http://serverfault.com/questions/399487/cant-connect-to-mysql-using-self-signed-ssl-certificate
This one question contains much of the necessary wisdom around mysql and SSL certificates. Incredibly helpful.
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-set-up-mysql-database-replication-with-ssl-encryption-on-centos-5.4
Good introduction on setting up mysql replication with SSL encryption. Some of the options have changed in mysql 5.5 (no moremaster-connect-retry) and some settings are not applicable to Ubuntu, but the gist of it is useful.
http://www.maatkit.org/doc/mk-heartbeat.html
Simple script to monitor mysql replication delay. It updates a value on the master every second and checks how far behind the value is on the slave. Simple yet effective.
http://www.elevatedcode.com/articles/2007/12/05/replication-monitoring-with-monit/
Clever approach to monitoring mysql replication with monit. Ruby script checks replication is running and then touches a file, monit in turn monitors that file's timestamp and if it gets out of date, sends an alert. Sort of like a dead man switch. Clever.
http://xeround.com/
Tool that tries to automate the scaling and replication of MySQL database in "the cloud".
