MySQL 5 has been upgraded from 5.0.18 to 5.0.24a.
Read changelog…

PHP 4 has been upgraded from 4.4.2 to 4.4.4.
Read changelog…

You can keep track of the current versions of PHP, MySQL and Ruby on Rails at http://php.dreamhosters.com and http://rails.dreamhosters.com.

1. Multiple Databases per Hostname!
   One of the most popular suggestions is coming through: You can now have multiple databases per hostname, use the same MySQL username to access multiple databases and have one phpMyAdmin management area for all the databases on your account.
   See Sneaky Changes Afoot.. for more info.
2. New! https://webftp.dreamhost.com!
   A web based FTP client from where you’ll be able to upload/download files, zip files, copy/move/delete files, chmod files, view source, etc.
3. No more .la!
   As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, DreamHost are discontinuing as an official registrar of .la domains.
4. Changes with DreamHost Rewards!
   The retroactive referrer feature has been disabled due to abuse. You should either ask your referrals to enter your email address when signing up, or create a promo code for them.
5. DHSOTM
   DreamHost Site of the Month: 360 Uploads

1. Restore Your Own DB!
   Great new feature: Restore your own MySQL databases from backups, directly from the Control Panel. You can now revert your database to how it looked 1 – 7 days ago (24 hours increments), 1 – 6 weeks ago (½ week increments) or 1 – 6 months ago (1 month increments).
2. Costs of Certs Going Down!
   Covered in Price drops on unique IP-addresses.
3. Bye Bye Web IDs!
   You can now log in to the Control Panel with your contact email address as well as your Web ID.
4. Bye Bye .la!
   DreamHost are discontinuing as an official .la registrar and a different registrar will take over the service from them.
5. New Charities!
   New charities are opensource.org and heifer.org.
6. DHSOTM
   DreamHost Site of the Month: Louis Pang Photography.

For the ones who haven’t followed MySQL progress the latest years, I will recap the development roadmap here.

MySQL 4.0
Released: 25 March, 2003
Supported by DreamHost: September 2003

New features:

• Query cashing (increased performance for many applications with repetitive queries)
• Full-text indexing (searching on packed indexes, bulk inserts and other new optimizations for faster query execution)

MySQL 4.1
Released: 27 October, 2004
Supported by DreamHost: May 2005

New features:

• Sub-queries and derived tables (search complex data sets with greater ease and efficiency)
• Full Unicode support

MySQL InnoDB
Released: 23 September, 2002
Supported by DreamHost: September 2005

New features:

• ACID-compliant transaction support

MySQL 5.0
Released: 24 October, 2005
Supported by DreamHost: January 2006

New features:

• Stored Procedures (to embed business logic in the database and improve performance)
• Triggers (to enforce complex business rules at the database level)
• Cursors (to allow easier database development and reference of large datasets)
• Views (to ensure protection of sensitive information)

MySQL has over the last few years evolved from being a populaire hobby database to be a full enterprise level database. David Axmark, co-founder of MySQL, summarized this when he at the release of MySQL 5.0 said: “People have been criticising MySQL since we started [in 1995] for not having stored procedures, triggers and views”, and “We’re fixing 10 years of criticism in one release”.

More info in the DreamHost Community Wiki:

• MySQL
• MyISAM versus InnoDB tables
• Upgrading from MySQL 4.1 to 5.0 – What might break

1. One-Click Installs Upgrader!
   The one-click installer of WordPress, phpBB, Joomla, etc. now also do one-click upgrades.
   See also The Big 2-oh!.
2. Subversion!
   New! DreamHost now officially have support for Subversion.
3. MySQL 5!
   Covered in MySQL upgraded to 5.0.
4. Jabber Talks with Google!
   Covered in Jabber and Google Talk.
5. wiki.dreamhost.com!
   Covered in DreamHost Knowledge Base and Mirror of DreamHost’s Knowledge Base.
6. DHSOTM
   DreamHost Site of the Month: MoronLife.com.