[MySQL]Get the charset right - utf8 only as of mysql 4.1

After building a site using UTF8 charset/collation for the databese it turns out that the server is using an older version of MySQL that does not support utf8. I am getting errors when trying to upload the data from the development database whenever it encounters a charset or collation command so I need to edit out these in the sql file.

It turns out that they are using an older version of MySQL (4.0.26a) and the IT department is unwilling to upgrade (from experience universities can be a hassle when it comes to server configuration). The funny thing is that they say that they are concerned with security but the server has register_globals on and they set me up with an FTP account without the capabilities to change file permissions and all files are defaulted to 777. So much for security.

Since they have the latest PHP installed (5.2.3) I assumed that the mysql would be up-to-date as well and did not concern myself with it. Anyway the lesson here never to assume anything and double check your clients server configurations BEFORE production.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/charset-unicode.html

Anyone know if it is possible to export a 4.1 db so that it is compatible with 4.0? There is the SQL compatibility mode setting which has the option MYSQL40. However they say that there are some known bugs with this concerning auto increment.

http://bugs.mysql.com/14515

I feel for you, and it’s horrible to see so many configurations in the wild like this; pairing up recently released technology with buggy, ancient, limiting solutions that are often clung-to without any real knowledge of the security impact. It’s like installing PHP 5.1+ in a LAMP server without the mysql PDO driver, and it’s simply ignorance at the server administration level. I guess we need a "GoMySQL5" website and countdown now too.

I guess we need a "GoMySQL5" website and countdown now too.

Sounds good. Thanks for the support.

There are a ton of compelling reasons for them to upgrade MySQL to at least 4.1.1, so I would try making the case with them again (even if they’re not a particularly logical institution).

Some institutions have a network security department separate from the IT area. If it’s the case that IT is just strapped for resources or time or know-how, network security could be very interested in your problem and may be able to prod IT into action.

I’ve heard complaints that MySQL 5 uses a lot more resources than 4 and can overtax some CPUs. Has anyone here experienced this? We had one server (at a host that’s had a lot of problems and made way too many excuses) throwing 500 errors quite a bit after upgrading to MySQL 5 until they doubled the RAM in the machine (so they say).

Quote from: ZAP at Nov 27, 2007, 01:38 PM

I’ve heard complaints that MySQL 5 uses a lot more resources than 4 and can overtax some CPUs. Has anyone here experienced this? We had one server (at a host that’s had a lot of problems and made way too many excuses) throwing 500 errors quite a bit after upgrading to MySQL 5 until they doubled the RAM in the machine (so they say).

I’ve experienced nothing but ever increasing performance from the more recent MySQL 5 releases personally. Sounds like they might be blaming problems in configuring MySQL 5 and PHP correctly on MySQL 5, but I could be wrong.

I tried to make my point but they actually seemed a bit offended, so I will leave it alone and just make sure that they are aware of the problems so it is not my responsibility. They will be upgrading or migrating to a new server eventually but the best time frame I could get from them was that it would be sometime between 1 and 3 months, or in other words only next year!!!

Oh well.

I just noticed that the server is running on Netware which could explain the document permission issues, being on windows and all. I needed to look up NetWare since I had forgotten about it (have never used it but have heard about it before). Looks like I am getting into an adventure here, and I thought that the site was finished.

Oh well.