Indiana University

IU Webmaster

MySQL Upgrade Information

The mysql.iu.edu service will be upgraded to MySQL 5.0 on October 25th.

Overview

On September 20th, all mysql.iu.edu accounts were copied and migrated to a new MySQL 5 test environment. This was done in order to provide you with an environment to test the outcome of a MySQL 5 upgrade prior to the MySQL move into production on October 25th. Crucial to the success of the upgrade will be the time you make available to fully test your applications in this MySQL 5 environment following the instructions provided below. If you encounter any issues during testing, please send your feedback to IU Webmaster by October 19th. On October 25th, mysql.iu.edu will be upgraded to MySQL 5 and placed into production.

It is important to note that content from mysql-test.iu.edu (Callisto) will not be retained after this migration/upgrade to MySQL 5. Therefore, if you have content on mysql-test.iu.edu that you would like copied over to the MySQL 5 test server, please contact us with the name of the account.

After the migration is complete, older versions of MySQL will no longer be supported centrally.

Timeline of Events

  • September 20th: UITS copied all mysql.iu.edu accounts to a new MySQL 5 testing area.

  • Now - October 19th: Account owners provide feedback on any issues discovered during testing.

  • October 25th: mysql.iu.edu will be upgraded and moved to a new MySQL 5 production environment.

Testing Your Upgrade:

  1. Make a copy of the web applications on Webserve that use the MySQL service.

  2. Edit the MySQL connection string of the copied web application from mysql.iu.edu to mysqltemp.uits.iu.edu. The passwords and port number for mysqltemp.uits.iu.edu have been synchronized to match the passwords and port number you use in production on mysql.iu.edu so no change is necessary beyond the change to the host name.

    • The 'mysqltemp.uits.iu.edu' connection string is temporary and is intended only to be used during the testing phase. It will become inactive after the upgrade is complete on October 25th.

    • The copy of your account in the MySQL 5 test environment reflects the state of your production MySQL 3 account on September 20th when the copy was made. Since this data will not be synchronized and updated, you may notice changes between your production MySQL 3 account and your test MySQL 5 account during testing. When MySQL 5 is moved into production on October 25th, a new copy will be made on the production MySQL 5 server to make sure it reflects the current version you have in production on MySQL 3.

    • Your account in this MySQL 5 test environment will remain available to you after the conclusion of the upgrade. This will provide you with a test account for future development needs. After the upgrade is complete on October 25th, these accounts can be accessed using mysql-test.iu.edu. The root password and port number will be the same as your production account on mysql.iu.edu.

  3. Once you have copied your web applications on Webserve and updated the connection string, test the application to confirm things are working as expected.

  4. Provide feedback on any problems you are having when testing your upgraded databases to IU Webmaster.

The Move into Production

On October 25th, a new copy of your production database will be made and 'mysql.iu.edu' will be switched to point to these databases in a new MySQL 5 production environment. Therefore, you will not need to edit the MySQL connection string of your production applications for any connections that reference mysql.iu.edu.

As part of this migration/upgrade, the MySQL server's IP address and name (triton.uits.indiana.edu) will change. Since the documented practice has been to use 'mysql.iu.edu' when making database connections, this should have no impact. However, if you are using the IP address or machine name you should update these now to reflect 'mysql.iu.edu'.

Software on Webserve that is specific to your MySQL account (such as WordPress) should be upgraded after the move into production on October 25th to ensure that you are taking full advantage of the MySQL 5 upgrade and that you are using the latest secured, patched versions of these software.

Resources:

For a look at the MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual
Perhaps of special note: