What is MySQL ? What are its functions and features ?

MySQL is a freely available open source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL). MySQL provides us with a rich set of features that support a secure environment for storing, maintaining and accessing data.

The functions and features of MySQL are as follows :

1. Speed — If the server hardware is optimal, MySQL runs very fast. It supports clustered servers for demanding applications.
2. Ease of use — MySQL is a high performance, relatively simple database system. From the beginning, MySQL has typically been configured, monitored and managed from the command line. However, several MySQL graphical interfaces are also available.
3. Query Language Support — MySQL understands standards based SQL.
4. Portability — MySQL provides portability as it has been tested with a broad range of different compilers and can work on many different platforms. It is fully multi-threaded using kernel threads. It can easily use multiple CPUs if they are available.
5. Cost — MySQL is available free of cost. MySQL is a open source database.
6. Data Types — MySQL provides many data types to support different types of data. It also supports fixed-length and variable-length records.
7. Security — MySQL offers a privilege and password system that is very flexible and secure, and that allows host-based verification. Passwords are secure because all password traffic is encrypted when we connect to a server.
8. Scalability and Limits — MySQL can handle large databases. Some real life MySQL databases contain 50 million records, some have up to 60,000 tables and about 5,000,000,000 rows.
9. Connectivity — Clients can connect to MySQL Server using several protocols.
10. Localization — The server can provide error messages to clients in many languages.
11. Clients and Tools — MySQL provides several client and utility programs. These include both command-line programs such as mysqldump and mysqladmin, and graphical programs such as MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query Browser. MySQL Server has built-in support for SQL statements to check, optimize and repair tables.