MySQL 5.6 preview introduces a NoSQL interface
Oracle has released the first development milestone of the future version of MySQL. The MySQL 5.6.2 preview has landed with improved replication features and the ability to bypass the SQL framework for faster data access and "NoSQL-like performance".
Reacting to customer demands for increased transaction speed, MySQL 5.6.2 introduces a NoSQL interface using the memcached API that allows users to directly access the InnoDB storage engine, bypassing SQL completely while maintaining compatibility with the relational database model. The NoSQL features were originally previewed in a "labs snapshot" in April 2011. Replication has also received several new features in MySQL 5.6.2, including performance improvements and data integrity enhancements such as new replication checksums and automatic recovery of crashed database slaves.
More information about MySQL 5.6 can be found in the official reference manual. Experimental snapshots of the server software are licensed under the GPLv2 and can be downloaded from the MySQL Labs site. As with all experimental software, users are reminded that these development builds are for testing purposes only and are not meant to be used in production environments.
(fab)