Optional MySQL 5.0 Upgrade (Partially) Available

We have done a lot of testing on making MySQL 5.0 available for our members (and not just because it’s something we want to use ourselves!). We’ve finished our base testing, and the upgrade is now optionally available to most members.

Not all of our MySQL servers are part of this upgrade. Our oldest servers won’t be upgraded to 5.0. Instead, they’ll be upgraded to all new equipment over the next couple of weeks (while still running 4.1). Once that’s done, we’ll provide an upgrade path for those users as well.

New MySQL processes will be created as MySQL 5.

If you’re on an affected server, your MySQL process will continue running as 4.1.21 until you’re ready to make the move. Then, manually stop it and let it restart. At that point, you’ll find yourself running MySQL 5.0.40. All your data (and InnoDB settings, if applicable) will be transparently migrated to the new version, and things will generally “just work” but you will need to take a couple of steps to finalize the migration and make sure you get the most out of MySQL 5.0:

First, run the following command from our ssh environment:

… killing space to avoid text collision …

mysqlcheck --host=whatever.db --check-upgrade --all-databases --auto-repair --user=whatever -p

Second, run this command:

mysql_fix_privilege_tables --host=whatever.db --user=whatever --password=whatever

(Alternatively, you can perform the second by downloading the needed SQL file here and pasting it into a MySQL administration tool like phpMyAdmin.)

For both commands, fill in the “whatever” with information appropriate for your MySQL process and admin username. Both commands are one line. Both commands will prompt you for your MySQL admin username’s password.

In the mean time, if you’re absolutely positive that you’re on the wrong MySQL version for you (i.e., you want to make sure you remain on 4.1 as long as possible, or if you’ve stopped and started your process trying to get to 5.0 and discovered that you’re on a server that doesn’t have it), send us a secure support request. As part of our new MySQL server deployment, we’ve developed technology for easily moving MySQL processes between servers, although it does involve a brief downtime. We’ll be happy to use that to make sure you wind up where you want to be.

In all of our tests, upgrading has gone very smoothly. Naturally, if you choose to upgrade and run into a problem, we want to hear about it. If you do hit a snag, I recommend posting to our member forum or submitting a secure support request, as blog comments are a lousy mechanism for providing support.

This is not a forced upgrade. We’ve done our best to make sure that MySQL 5.0 becomes available as quickly as possible, while still putting our members in control of exactly when they upgrade. We’ll attempt to continue to make MySQL 4.1 available to people who absolutely need it for at least a couple of months.

(For those that will just have to ask, MySQL 5.1 is a beta release and we do not have any plans to support it until it has been released and stable for a good long time. But not as long as we waited with MySQL 5.0. 😉 )

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