ExtSQL--or Extended Usage Statistics for SQL--are SQL extensions baked into the MySQL and PostgreSQL server kernels that provide specialized statistics by user, database, or connection, including the reporting of historical data.

Specifically, the extensions provide the ability to execute SHOW STATISTICS commands via SQL that detail various actions by users, databases, hosts, or by connections (from users or hosts). Because the extensions are themselves integrated directly into the server kernel, they can be used through the SQL command line. By default, only the root user is able to view or report the extended usage statistics, but other users can be enabled via a config parameters.

The vendor bills the product not as a new database; but instead as an extension to the existing MySQL/PostgreSQL DBs that can serve as a drop-in replacement for the existing server daemon (the vendor hopes that the extensions will eventually be included directly in the main product distributions). To install the product, the DBA would stop the existing server, replace their exiting daemon binary with the ExtSQL version, and then start the server (the new binary). By default, the extended statistics collection is disabled; to enable them, a configuration statement must be included in the server's config, with the server then restarted.

Configuration parameters enable the DBA to control which stats will be tracked, at what time intervals, and for how long; including the ability to specify what classes of stats will be recorded (I.E., DB, user, connection, etc.), as well as which actions (INSERTs, SELECTs, UPDATEs, etc.). From there, the tracked info is available via variants of the SHOW STATISTICS command, which can include WHERE, LIKE, ORDER BY, and LIMIT clauses.

The vendor offers pre-compiled binaries for various versions of the DBs, initially focusing their efforts on MySQL (v 4/5) for the Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms. For those binaries already available, users can download the binary for free with no direct vendor (I.E., guaranteed) support, or purchase one of two support levels from the vendor (the first message-based and guaranteeing a response in four hours, the second adding live phone support).

For binaries that are not yet available (which include all PostgreSQL flavors as of this writing), the vendor offers a "voting" system where registered users can vote for the platform/DB combination that they most desire. The vendor notes that the voting results will be used in the process of deciding which platform/DB/version combination to next create binaries for. Users can vote for both different OS platforms (Solaris, AIX, SLES, etc.) as well as vote for earlier versions of the DB (such as MySQL 3) to match their currently running server and OS.

ExtSQL is available now. Visit the ExtSQL Web site for further information.