The core of Understanding MySQL Internals begins with an Architecture Overview that provides a brief introduction of how the different components of MySQL work together. You then learn the steps for setting up a working compilable copy of the code that you can change and test at your pleasure. Other sections of the book cover:
- Core server classes, structures, and API
- The communication protocol between the client and the server
- Configuration variables, the controls of the server; includes a tutorial on how to add your own
- Thread-based request handling -- understanding threads and how they are used in MySQL
- An overview of MySQL storage engines
- The storage engine interface for integrating third-party storage engines
- The table lock manager
- The parser and optimizer for improving MySQL's performance
- Integrating a transactional storage engine into MySQL
- The internals of replication
