The MySQL open source database by the end of September will offer a beta version that shows several capabilities normally associated with more sophisticated database systems, such as online database replication monitoring.

The 5.1 MySQL prerelease beta code will be able to detect and monitor replications of a central database and track their performance in real time. Its replication monitoring adviser will be able to tell MySQL central administrators whether replicated copies are synchronized and whether they are performing as expected.

The beta code will be able to partition a database into sections or multiple databases for better query performance and ease of management.

One metric for determining performance is whether the replicated system has put in the database server cache the most frequently sought data, so that it may be efficiently delivered to end users.

"It lets you monitor dozens of replicated systems," said Zack Urlocker, executive VP of products.

MySQL Proxy is software slated for 5.1 that sits between a MySQL database system and its clients, analyzing queries being submitted for their efficiency or filtering queries for potentially harmful code.

MySQL Connector/ODBC 5.1 is a new, high-performance driver for MySQL databases to provide client access through an industry-standard API.

Eighteen months ago, MySQL AB acquired Netfrastructure, a company owned by Jim Starkey, a database architect known for inventing the first multiversioning concurrency database system, InterBase. Starkey is working on a new version of MySQL, called Falcon.

Multiversioning concurrency creates time-stamped, read-only snapshots of the database that can be parceled out to many users. Users may make tentative changes, but they are added to a master database only after they have been synchronized with other time-stamped changes. The approach guarantees consistent and speedy access for read-only users and avoids forcing them to wait for locked data. Oracle and other relational systems now often include multiversioning concurrency features.

Urlocker says Falcon will be available with the release of MySQL v6 next year as a high-speed transaction system, suitable for running on multicore servers. Web site e-commerce applications with many users, who need to analyze information and execute transactions, such as those used on Internet travel sites, may need a Falcon-type database system, Urlocker said.

Falcon code is available in a preview or alpha version at www.mysql.com, Urlocker said.