You already know how a database works. This is about how a different database works. I’ve been a MySQL DBA for 20 years. InnoDB internals, replication topologies, fleet management at scale. My entire mental model of how a relational databas…
Deep dives into MySQL and PostgreSQL performance tuning, query optimization, monitoring, and real-world database operations. You already know how a database works. This is about how a different database works. TLS connections, Aurora topolo…
There is a new type of job showing up. Maybe it already exists and nobody named it yet. But the pattern is clear, and I think it deserves a name: Claude Code Engineer. This is not a developer. Not exactly. Not a project manager either. And
You moved your production MySQL to Aurora. The application runs faster, failovers are automatic, and you don’t think about storage anymore. Then you need to run a schema change. You ssh to your bastion, fire up gh-ost with the Aurora writer…
Most people, when asked what a database does, say something like: “it stores data.” That’s like saying a restaurant “stores food.” Technically true. Completely misses the point. A restaurant has to cook fast, serve many tables at once, and
You added a foreign key constraint when you designed the schema, verified referential integrity, and moved on. Two years later, you need to modify a column on the child table. You run dbsafe plan and the output shows a section you weren’t e…
Invisible to the binlog, the audit plugin, and triggers. All at once. You’ve set binlog_format=ROW and binlog_row_image=FULL. Every row change is in the binlog, right? Triggers, stored procedures, LOAD DATA, all of it — every effect is capt…
Before you ALTER, know exactly how to undo it You’ve planned the schema change. You’ve verified the algorithm. You’ve scheduled the maintenance window. And then, fifteen minutes after the ALTER TABLE commits, the application starts throwing…
The most dangerous ALTER TABLE operations and how to survive them You run ALTER TABLE orders MODIFY COLUMN status VARCHAR(100) on your production table. It looks simple — the column already exists, you’re just increasing the size limit. The…
Deep dives into MySQL and PostgreSQL performance tuning, query optimization, monitoring, and real-world database operations. The most dangerous ALTER TABLE operations and how to survive them Add and drop columns without rebuilding the table…
Add and drop columns without rebuilding the table You need to add a column to a 500-million-row production table. Traditionally, that means hours of disk I/O, replication lag that grows faster than you can drain it, and a maintenance window…
A tool that analyzes MySQL schema changes before you run them You’ve probably been there: running ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN email VARCHAR(255) on a production table, expecting it to take a few seconds, and watching it lock the table for