---
title: "MySQL database was upgraded!"
canonical_url: "https://www.zone.ee/en/mysql-database-was-upgraded/"
post_type: "post"
published: "2005-04-08T07:43:31+00:00"
modified: "2005-04-08T07:43:31+00:00"
language: "en"
author: "zone.ee"
taxonomies:
  category:
    - name: "Zone Uudised"
      url: "https://www.zone.ee/et/category/uudised/"
---

# MySQL database was upgraded!

DataZone virtual servers are using a newer generation of MySQL server software.
 Instead of the previous 4.0 version we have deployed the 4.1 version of MySQL.

 We would like to bring to your attention that the new database system allows you to use different **charsets** and **collations** on the database, table and field level. All the current data has been exported to the new database system as the original **latin1 charset** and if you do not make changes in the charset settings, everything will keep working as it used to.

 If you want to change the the charset (to use a specific cyrillics or utf encoding type), then you must learn about the correct procedures involved, you can do that **[HERE](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/charset-conversion.html)**

 **NB! Do not simply change the charset (in phpMyAdmin) it could lead to loss of data.**

 **NB! Create a backup of the data before any conversion attempts.**

 Since the server default charset remains **latin1**, you must take action to make sure that your data reaches PHP in the charset you want, for that you should read the materials **[HERE](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/charset-connection.html)**

 The newer MySQL service will be incompatible with the previous version in two aspects:

- The **TIMESTAMP** field type will return the time as **YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS**, as opposed to **YYYYMMDDHHMMSS**, which was used in the previous version.
     See the [**manual**](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/timestamp-4-1.html).
- The [**PASSWORD()**](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/encryption-functions.html#id2775532) function will output a string 41 characters in length, as opposed to the 16 character string used in the previous version. The function **OLD\_PASSWORD()** will have the same behaviour as before. If you store the output of the **PASSWORD()** function in your tables, make sure that your field length is adequate.
     See the [**manual**](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/password-hashing.html)