Remember when IBM's claim to fame was a special server port through which the company could "jack in" to troubled systems and work its magic from a thousand miles away? Well, that idea hasn't gone away. If anything, open source, with its subscription-based business models, has given this idea new life. There's no magic plug, of course, just the magic of the Internet. Remember when IBM’s claim to fame was a special server port through which the company could “jack in” to troubled systems and work its magic from a thousand miles away? Well, that idea hasn’t gone away. If anything, open source, with its subscription-based business models, has given this idea new life. There’s no magic plug, of course, just the magic of the Internet. MySQL, for one, just updated its own hosted, commercial subscription service, MySQL Enterprise. Announced at its Japanese MySQL Users Conference, the jet-setting folks at MySQL rolled out a free 30 day trial (great idea) and added the ability to monitor/managed replicated instances. MySQLA isn’t alone in this to be sure. Others specializing in enterprise solutions (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat spring to mind) have built online services that available through annual subscriptions that are deeply intertwined with on-premise software. Other firms do provide basic capabilities, like simple patch and package management. But open source vendors like MySQL and Red Hat are really starting to go way deep at runtime, offering monitoring solutions like root cause analysis, advanced dashboarding, best practices and even rules engines — activities that would normally require hefty on-site software or an even more hefty consulting engagement. The MySQL solution falls mostly into the latter category, which is where I wish most closed and open source vendors would focus their energies. Of course, as an industry analyst, I wish for all sorts of things. But I’m curious to hear from you, dear readers, whether or not you’re availing yourselves of services like this? If not, what are the roadblocks to letting companies like MySQL peer into your systems? Open Source