TiDB for the MySQL DBA From Fundamentals to Advanced Operations

TiDB for the MySQL DBA: From Fundamentals to Advanced Operations is a practical guide designed for experienced MySQL DBAs who want to understand, evaluate, and operate TiDB confidently. This book explains how TiDB solves MySQL’s single-node scaling limits using distributed SQL, horizontal scale-out, strong consistency, ACID transactions, Raft replication, Regions, MVCC, and HTAP architecture. The book takes a hands-on DBA-first approach, covering TiDB architecture, MySQL compatibility, migration considerations, configuration essentials, observability, backup and restore, TiFlash, vector search for AI workloads, and production trade-offs. With Docker, Docker Compose, and TiUP-based labs, readers learn how to build local TiDB clusters, load data, read distributed execution plans, compare TiKV and TiFlash query behavior, and understand where TiDB is the right choice—and where traditional MySQL, Vitess, Aurora, or CockroachDB may be better. It is aligned with TiDB 8.5 LTS and MySQL 8.0 compatibility.