MySQL Lifecycle Policy

MySQL Lifecycle Policy
MySQL Lifecycle Calendar
MySQL Lifecycle FAQ

MySQL Lifecycle Policy

The MySQL Lifecycle Policy provides specific guidelines and timeframes for Production Support and Product End-of-Life (EOL). The policy is designed to provide customers with predictable and flexible rules for planning purposes. The policy provides defined support timeframes and extension options which allow customers to operate under a supported version of the server for multiple years and to plan upgrade paths.

The MySQL Lifecycle Policy applies to the following products:

1. MySQL Database Server

The MySQL Lifecycle Policy is as follows:

1. For each major release, the product lifecycle is classified in 2 tiers:
   1. Active Lifecycle timeframe: The initial 2 years (24 months), beginning on the date of General Availability (GA), and expiring on the last day of the 24th month. Active Lifecycle support is included in the normal MySQL Commercial Support offerings.
      1. Source Branch: Under Active Development
      2. Security Updates: Goal is to fix all known customer Security issues
      3. Bug Fixes: Goal is to fix all (Severity Levels 1, 2, 3) issues
      4. Timeframes: Regular and predictable
   2. Extended Lifecycle timeframe: The 3 years (36 months), immediately after the Active Support timeframe expires. Together, Active and Extended Lifecycle support provide a total of 5 years (60 months) of support. Extended Lifecycle Support is only available with certain MySQL Commercial Support offerings.
      1. Source Branch: Not under Active Development
      2. Security Updates: Goal is to fix all known customer Security issues
      3. Bug Fixes: Only fix Severity Level 1 issues
      4. Timeframes: Only on a when-needed basis
2. The Production Lifecycle timeframe for a major release, as covered by the Active Lifecycle and Extended Lifecycle, will be:
   1. 5 years (60 months)
3. The above Active Lifecycle and Extended Lifecycle timeframes apply to:
   1. All maintenance releases that are released under the same major release branch, and
   2. Do not restart each time there is a new maintenance release.
4. Customers with support needs beyond the Extended Lifecycle timeframe can negotiate custom agreements. Please contact the MySQL Sales Team at http://www.mysql.com/buy-mysql/
5. As platform, hardware and operating system vendors End-of-Life (EOL) older releases of their products, customers may find that specific components within their environmental stack are no longer supported by one or more of the original manufacturers. MySQL reserves the right to limit or terminate Active Lifecycle or Extended Lifecycle support of its products used in such unsupported configurations.
6. MySQL considers the stability of a GA release to be extremely important. In some cases, fixing a bug requires extensive or risky changes to the code, or the proper fix depends on features not available in an earlier version, and the risk of fixing the bug in an older version outweighs the benefit of fixing the bug. In these cases, MySQL will fix the bug only in a later version in order to avoid destabilizing GA releases. Definitions of Releases (Major, Maintenance) and Severity (1, 2, 3) are available at http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/supportpolicies/

MySQL Lifecycle Calendar

Since each major release can have multiple maintenance releases, MySQL maintains and provides build-level support and internal installations for the most current maintenance releases of each version. Customers are encouraged to be on the most current maintenance release to receive the highest level of production support.

Lifecycle Calendar:

MySQL Lifecycle Policy FAQ

How do I buy production support from MySQL?

MySQL offers a full range of support offerings. Please contact the MySQL Sales Team at http://www.mysql.com/buy-mysql/

What is the MySQL Lifecycle Policy?

The MySQL Lifecycle Policy provides specific guidelines and timeframes for Production Support and Product End-of-Life (EOL). The policy is designed to provide customers with predictable and flexible rules for planning purposes. The policy provides defined support timeframes and extension options which allow customers to operate under a supported version of the server for multiple years and to plan upgrade paths.

When does the MySQL Lifecycle Policy take effect?

The policy officially took effect on Monday, 2006-July-10. This was the date that all of the supporting external content was posted to http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/.

What MySQL products are covered?

The MySQL support lifecycle policy covers:

• MySQL Database Server

What is the difference between Active Lifecycle and Extended Lifecycle support?

Active Lifecycle is characterized by a regular maintenance schedule that ensures most customer reported issues, of all Severity Levels, are fixed and available on a regular and predictable basis. This ensures that customers have the option to implement the most current version of the product allowing for the highest level of production support.

Extended Lifecycle is provided to ensure that customers who have standardized on a specific version of the product can receive production support for multiple years. Under Extended Lifecycle, maintenance releases are only provided on a when-needed basis, and only to fix Security and Severity Level 1 incidents.

Extended Lifecycle support requires MySQL to bear incrementally higher costs of maintaining older versions of the product. To cover for these additional costs, Extended Lifecycle Support is only available with certain MySQL Commercial Support offerings.

MySQL considers the stability of a GA release to be extremely important. In some cases, fixing a bug requires extensive or risky changes to the code, or the proper fix depends on features not available in an earlier version, and the risk of fixing the bug in an older version outweighs the benefit of fixing the bug. In these cases, MySQL will fix the bug only in a later version in order to avoid destabilizing GA releases.

What MySQL Enterprise subscription and OEM Support levels are required to be covered by Active Lifecycle and Extended Lifecycle support?

Will products in Extended Lifecycle support be ported to new platforms?

Only Active Lifecycle products are candidates for porting to new platforms. Extended Lifecycle products are on their way to becoming EOL, and will not be ported to new platforms.

What is the Maximum Timeframe during which Production Support is available?

The Maximum Timeframe during which Production Support is available is 5 years:

• Active Lifecycle: 2 years (24 months), plus
• Extended Lifecycle: 3 years (36 months)
• Total Production Lifecycle: 5 years (60 months)

Does the MySQL LifeCycle Policy allow for MySQL Enterprise or OEM customers who have unique support requirements?

Exceptions to the core policy (2 years active support + 3 years extended support) will require a Custom Agreement - with explicit specification of the terms and timeframes. Please contact the MySQL Sales Team at http://www.mysql.com/buy-mysql/.

Will MySQL continue to provide Production Support for MySQL on Platforms, Hardware, or Operating Systems where the respective vendors have End-of-Life those products?

MySQL reserves the right to limit or terminate Active or Extended Lifecycle support of its products used on such unsupported configurations (where the Platform or Hardware or Operating System has been retired/obsoleted by the vendor).

Will active MySQL Enterprise customers who were at the Basic subscription level on 2006-July-10 get support for releases that are under Extended Lifecycle support?

Yes. MySQL Enterprise customers who are at the Basic subscription level on 2006-July-10 will continue receiving support for versions of MySQL under Extended Lifecycle until their MySQL Enterprise subscription is up for renewal. Upon renewal, these customers will need to upgrade to Silver, Gold or Platinum, at the prevailing subscription rates, to continue on with Extended Lifecycle support.

What about new MySQL Enterprise subscriptions?

New MySQL Enterprise subscriptions will be governed by the MySQL Lifecycle Policy guidelines.

What considerations will be given to active OEM customers with existing contracts?

We recognize that many of our OEM Agreements are designed to meet specific requirements. For this reason, we will accommodate our active OEM customers as follows:

1. Existing OEM support agreements will be honored through their terms.
2. Renewals for existing OEM contracts will not require customers to upgrade to OEM Silver or Gold levels to gain Extended Lifecycle support.

What about new OEM customers and contracts?

New OEM contracts will be governed by the MySQL Lifecycle Policy guidelines.

How will active customers and users be notified when product support is scheduled to end?

MySQL will make every attempt to proactively notify active customers and users of MySQL Lifecycle events, including:

• Intentions to End-of-Life (EOL) specific versions of the product
• Platform, Hardware, and Operating Systems that are scheduled for End-of-Life (EOL) by the original manufacturer.

The following Communications channels will be used:

• Proactive notifications to MySQL Customers via:
  • Email
  • Alerts
• Proactive communications to the MySQL Community via:
  • PlanetMySQL Blogs
  • Community Forums
  • Community Mailing Lists
• Public website
  • http://www.mysql.com/