user transactions MySQL handles for my customers who have applications. I don't have that figure at this stage, but I know big organizations are using MySQL where up to 10 to 20,000 transactions per five to six hours are processed.
The main weaknesses of MySQL depend on the context. For critical workload and financial transactions, customers don't use MySQL; they use Oracle. Talking about our customers, I don't get any complaints that they are facing challenges with MySQL that make them want to move to other databases.
There is no problem with their marketing strategy, as they have been very active for the last two to three years. Initially when Oracle took over this database, there was no dedicated team. Now there is a dedicated team, and they are doing very well with their marketing strategy for MySQL.
Their implementation is very easy.
I believe they have all the features which the segment of customers using this database requires. All the features are available, and MySQL is releasing new features regularly, such as enhancing the security postures. I don't think any new features are required at this stage.
I rate MySQL a nine out of 10, and there is no limit to what they could do to make it even better. Whatever performance or new features you're going to add, somebody else will ask for different features.
Easy to use and open source with almost endless community support
What do you like best about the product?
With Endless online community support and easy of use its a global standard and built in to many web applications. The cost is essentially free and if your purpose is for something like an internal intranet or portal page its perfect. I use it every day for our internal holiday and CRM system as well as for business reporting and it just chugs along with little attention needed.
What do you dislike about the product?
Not as robust and business critical as something like MSSQL but also a hell of a lot cheaper and I still run my companies business analytics and internal intranet pages 24/7 on it with no issues
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It offers a cheap alternative for not critical business database needs
Analysis of customer purchasing patterns and user actions has been effectively facilitated
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for me is mainly to identify patterns. I am part of a data science team, and our job is to interpret user actions, such as when customers place orders on platforms like Amazon or eBay. We analyze patterns such as how many products are being quickly purchased, what additional items customers are buying, and where demand is surging.
What is most valuable?
Both
MSSQL and Oracle are versatile tools in their own ways. If we compare
MSSQL and Oracle, MSSQL is very handy for accessing data through SQL Server Management Studio. It allows programming, writing stored procedures, creating views, constraints, and triggers easily. There is some parity between SQL Server and Oracle, but Oracle is tightly coupled to its applications.
PostgreSQL is better for handling JSON files and database migrations.
What needs improvement?
Oracle could improve on scalability. Currently, to meet scalability requirements, utilizing cloud computing is necessary, which is costly. Especially as
PostgreSQL, an open source solution, is gaining popularity in the market.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using these solutions since 2008 and continue to use them as part of my work domain.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
MySQL solution is overall stable. I did not see any challenges.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is a concern. While both solutions are good regarding scalability, open sources like PostgreSQL are competing well. Meeting scalability requirements through cloud computing is an expensive affair.
How are customer service and support?
Regarding
MySQL and Oracle support, I hardly use it much.
How would you rate customer service and support?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not involved in purchasing the tools. Someone buys them for me, and I work on them. I hardly care about the cost.
What other advice do I have?
For MySQL, I hardly used it, but I can rate MSSQL and Oracle. I rate both nine out of ten. They are robust enough, though JSON handling could be improved. Meeting JSON handling needs would reduce the reliance on NoSQL solutions. I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.
