We are still actively working on the spam issue.
Databases
Databases are where serious applications and servers hold all their data. The language to communicate with them is SQL: Structured Query Language.
Most databases accept all SQL commands. Some databases have quirks for SQL commands. Some databases have non standard SQL commands. But for basic stuff, any db will do.
There are a number of floss databases:
- PostgreSQL
- MariaDB
You may have also heard of some propietary databases:
- Oracle
- Microsoft SQL "sequel server" Server
To make the utterly boring topic of databases interesting, let's mess about with the Ashley Madison database. Ashley Madison is/was a dating site for married people. It was owned in 2015 and there is a torrent available.
Installing a Database
MariaDB is cross platform, so let's have a play. First step is to grab the binaries:
- On Linux, install the mysql package.
- On Windows, download the standalone zipfile from the MariaDB downloads page. For reference, this guide is using v 10.0.21.