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16.1 Overview of Partitioning in MySQL »
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Chapter 16. Partitioning

Table of Contents     [+/-]

16.1. Overview of Partitioning in MySQL
16.2. Partition Types     [+/-]
16.3. Partition Management     [+/-]
16.4. Partition Pruning
16.5. Restrictions and Limitations on Partitioning     [+/-]

This chapter discusses user-defined partitioning, as implemented in MySQL 5.1.

An introduction to partitioning and partitioning concepts may be found in Section 16.1, “Overview of Partitioning in MySQL”.

MySQL supports several types of partitioning, which are discussed in Section 16.2, “Partition Types”, as well as subpartitioning, which is described in Section 16.2.5, “Subpartitioning”.

Methods of adding, removing, and altering partitions in existing partitioned tables are covered in Section 16.3, “Partition Management”.

Table maintenance commands for use with partitioned tables are discussed in Section 16.3.3, “Maintenance of Partitions”.

Beginning with MySQL 5.1.6, the PARTITIONS table in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA database provides information about partitions and partitioned tables. See Section 18.19, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA PARTITIONS Table”, for more information; for some examples of queries against this table, see Section 16.2.6, “How MySQL Partitioning Handles NULL”.

Important

Partitioned tables created with MySQL versions prior to 5.1.6 cannot be read by a 5.1.6 or later MySQL Server. In addition, the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES table cannot be used if such tables are present on a 5.1.6 server. Beginning with MySQL 5.1.7, a suitable warning message is generated instead, to alert the user that incompatible partitioned tables have been found by the server.

If you are using partitioned tables which were created in MySQL 5.1.5 or earlier, be sure to see Section C.2.26, “Changes in MySQL 5.1.6 (01 February 2006)” for more information and suggested workarounds before upgrading to MySQL 5.1.6 or later.

The partitioning implementation in MySQL 5.1 is still undergoing development. For known issues with MySQL partitioning, see Section 16.5, “Restrictions and Limitations on Partitioning”, where we have noted these.

You may also find the following resources to be useful when working with partitioned tables.

Additional Resources.  Other sources of information about user-defined partitioning in MySQL include the following:

  • MySQL Partitioning Forum

    This is the official discussion forum for those interested in or experimenting with MySQL Partitioning technology. It features announcements and updates from MySQL developers and others. It is monitored by members of the Partitioning Development and Documentation Teams.

  • Mikael Ronström's Blog

    MySQL Partitioning Architect and Lead Developer Mikael Ronström frequently posts articles here concerning his work with MySQL Partitioning and MySQL Cluster.

  • PlanetMySQL

    A MySQL news site featuring MySQL-related blogs, which should be of interest to anyone using my MySQL. We encourage you to check here for links to blogs kept by those working with MySQL Partitioning, or to have your own blog added to those covered.

MySQL 5.1 binaries are available from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html. However, for the latest partitioning bugfixes and feature additions, you can obtain the source from our Bazaar repository. To enable partitioning, you need to compile the server using the --with-partition option. For more information about building MySQL, see Section 2.9, “MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution”. If you have problems compiling a partitioning-enabled MySQL 5.1 build, check the MySQL Partitioning Forum and ask for assistance there if you do not find a solution to your problem already posted.