Book Image

MySQL for Python

By : Albert Lukaszewski
Book Image

MySQL for Python

By: Albert Lukaszewski

Overview of this book

Python is a dynamic programming language, which is completely enterprise ready, owing largely to the variety of support modules that are available to extend its capabilities. In order to build productive and feature-rich Python applications, we need to use MySQL for Python, a module that provides database support to our applications. Although you might be familiar with accessing data in MySQL, here you will learn how to access data through MySQL for Python efficiently and effectively.This book demonstrates how to boost the productivity of your Python applications by integrating them with the MySQL database server, the world's most powerful open source database. It will teach you to access the data on your MySQL database server easily with Python's library for MySQL using a practical, hands-on approach. Leaving theory to the classroom, this book uses real-world code to solve real-world problems with real-world solutions.The book starts by exploring the various means of installing MySQL for Python on different platforms and how to use simple database querying techniques to improve your programs. It then takes you through data insertion, data retrieval, and error-handling techniques to create robust programs. The book also covers automation of both database and user creation, and administration of access controls. As the book progresses, you will learn to use many more advanced features of Python for MySQL that facilitate effective administration of your database through Python. Every chapter is illustrated with a project that you can deploy in your own situation.By the end of this book, you will know several techniques for interfacing your Python applications with MySQL effectively so that powerful database management through Python becomes easy to achieve and easy to maintain.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
MySQL for Python
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Every database needs a backup plan


When archiving a database, one of the critical questions that must be answered is how to take a snapshot backup of the database without having users change the data in the process. If data changes in the midst of the backup, it results in an inconsistent backup and compromises the integrity of the archive. There are two strategic determinants for backing up a database system:

  • Offline backups

  • Live backups

Which you use depends on the dynamics of the system in question and the import of the data being stored. In this chapter, we will look at each in turn and the way to implement them.

Offline backups

Offline backups are done by shutting down the server so the records can be archived without the fear of them being changed by the user. It also helps to ensure the server shut down gracefully and that errors were avoided. The problem with using this method on most production systems is that it necessitates a temporary loss of access to the service. For most service...