The minimum mySQL version supported is the 5.6.4 (previous versions didn't manage milliseconds in date time fields).

To use a MySQL database only the ODBC connection is available (there are no official OLE DB drivers).

Example settings in the appSettings.xml for build 2279 and newer:

<add key="Db.Server" value="10.1.1.130" />

<add key="Db.User" value="maintest" />

<add key="Db.Pwd" value="maintest" />

<add key="Db.Name" value="testing_gn4_main" />

<add key="Db.OdbcInitString" value="DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 5.3 Unicode Driver};SERVER=10.1.1.130;DB=&amp;Name;UID=&amp;User;PWD=&amp;Pwd;OPTION=2;Charset=utf8;" />

Example settings in the appSettings.xml for build 2278 and older:

<add key="Db.Server" value="10.1.1.130" />

<add key="Db.User" value="maintest" />

<add key="Db.Pwd" value="maintest" />

<add key="Db.Name" value="testing_gn4_main" />

<add key="Db.OdbcInitString" value="DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 5.3 Unicode Driver};SERVER=10.1.1.130;DB=&Name;UID=&User;PWD=&Pwd;OPTION=2;Charset=utf8;" />

ODBC drivers can be downloaded from here:

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/

Be sure to add the OPTION=2 to the connection string.

To create a new user and database on MySQL

CREATE USER 'userName' IDENTIFIED BY 'userPassword';

create database dbName CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

grant usage on *.* to userName identified by 'userPassword';

grant all privileges on dbName.* to userName;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

About MyISAM and InnoDB engines

Since GN4 build 2279, the full-text indexes can be used also on the InnoDB tables, therefore GN4 dbupdate won't create anymore any MyISAM tables.

In older builds, full-text indexes can be used only with MyISAM tables, and can be created only for CHAR, VARCHAR, or TEXT columns, therefore dbupdate created number of MyISAM tables. See more here http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/fulltext-search.html.

About UNICODE

UNICODE with MySQL is supported in the build 2279 and newer. In previous builds it is not supported, so you need to use an appropriate code page.

Specified key was too long error

See here:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/FISHKB/MySQL+Database+Migration+fails+with+Specified+key+was+too+long+max+key+length+is+1000+bytes.