HammerDB v6.0 is a major release that updates the HammerDB runtime, packaging, automation, metrics and result sharing capabilities. The release includes new CI and pipeline automation functionality, enhanced database and operating system metrics, Active Session History support for MySQL and MariaDB, improved performance profile comparison, extended percentile reporting and richer metadata capture for benchmark results.

HammerDB v6.0 supports both interactive benchmark use and more repeatable automated benchmark workflows. Users can continue to run HammerDB manually from the graphical interface, command line interface or web service, while advanced users can also use the new automation features to support database build, install, schema creation, workload execution and result capture pipelines.

HammerDB v6.0 adds CI and pipeline automation capabilities for repeatable database build and benchmark workflows. These features are intended for users who want to automate the process of building a database from source, installing or preparing the database, creating a HammerDB schema, running a workload and collecting the resulting performance data.

The v6.0 release adds CI and pipeline capabilities for MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL. The automation functionality includes database-specific pipeline execution, automated schema sizing, workload execution, result capture and fixes to ensure that virtual user state is handled correctly across mixed automated, graphical and command line runs.

CI and pipeline automation is an advanced capability and is not required for normal HammerDB use. Users who want to install HammerDB and run workloads manually from the graphical interface or command line interface can continue to use HammerDB in the same way as previous releases.

HammerDB v6.0 extends the Metrics functionality with additional database and operating system measurements. The release adds I/O metrics including IOPS and MB/s, improves messages when operating system metrics collection cannot start because required tools such as sysstat are not installed, and adds database metrics options for MySQL and MariaDB.

HammerDB v6.0 also adds an Active Session History metrics viewer for MySQL and MariaDB. This viewer is designed to help correlate benchmark activity with database activity during a workload run. It provides a database-focused view of active sessions so that users can better understand what the database is doing while HammerDB is driving load.

PostgreSQL metrics are also updated in v6.0, including PostgreSQL 18 Active Session History support and improvements to pgsentinel discovery. MariaDB TPROC-H adds support for engine independent statistics, and MariaDB/MySQL pre-created database builds can disable foreign key checks during loading where appropriate.

HammerDB v6.0 improves support for sharing benchmark results and capturing the metadata needed to make those results easier to interpret. TPROC-H result sharing now includes database version and metrics information, and submitted results can include more detailed system, hardware and software fields.

HammerDB v6.0 supports uploading benchmark result artifacts for publication or review. This allows a locally generated HammerDB result to be shared as hosted benchmark evidence rather than remaining only as a local result file. Uploaded results can include the workload result, database version, metrics and system metadata needed to make the result easier to understand and compare.

The purpose of this additional metadata is to make benchmark results more useful as evidence. A result is easier to compare and reproduce when it includes information about the database version, system configuration, hardware, software, workload settings and metrics collected during the run.

HammerDB v6.0 also simplifies the artifact submit process. This improves the workflow for users who want to publish, archive or review benchmark evidence from a HammerDB run.

HammerDB v6.0 improves performance profile comparison and response time reporting. Timing profiles now support reservoir sampling and extended percentile reporting, making it easier to compare latency distributions as well as headline throughput.

These improvements are intended to make performance profiles more useful for repeatable testing, regression detection and evidence-based comparison of database configurations. HammerDB can show not only whether one run achieved a higher throughput, but also whether response time behaviour changed across the run.

HammerDB v6.0 enables the HammerDB web service to run as an SCGI application. The release also improves web service jobs and pipelines HTML formatting and fixes web form handling for proxy environments.

These changes make the HammerDB web service more suitable for deployment behind a web server or automation gateway and support the broader direction of HammerDB as a tool that can be used both interactively and as part of automated benchmark infrastructure.

HammerDB v6.0 is a major release and users upgrading from HammerDB v5.0 should remove any existing HammerDB persistent configuration database files before starting HammerDB v6.0 for the first time.

HammerDB stores persistent configuration and job information in SQLite database files. These files commonly use the .db and .DB file extensions and are stored by default in the operating system temporary directory, unless the location has been changed in the HammerDB configuration. Removing these files before starting HammerDB v6.0 ensures that the new release creates fresh configuration databases using the v6.0 defaults.

On Linux, the default temporary directory is usually /tmp. On Windows, the temporary directory is usually the directory referenced by the TEMP or TMP environment variable. If a custom SQLite database directory has been set in the HammerDB configuration, remove the HammerDB .db and .DB files from that configured directory instead.

Only remove HammerDB configuration and job database files that are no longer required. If existing job history needs to be retained, copy the files to a safe backup location before removing them from the active HammerDB temporary directory.

After the old files have been removed, start HammerDB v6.0. HammerDB will create new persistent configuration and jobs database files automatically.