MySQL Glossary
MySQL is an open source, object-relational database built with speed and reliability in mind. Its large and active developer community has created many third-party applications, tools, and libraries that expand MySQL’s functionality.
This glossary defines the core concepts behind MySQL to help build your mental model of how MySQL work and understand what the documentation is referring to when it uses certain terminology.
ACID compliance is a set of database characteristics consisting of Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability that ensure that database transactions are completed efficiently.
An access control list, or ACL, is a list of user permissions that controls access to a system resource.
Connection status metric is a metric that measures the number of threads created, connected, and running in relation to a database’s connection limit.
A connection string is a string of characters that provides necessary information and parameters to establish a connection between a software application and the database. Connection strings are considered sensitive information and we recommend handling them securely, such as by avoiding hardcoding the string into the application’s code or configuration files.
A central processing unit, also called a processor or CPU, is an essential piece of computer hardware that executes the instructions from a computer program.
Database as a Service, Managed Database Service, or DBaaS for short, is a cloud service that allows users to access a cloud database system without having a personal cloud data system on a subscription basis.
In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, a threat actor renders information systems, devices, or other network resources inaccessible by overwhelming the target with malicious traffic. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a type of DoS attack where the overloading traffic originates from multiple attacking machines, amplifying the severity of the attack.
End-to-end encryption, or E2EE, is a system of communication that encrypts messages for everyone including the messaging service except the user receiving the message and the user that sent the message.
Failover is a high availability (HA) mechanism that monitors servers for failures and reroutes traffic or operations to a redundant server when the primary server fails.
High Availability (HA) is an approach to infrastructure design focusing on reducing downtime and eliminating single points of failure.
Hot standby is the act of listening for when a primary node fails in order for the standby node to take its place.
The index vs. sequential reads plot presents the proportion of reads that use an index over the total number of reads across all databases (schemas) on the main server.
The Internet Protocol (IP) is a communications protocol used to connect computers across a network, specifically the Internet. IP consists of rules and regulations for transmission of packets across a network including routing and addressing. IP ensures that the packets of data that travel across a network arrives at the correct location.
Logs are captures of the standard output stream that you can inspect for information about activity related to your app.
Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) is an open source disk encryption specification for block storage devices.
Machine type is the set of virtualized hardware resources used for a virtual machine (VM) instance.
Operations throughput metric is a measurement of throughput of fetch, insert, update, and delete operations across all databases on the server.
Point-in-time recovery, or PITR for short, ensures that automatic backups are made in order to restore or recover data made in a previous state of the server.
Random-Access Memory, or RAM, is a memory storage made to store and access memory on a short-term basis.
A read-only node is a replica of the cluster’s primary node.
Scaling is the process of adding more capacity to a resource in your app.
SQL mode, or
sql_mode is a MySQL system variable meant to configure operational characteristics of the MySQL server.
SSL certificate is a digital document outlining the identity of the website.
A standby node is a node that is set aside idling on hot standby.
Tags are keywords associated with resources which help with managing resource ownership and organize lookups and actions on resources.