After having a week to recover from the first exam I finally got around to taking the second one….and passed!!

Part II of the MySQL DBA Certification focused a lot more on the day to day running of the server, compared to Part I which was very much installation / configuration based.

Studying for the exam was a little difficult as I also had to work this week (as opposed to being on holiday!), but the skills you gain can be directly applied to everyday management of MySQL, and can be very rewarding especially if you focus on optimisation.

So what next you ask? Well after getting this far I thought it only fair that I give something back to the MySQL Community in the form of a MoinMoin Macro – mmMySQL.

mmMySQL provides a quick way to view MySQL Status and Config directly from your Wiki pages. If like me you manage several MySQL servers and want a quick way to view your server Status or Config, just drop this macro into your MoinMoin Macro folder and add it to a page….easy huh!.

As for where we go from here with mmMySQL……who knows?

While working on the mmEvents macro I decided to take a detour (another one) to write a companion tool that would make managing the few domains that I own easier – mmWhois.

The mmEvents package works great for notifying me about Domain expiry, but that got me thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to view registrar information just by clicking the event? If I am adding an event to a page so that I can be notified of domain renewal dates, it makes sense that the event links to more useful information right?

The first release of mmWhois functions as a standalone action and can be used to perform Domain / IP lookups directly from your MoinMoin Wiki – just drop the WhoisLookup.py file into your actions folder and select Whois Lookup from your Actions Menu – simple.

The next release will include mmEvents integration and possibly results caching – seems like a good idea.
If you have any suggestions on how to improve the action just click the Issue Tracker button on this page and enter a new bug report (Don’t be put off by the term “bug report” – you can still suggest enhancements ).

Well it seems Adobe Apollo has now become Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).
My money is definitely on this platform winning the RIA (Rich Internet Application) race! It is such a simple platform to use and you can easily see it filling the gap that Applets never achieved – I just need an idea for a project to use it.

Now what else can I add to the Wiki?…..

I finally got my head round Python Eggs the other day and decided to put them to use while designing the Daemon for mmEvents.

For those of you who have never heard of Python Eggs, just think Java Jars or CPAN modules. I personally like to compare them to OSX apps – self contained apps that reside in a folder disguised as an EXE – just double click to run. In fact it was the double click to run that got me interested.

It turns out there are many more reasons for packaging your Python application as an Egg, here are five I intend to use:

1. Simplicity – just create your folder structure and drop in a setup.py file to describe your project.
2. Dependency Management – list your dependency modules and watch them download and install before your eyes.
3. Resource Management – want to package some images with your script? Just drop them in a folder and add them to setup.py. There is even an API to handle the location of those files in a platform indipendant manner – Sweet!.
4. Compression – when building an egg you can choose to compress your project into a single .egg file.
5. Eggsecutable – by adding an entry point to your project (e.g. Main()) you can make your .egg run from the command line – I know I already told you that, but it’s so cool!!.

I started work on mmEvents a few months ago while looking for a way to recieve notification for Domain Names stored on my personal Wiki. The concept is simple, you just add the expiry date into a macro and save your page. All going well you’ll get notified as soon as the date arrives.

Anyway the project is picking up speed now and the Daemon should be checked in within the next few days….