Setting Up a MySQL Based Website – Part I

by Andrew Chen

Introduction

In this age of the full-service internet, the demand for bigger and badder websites will only increase. To meet the demands of these full-service websites, the SQL database servers come into play. One of the more popular SQL servers available for download on the internet is MySQL. MySQL is not released under a full GPL free license, but for some applications, like intranets, it is free to use. For most users, a $200 license will have to be purchased. However, this price compares very favourably with other companies producing database backends for the commercial market, like IBM, Oracle and Sybase.

Getting Started

For the purpose of this demonstration, we will be setting up a guestbook, using a perl and a MySQL backend. An SQL backend solution for this application would be most appropriate for companies such as GuestWorld who run free public guestbooks.

perl is a scripting language and this article demonstrates its powerful features, as much as those of MySQL.

Page 2: The Tools