3.6 Types of commercial support

3.6.1 Basic email support

Basic email support is a very inexpensive support option and should be thought of more as a way to support our development of MySQL than as a real support option.

At this support level, the MySQL mailing lists are the preferred means of communication. Questions normally should be mailed to the primary mailing list (mysql@lists.mysql.com) or one of the other regular lists (for example, mysql-win32@lists.mysql.com for Windows-related MySQL questions), as someone else already may have experienced and solved the problem you have. 2.2 Asking questions or reporting bugs.

However, by purchasing basic email support, you also have access to the support address mysql-support@mysql.com, which is not available as part of the minimal support that you get by purchasing a MySQL license. This means that for especially critical questions, you can cross-post your message to mysql-support@mysql.com. (If the message contains sensitive data, you should post only to mysql-support@mysql.com.)

REMEMBER! to ALWAYS include your registration number and expiration date when you send a message to

Basic email support includes the following types of service:

• If your question is already answered in the manual, we will inform you of the correct section in which you can find the answer. If the answer is not in the manual, we will point you in the right direction to solve your problem.
• We guarantee a timely answer for your email messages. We can't guarantee that we can solve any problem, but at least you will receive an answer if we can contact you by email.
• We will help with unexpected problems when you install MySQL from a binary distribution on supported platforms. This level of support does not cover installing MySQL from a source distribution. ``Supported'' platforms are those for which MySQL is known to work. 4.2 Operating systems supported by MySQL.
• We will help you with bugs and missing features. Any bugs that are found are fixed for the next MySQL release. If the bug is critical for you, we will mail you a patch for it as soon the bug is fixed. Critical bugs always have the highest priority for us, to ensure that they are fixed as soon as possible.
• Your suggestions for the further development of MySQL will be taken into consideration. By taking email support you have already helped the further development of MySQL. If you want to have more input, upgrade to a higher level of support.
• If you want us to help optimize your system, you must upgrade to a higher level of support.

3.6.2 Extended email support

Extended email support includes everything in basic email support with these additions:

• Your email will be dealt with before mail from basic email support users and non-registered users.
• Your suggestions for the further development of MySQL will receive strong consideration. Simple extensions that suit the basic goals of MySQL are implemented in a matter of days. By taking extended email support you have already helped the further development of MySQL.
• We include a binary version of the pack_isam packing tool for creating fast compressed read-only databases (it does not support BLOB or TEXT types yet). The current server includes support for reading such databases but not the packing tool used to create them.
• Typical questions that are covered by extended email support are:
  • We will answer and (within reason) solve questions that relate to possible bugs in MySQL. As soon as the bug is found and corrected, we will mail a patch for it.
  • We will help with unexpected problems when you install MySQL from a source or binary distribution on supported platforms.
  • We will answer questions about missing features and offer hints how to work around them.
  • We will provide hints on optimizing mysqld for your situation.
• You are allowed to influence the priority of items on the MySQL TODO. This will ensure that the features you really need will be implemented sooner than they might be otherwise.

3.6.3 Login support

Login support includes everything in extended email support with these additions:

• Your email will be dealt with even before mail from extended email support users.
• Your suggestions for the further development of MySQL will be taken into very high consideration. Realistic extensions that can be implemented in a couple of hours and that suit the basic goals of MySQL will be implemented as soon as possible.
• If you have a very specific problem, we can try to log in on your system to solve the problem ``in place.''
• Like any database vendor, we can't guarantee that we can rescue any data from crashed tables, but if the worst happens we will help you rescue as much as possible. MySQL has proven itself very reliable, but anything is possible due to circumstances beyond our control (for example, if your system crashes or someone kills the server by executing a kill -9 command).
• We will provide hints on optimizing your system and your queries.
• You are allowed to call a MySQL developer (in moderation) and discuss your MySQL-related problems.

3.6.4 Extended login support

Extended login support includes everything in login support with these additions:

• Your email has the highest possible priority.
• We will actively examine your system and help you optimize it and your queries. We may also optimize and/or extend MySQL to better suit your needs.
• You may also request special extensions just for you. For example:

  mysql> select MY_CALCULATION(col_name1,col_name2) from tbl_name;
  

• We will provide a binary distribution of all important MySQL releases for your system, as long as we can get an account on a similar system. In the worst case, we may require access to your system to be able to create a binary distribution.
• If you can provide accommodations and pay for traveler fares, you can even get a MySQL developer to visit you and offer you help with your troubles. Extended login support entitles you to one personal encounter per year, but we are as always very flexible towards our customers!