Newest MariaDB Enterprise Server release series reaches RC

Posted on November 19, 2024 by
spacer

We are thrilled to introduce our newest major release of MariaDB Enterprise Server. For this release, we looked at how we can improve and fix several features that have come up short in MySQL, in particular ALTER TABLE, the optimizer and system versioning. We believe that when it comes to the extended MySQL ecosystem, MariaDB is the future, and that’s exactly what we hope to continue to make progress on with this release. Today, MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 is now a Release Candidate and available to all our customers for initial testing and additional feedback.

First, a reminder about why our customers choose MariaDB Enterprise Server:

MariaDB Enterprise Server for production workloads

 

MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 RC includes significant new features and capabilities that continue to make MariaDB the database trusted by enterprises around the world.

Reduced operational downtime with new Online Schema Change feature

MySQL and MariaDB users will be familiar with issues related to locking with ALTER TABLE operations. Along the way there have been some prior temporary solutions to these issues like INSTANT ALTER TABLE for some operations or even third party tools that use stored procedures and other things to try to simulate non-locking ALTER TABLE operations. With MariaDB Enterprise Server 11. 4 (RC), we have implemented a real solution for this problem! With the introduction of the Online Schema Change (OSC) feature there is finally a non-locking ALTER TABLE built into the server. With this feature, you can concurrently write to the table while the ALTER TABLE is ongoing.

Another long running issue related to ALTER TABLE operations is the replication lag caused by the mere fact that ALTER TABLE operations tend to take a lot of time. Because an operation cannot be replicated until it has finished, you automatically introduce replication lag by having operations that take a long time as they have to be executed both on the primary and the replica. The new optimistic ALTER TABLE for replication feature solves this problem by making ALTER TABLE operations two-phased operations for replication purposes. Thus, no added lag time!

Supporting semi-structured data

Being able to store semi-structured data is something we have taken seriously for a long time at MariaDB. Starting with Dynamic Columns in MariaDB Community Server 5.3 to a slew of new JSON functions being added today. Being able to combine the flexibility and agility of semi-structured data with the reliability and integrity of an ACID database is an area where MariaDB Server really shines. Even though we started adding JSON support many years ago, we have still added quite a few new functions that make it easier to work and deal with JSON data. While MySQL has also done a good job at adding JSON support, you may be surprised at the amounts and types of JSON functions that are supported with MariaDB Server today. Learn more about MariaDB’s JSON support here.

Improving performance at the optimizer level

Performance is a key area we focus on at MariaDB. We are continuously re-evaluating our QA process to enhance it to better catch performance regressions as well as predict and confirm performance improvements. For MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 (RC), we have also taken a deep look at our optimizer as it was clear that some of the assumptions made in the early days are no longer valid. The old optimizer stems from the MySQL days and modernizing it was the only way to address performance improvements we wanted to make.  The new optimizer now has a completely revamped cost model, which is a change from the previous rule-based model. Huge effort went into improving the calculations of the optimizer costs, taking into account state-of-the-art SSD disks. The new implementation also takes the different characteristics of a storage engine into account to provide the most accurate estimates possible.

Always secure

MariaDB Enterprise Server is built with security in mind and comes with default security settings turned on. With the 11.4 release series of MariaDB Enterprise Server, we have added several new security features that will help our customers to be secure, always. We have enabled TLS (AKA, SSL) encryption by default between the server and the client. In the past a complicated process with certification setup was needed in order to enable SSL, however this is no longer the case and all connections are now encrypted by default without the complicated setup process. We have also continued the process of having more fine grained privileges instead of the blanket SUPER privileges. A  READ ONLY ADMIN privilege was added which is now required to write to read only replicas. We have also added a password_reuse_check plugin to enforce that old passwords are not reused.

Leading with system versioning

System versioning and application time are advanced database features that were added to MariaDB a few years ago, in essence making MariaDB the only bi-temporal database out of the three most popular open source databases (MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL). System versioning and application time makes it possible to rewind the information in a table to “as it actually was” in combination with “as it was recorded” at some point in time. In this release, we have further improved the automation features with system versioning by allowing system versioning partitions to be automatically created and added with time. At the same time we have improved the information about application time periods in INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables to make it easier to use application time in actual applications.

We are really excited to bring this new Enterprise Server release to our customers. With this release, we are fixing many long running problems that MySQL users have experienced. It’s just another reason why, now is a great time to make the switch from MySQL to MariaDB!

For a full list of features and capabilities included in MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 RC, please visit the What’s New in MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 page. We also urge you to download the Release Candidate and give us feedback on the new features while waiting for GA to be released early next year! Customers can access MariaDB Enterprise Server 11.4 RC downloads here.

Next steps: