Weekly Snap: MySQL Threads, OSDC Partners & an OSBF Job

21 – 25 February finished up the month with a look at new MySQL features, announcements on OSDC partners, early bird specials and an OSBF job vacancy.
Building on his last post on semi-synchronous replication, Bernd continued onto part 2 of his MySQL New Features series, with a look at background I/O threads. Responsible for the processing of pre-fetches and writing dirty pages, the previous thread could not fully utilize current server hardware and storage sub systems. The new innodb_read_io_threads in version 5.5 enable dynamic configuration of read threads, and thus an optimised utilisation of disk sub systems. Writing altered data blocks from the buffer cache to disk, has now been fine-tuned with innodb_write_io_threads. Bernd expects this to be particularly useful for those with modern RAID controllers, as writing is often acknowledged in the controller cache to be considered complete. He warned however, that in practice these parameters could lead to growing I/O waits on disks. Most important is to use various combinations over time, document and compare results when tuning.
Following on Manuela forwarded news of a casual, student job opening at the Open Source Business Foundation (OSBF). The institute is seeking a student to develop their website and integrate an Enterprise Open Source (EOS) directory. The ideal candidate should have experience in content management systems (TYPO3 and TypoScript) and their extensions (use and configuration), customer relationship management systems (SugarCRM) and programming knowledge of common web technologies (PHP) with a customer oriented, systematic yet communicative work ethic. More details can be found on the OSBF website or by contacting Stefan Probst <sp@osbf.eu>
Manuela then announced this year’s OSDC partners – Puppet Labs, Linux Magazin, Admin Magazin and Thomas Krenn and reminded us that the OSDC early bird specials close today. Those who wish to save up to 20% have just a few hours left. Choose between packages with or without accommodation at the conference hotel. In addition to the three streams of workshops and presentations: Configuration Management, Cloud Computing and Data Center Infrastructure, the OSDC will feature two intensive workshops on the conference eve (5 April) on” Configuration Management with Puppet – Advanced” and “ITSM Reporting with Jasper” for the first time. With just 2 and 5 spaces left respectively, you’ll need to register quick!