[support] MyISAM vs InnoDB

Daniel Carrera daniel.carrera at theingots.org
Sat Mar 21 20:32:25 UTC 2009


Ivan Sergio Borgonovo wrote:
> It really depends on what you need to do. If you don't know it I'd
> go for MyISAM since most of the features you may be looking for in
> InnoDB are not really fully exploited by stock Drupal.

I just wrote another post that explains my hosting environment. I am 
interested in speed and reliability (isn't everybody?). My understanding 
is that:

1) InnoDB is more reliable.
2) InnoDB reads faster, if the primary keys and indexes are set right.
3) InnoDB writes slower.
4) InnoDB requires more disk space and more RAM.

Am I right so far? I'm not very familiar with this topic.

I'm not very concerned about disk space. I'm happy to make the DB 20% 
bigger if it'll improve read speed and reliability. But I don't fully 
understand the implications of InnoDB vs MyISAM, so I thought I'd ask here.


> The reasons that may make you chose InnoDB may be the same to
> consider to add to the list PostgreSQL, but it really depends on
> what is your specific need.

I thought that the main benefit of PostgreSQL was advanced features 
(procedures, triggers, etc). I don't use any of those. I'm just looking 
for speed an reliability.

> Summing it up:
> 
> Drupal doesn't have support for transaction or referential integrity
> but you may need it if you're developing your own modules.
> If you've several writes or high concurrency and data integrity is
> important PostgreSQL may be an interesting option.
> 
> If you've a lot of read, and you don't mind having to deal with
> some inconsistency , MyISAM and replication may be fine.
> 
> I think InnoDB is "in between" without shining for any aspect.
> If I were looking for transactions and data integrity I'd take the
> InnoDB route just if I already invested a lot in MySQL.

Thanks. This was very informative.

Daniel.


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