For those who use MySQL, the world’s most popular open source database for web development, there is a neat MySQL Administrator toolkit that the MySQL folks have come out with that helps you with all aspects of your database.  It includes  a very nice MySQL Query Browser, a Migration tool,  allows you to do backups, restores, and view your database tables, and data.  It is worth the download.

We have downloaded it on both a Unix and Windows system.   Once you get it up and running you’ll feel very much in control of your databases whether at your localhost or to a remote server.

There is one problem you will run into when you initially launch the tool on both Unix and Windows.  This problem appears to be independent of the operating system or server, i.e Wamp or Xampp on your local machine.  There is an initial login error which pops up a message:  “Either the server service or the configuration file could not be found. Startup variables and service section are therefore disabled.”  This is documented in the MySQL forums.

You can still click ok and the tool will launch, you’ll see your databases under “catalogs,” but your service controls will be grayed out, and you will not be logged in as a user.  The problem is the Administrator tool can not find your MySQL “my.ini” file.  And since your not logged in, you can not change your path in “Service Control->Configure Service,” it seems like a catch-22, and has left us, and judging from the forum, many others frustrated.  We spent about an hour on it.

Here’s the solution.  On Windows,  start up MySQL Administrator, push down your “control” key, and click “cancel” in the login window.  This will bring up your “Service Control” window.  Go to “Configure Service->Configuration Filename:”  and put in the path to your MySQL my.ini file, including the my.ini at the end of the path.  Click Apply Changes, and click the “Start/Stop service tab, and then stop and restart your service.  Close the window, and relaunch the administrator tool.  Your error message should be gone, and everything should start properly.

My setup on Linux is a lampp install on Fedora 10.  The MySQL tools are completely separate from the lampp application suite,  so you need to tell the MySQL Administration tool where to find the database.  The Administrator tool looks for “/etc/my.cnf ” ,  which must be some kind of default location.  I could not find a way to change this.  The work around is to remove the stock “/etc/my.cnf ” file, and to replace it with a soft link to the lampp configuration file.

ln -s /opt/lampp/etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf

Now, the MySQL Administration tool will read the lampp configuration file, and everything should work properly.

Ubuntu 9.04, known as “Jaunty Jackalope” was just released on April 23.   It is the latest version of the popular Linux distro.  This version has significant  feature enhancements over the previous version.  For one thing, they rewrote the boot and install programs, so the operating system should load easier,  and more important, boot quicker at start-up, something Windows has had a problem with for ages.  Boot times may be as short as 25 seconds in some configurations.   With this release, Ubuntu is claiming to be on a par with both Windows and Mac’s OS, Leopard.   They may be right.

With Ubuntu comes OpenOffice.org and a full desktop application suite that is starting to rival Microsoft Office in functionality, and at the same time be completely compatible with Microsoft formats and Mac formats.   They put a lot of your favorite applications in a library so you don’t have to go all over the web to find the correct Ubuntu version of your favorite application.  It’s all available right from the desktop, as are easy updates for all your software.   Another plus that has been bugging Linux Distros has been support for advanced video drivers.  This version of Ubuntu supports the NVIDIA advanced video drivers, so you should not have any video problems.   We are going to take a slightly closer look and be back with you in a bit on our overall impression.

Jaunty Jackalope is available from the Ubuntu web site.