DICT offers a MySQL database for general use, for example as a backend for simple web applications such as Wordpress or Drupal on the webshares environment.

The database is hosted on a shared environment, so very large databases or computationally intensive queries do not belong here. The MySQL environment is a replicating cluster setup, keeping downtime relatively low.

Usage

• Version: MySQL 8 Server
• Any MySQL client can connect to the MySQL environment (both MySQL and MariaDB clients, MariaDB 10 features are not available)
• Server name: mysql.ugent.be (the old name framboos.ugent.be will be phased out)
• An encrypted connection is recommended (use ssl_mode: PREFERED or REQUIRED)
• Default charset: utf8mb3 (collation: utf8mb3_general_ci)
• Default engine: InnoDB (older engines such as MyISAM and MEMORY are not recommended)

Request

You can request a database via DICT Selfservice, either separately or as part of the request for a webshare.

Ground rules

We expect a properly designed database schema, which provides indexes to the fields used in the WHERE clause of SQL statements with each table containing a primary key.

Large binary blobs (such as documents or images) do not belong in a relational database. Do not store these in a table of your database, but on a file system.

Backups

Daily backups are taken that can be used as disaster recovery. These are available for 2 weeks, after which one weekly backup is kept for 15 weeks.

Taking and maintaining additional backups yourself on a regular basis is not recommended, so that storage capacity is used efficiently. In case of a disaster, DICT will restore the entire database cluster.

However, we do recommend taking a dump of your database before upgrading your application. Then delete it again after the upgrade has been completed successfully.