Enhanced MySQL 5.5 Release Candidate Available from Oracle

The release candidate for MySQL 5.5 is now available from Oracle. MySQL 5.5 demonstrated notable performance improvements over MySQL 5.1 for Windows and Linux operating systems in recent benchmarks. The MySQL release candidate offers enhancements such as optimized performance and scalability when running on multi-CPU, multi-core hardware and operating systems; along with improved failover reliability and data integrity with semi-synchronous replication, plus Replication Heart Beat for quicker detection, diagnosis, and correction of synchronization issues. MySQL 5.5 now also allows RANGE and LIST partitions to be defined on date, datetime, varchar, and char columns; provides enhanced diagnostics; and saves time with the ability to use standard SIGNAL/RESIGNAL syntax inside stored routines.