Connecting the MySQL GUI Tools to a Remote Server through a Firewall

A large percentage of MySQL users are using MySQL on a web server hosted by an ISP. Most hosting providers block port 3306 (the MySQL server port) at the firewall, preventing outside access to MySQL. This is an important security practice and you should be very concerned if your ISP does not block port 3306. In this article I will demonstrate how to connect the MySQL GUI tools, including MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query Browser, to a remote server using SSH port forwarding. This article will be written with the assumption that the reader is using Microsoft Windows, but the principles presented will be applicable to Linux users.

Hillyer, Mike. VBMySQL.com (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>SQL

An Introduction to Database Normalization

When users ask for advice about their database applications, one of the first things I try to help them with is the normalization of their table structure. Normalization is the process of removing redundant data from your tables in order to improve storage efficiency, data integrity and scalability. This improvement is balanced against an increase in complexity and potential performance losses from the joining of the normalized tables at query-time.

Hillyer, Mike. MySQL (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>SQL

Managing Hierarchical Data in MySQL

Most users at one time or another have dealt with hierarchical data in a SQL database and no doubt learned that the management of hierarchical data is not what a relational database is intended for. The tables of a relational database are not hierarchical (like XML), but are simply a flat list. Hierarchical data has a parent-child relationship that is not naturally represented in a relational database table.

Hillyer, Mike. VBMySQL.com (2005). Articles>Information Design>Databases>SQL

Securing a MySQL Server on Windows

Windows servers can be difficulty to keep secure. The intent of this article is to list the steps that an administrator can take to properly secure a MySQL installation on Windows. While the procedures listed are written for Windows users, the principles contained herein will be of benefit to users of Linux and Unix as well.

Hillyer, Mike. MySQL (2005). Design>Information Design>Security>SQL

VB/MySQL.com

An online resource for people developing database-driven web applications using Visual Basic and MySQL.

Hillyer, Mike. VBMySQL.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>Databases>SQL