A
storage engine is a software which a DataBase management System uses to
create, read, update and delete data from a database. - See more at:
http://www.w3resource.com/mysql/mysql-storage-engines.php#sthash.Dyo7hV6k.dpuf
A storage engine is a software module
that a DBMS uses to create, read, update and
delete (CRUD) data from a database.
There are two types of storage engines in MySQL.
Transactional and non-transactional.
The default storage engine for MySQL prior to version
5.5 was MyISAM. For MySQL 5.5 and later, the default
storage engine is InnoDB. Choosing the right storage engine is an
important strategic decision, which will impact future development.
In this tutorial, we will be using MyISAM, InnoDB, Memory and
CSV storage engines. If you are new to MySQL and your are
studying the MySQL database management system, then this is
not much of a concern. If you are planning a production database, then
things become more complicated.
List of storage engines
MySQL supported storage engines:
- MyISAM
- InnoDB
- Memory
- CSV
- Merge
- Archive
- Federated
- Blackhole
- Example
MyISAM is the original storage engine. It is a fast storage engine.
It does not support transactions. MyISAM provides table-level
locking. It is used most in Web, data warehousing.
InnoDB is the most widely used storage engine with transaction
support. It is an ACID compliant storage engine. It supports
row-level locking, crash recovery and multi-version concurrency
control. It is the only engine which provides foreign key referential
integrity constraint.
Memory storage engine creates tables in memory. It is the fastest
engine. It provides table-level locking. It does not support transactions.
Memory storage engine is ideal for creating temporary tables or quick lookups.
The data is lost when the database is restarted.
CSV stores data in csv files. It provides great flexibility, because
data in this format is easily integrated into other applications.
Merge operates on underlying MyISAM tables.
Merge tables help manage large volumes of data more easily. It logically
groups a series of identical MyISAM tables, and references them as one object.
Good for data warehousing environments.
Archive storage engine is optimized for high speed inserting. It
compresses data as it is inserted. It does not support transactions.
It is ideal for storing, retrieving large amounts of seldom referenced historical,
archived data.
The
Blackhole storage engine accepts but does
not store data. Retrievals always return an
empty set. The functionality can be used in
distributed database design where data is
automatically replicated, but not stored locally. This storage engine
can be used to perform performance tests or other testing.
Federated storage engine offers the ability to separate
MySQL servers to create one logical database from many physical servers.
Queries on the local server are automatically executed on the remote
(federated) tables. No data is stored on the local tables.
It is good for distributed environments.
Choosing the right engine
No storage engine is ideal for all circumstances. Some perform best under
certain conditions and perform worse in other situations. There are tradeoffs
than must be considered. A more secure solution takes more resources. It
might be slower, take more CPU time and disk space. MySQL is very flexible in
the fact that it provides several different storage engines. Some of them, like
the Archive engine, are created to be used in specific situations. Ironically this
also brings a question, which storage engine to use? Which may not be easily
answered.
In some cases, the answer is clear. Whenever we are dealing with some payment
systems, we are obliged to use the most secure solution. We cannot afford to
loose such sensitive data. InnoDB is the way to go. If we want full-text
search, than we must choose MyISAM. Only InnoDB supports foreign key referential
integrity constraint and if we plan to use this constraint, then the choice is
clear.
In many situations we must
have enough experience to choose the right engine. And if we lack the experience,
than the best way is to ask some seasoned developer. One of the best ways
is to ask on specific internet forums.
stackoverflow.com is a great one.
The question is further complicated by the fact, that we can choose different
storage engines for different tables.
Specifying and altering storage engines
The storage engine is specified at the time of the table creation.
mysql> CREATE TABLE Cars(Id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, Name VARCHAR(50),
-> Cost INTEGER) ENGINE='MyISAM';
The
ENGINE
keyword specifies the storage engine used
for this particular table.
If we do not specify the storage engine explicitly, then the default
storage engine is used. Prior to MySQL 5.5 the default storage engine
was MyISAM. For MySQL 5.5 and later, the default storage engine
is InnoDB.
mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'storage_engine';
+----------------+--------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+----------------+--------+
| storage_engine | InnoDB |
+----------------+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
The default storage engine can be found in the
storage_engine
variable.
It is possible to migrate to a different storage engine. Note that migrating a
large table might take a long time. Also we might run into some problems when
migrating tables. Some features might not be supported in both tables.
mysql> SELECT ENGINE FROM information_schema.TABLES
-> WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA='mydb'
-> AND TABLE_NAME='Cars';
+--------+
| ENGINE |
+--------+
| InnoDB |
+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
This SQL statement finds out the storage engine used for a Cars table
in mydb database. We could also use
SELECT CREATE TABLE Cars
SQL statement. The
information_schema
is a table which stores
technical information about our tables.
mysql> ALTER TABLE Cars ENGINE='MyISAM';
This SQL statement changes the storage engine to MyISAM.
mysql> SELECT ENGINE FROM information_schema.TABLES
-> WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA='mydb'
-> AND TABLE_NAME='Cars';
+--------+
| ENGINE |
+--------+
| MyISAM |
+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Now the storage engine is MyISAM.