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MariaDB bakes native encryption into 10.1RC - with some Google loving

No performance sacrifice, open source DBMS developer says

MariaDB is beefing up security with the latest upgrade of the open source database, MariaDB 10.1, courtesy of encryption technology donated by Google. The upgrade can be downloaded today as a release candidate and general availability is slated for October.

By migrating to 10.1, current MariaDB and MySQL users can natively and transparently encrypt their databases “without sacrificing performance and cost” and without having to make changes to existing applications.

New security features in 10.1 include better password management, role based control improvements and, Google's contribution, data-at-rest- encryption - all lovely for compliance with data protection regulations.

MariaDB Corp. contrasts its upgrade with the approach taken by commercial DMBS providers, which typically use expensive and slow third party extensions for database encryption - an “unfeasible longer-term option for most companies”. Is it enough to make companies switch over?

Certainly MySQL, the open source database from which the "drop-in replacement" MariaDB forked in 2009, is a softish target. MySQL was bought by Sun Microsystems in 2008 for $1bn. Sun in turn was bought by Oracle in 2010 and since then MySQL has languished under its ownership. MariaDB forked from MySQl in 2009 and its lead dev is Monty Widenius, who was a MySQl co-founder.

MariaDB10.1 also features various scalability bumps, full integration with Galera cluster, support for JSON/BSON in the CONNECT storage engine. ®

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