Vinicius "Vinny" Grippa, the co-author of O'Reilly's Learning MySQL (now in its second edition) talks MySQL and MongoDB, as well as that all-important topic of how to back them up! We first learn a little bit about Percona, where Vinny works, as they consult in the database space. We then discussed a hot topic from Curtis, which is this idea of companies that say they don't want an IT department. We then discuss the book, Learning MySQL 2nd edition, and Vinny's top 3 performance suggestions for MySQL, including a discussion about the differences between MyISAM and InnoDB tables. We then discuss the typical ways people back up MySQL and MongoDB, followed by a discussion of two free tools that Percona makes available: Xtrabackup and PerconaBackup for MongoDB. It is a fascinating discussion you won't want to miss.