I'm in the process of running a POC.
Initially, I've been working on the vendor side and we can only suggest to the vendor how to use Percona Server as opposed to MySQL's community version. I was just working on MySQL Server to see the difference between the community version and this and how the performance goes. I'm doing the R&D on my side.
It's easy to use, and the community is really nice. For example, if I have an issue, I can search for it, and the issue can get solved really quickly.
There are a lot of benefits. The tools which Percona provides for backup and recovery, like Percona XtraBackup, are great.
The initial setup is simple.
It's scalable.
We find the product mostly stable.
It's open-source, making it free to use.
The community surrounding Percona is quite helpful.
I would love to see the flashback in Percona MySQL or even in Percona PostgreSQL. It's available in Oracle, the flashback.
In Oracle, there's the utility of a flashback. It stores all the information in the tables for a few days. That way, if I accidentally delete my records from the table or I need to check the value of a column or row two days back, I can. If Percona had flashback capabilities, it would be ideal.
I would love to see training be easier to find. I had some complications finding the training that Percona provides. It is not displayed on the website. For example, if I want to train myself via a Percona expert through virtual files or through recorded videos or something like that, it's really difficult to find any sort of course. You have to email them first, and they will ask you whether it is for yourself or it is for the corporate sector. The course content should just be readily available and not hidden.
I've been using the solution for almost a year.
Overall, it is stable, and I have built multiple sorts of applications in my testing environment. I deliberately bought the database machine and then started it up. So far, it has been really good. Sometimes, however, it does cause an unknown error. For example, it might say some of the files are corrupted or something like this. That's the nature of the OS. When a machine crashes, it does have an impact on the files.
I'd rate the solution's stability eight out of ten overall.
The solution can scale well. I have not come across any issues. I'd rate the ability to scale ten out of ten.
As compared to the licensed product, where money is money and money can buy you things, there isn't much direct support. That said, I have never found any sort of an issue that could not be found on the community forum or something like that. And I did approach some of the guys from Percona and they provided me with a good knowledge base. I'm also a member of a Percona community. Whenever I raise a question there, there is always someone who can help. It's pretty good. And this all comes with zero costs attached.
I'm also doing a POC with MySQL.
Percona does also have MySQL and MySQL is also licensed, which is under Oracle. I have not used the enterprise version, however, I have experience with the enterprise version of Oracle where we have the support of Oracle and a licensing program. The difference between open source and licensed databases is the money which can make things easy.
The setup is straightforward. It's really easy to use. Even a beginner or someone new to reporting for PostgreSQL or MySQL can easily install it on their local virtual machines, and they can play with the databases.
I'd rate the ease of implementation ten out of ten. As compared to Oracle, it's really easy to use and easy to understand as well as deploy.
We deployed on a local environment; if the internet is stable, it will hardly take up to ten minutes to set up on Ubuntu Debian services. I'm not too sure about the OS version of the other Linux versions.
This is an open-source product and is free to use.
I'm an end-user.
I'd advise new users to just go slow, step by step, in order to keep things simple. Don't try to jump ahead. If you go slow, you will get used to everything, and soon you'll be learning very quickly.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
