Earlier this year, we deployed another MySQL database server (db2.modwest.com) for our shared hosting customers. It's a beast of a machine, and still has lots of horsepower to spare. In fact, compared to db.modwest.com, it's roughly 4x more powerful and currently doing a lot less work.
In addition to having lots of power to spare, db2 is also running MySQL 5, rather than MySQL 4.1. Version 4.1 will be "end of life" at the end of this year, meaning that MySQL will no longer provide bug or security fixes for it. MySQL 5 has some cool new features, as well, and so we encourage everyone with databases hosted on db.modwest.com to switch them over.
Most modern applications (such as Joomla, Wordpress, or Drupal) should be perfectly happy with MySQL 5; though if you have a custom application, you should probably ask your webmaster to read through MySQL's guide to upgrading from 4.1 to 5.
To make one step in the migration process easier, we've recently whipped up a web tool to copy a database from one server to another. It's here:
We hope you'll enjoy the increased performance of db2, and the increased features and security of MySQL 5, and let us know of any trouble along the way.
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