[support] Drupal: MySQL vs. PostgreSQL

[larry at garfieldtech.com]

On 7/21/10 10:22 AM, Vasileios Lourdas wrote:
> On Wednesday 21 of July 2010 16:46:44 Pierre Rineau wrote:
>> MySQL is not an SQL database layer. A real SQL database layer must, at
>> least, be ACID compliant :D
>>
>> <Flame ware mode engaged/>
>>
>> Pierre.
>
> It's strange that no one talks about MySQL's InnoDB engine, which is fully
> ACID compliant. An outside reader would possibly conclude from this
> conversation that MySQL = MyISAM, which is not ACID compliant. All it takes is
> to add/change a line in my.cnf to make InnoDB the default storage engine. I
> remember reading that MySQL 5.5 will make InnoDB the default storage engine.
> Oh well, maybe then will be the time when most people understand that MySQL is
> really ACID compliant.

InnoDB is the default MySQL engine in Drupal 7 if available.

Really, most of the FUD about MySQL is based on MySQL 3, which was a 
glorified card catalog with an SQL interface at best.  Modern MySQL 
really is a relational database with a strong feature set that's still 
pretty darned fast.

The decision between MySQL and Postgres should be made primarily based 
on the existing skillset of your DB admin.  Drupal's queries are 
generally simple enough structurally that the DB architecture is not 
going to make a huge difference, assuming the DB server is properly 
setup and tuned.

--Larry Garfield