I find myself converting more and more customers’ databases to InnoDB plugin. In one case, it was a last resort: disk space was running out, and plugin’s compression released 75% space; in another, a slow disk made for IO bottlenecks, and plugin’s improvements & compression alleviated the problem; in yet another, I used the above to fight replication lag on a stubborn slave.
In all those case, I needed to justify the move to “new technology”. The questions “Is it GA? Is it stable?” are being asked a lot. Well, just a few days ago the MySQL 5.1 distribution started shipping with InnoDB plugin 1.0.4. That gives some weight to the stability question when facing a doubtful customer.
But I realized that wasn’t the point.
Before InnoDB plugin was first announced, little was going on with InnoDB. There were concerns about the slow/nonexistent progress on this important storage engine, essentially the heart of MySQL. Then the plugin was announced, and everyone went happy.
The point being, since then I only saw (or was exposed to, at least) progress on the plugin. The way I understand it, the plugin is the main (and only?) focus of development. And this is the significant thing to consider: if you’re keeping to “old InnoDB”, fine – but it won’t get you much farther; you’re unlikely to see great performance improvements (will 5.4 make a change? An ongoing improvement to InnoDB?). It may eventually become stale.
Converting to InnoDB plugin means you’re working with the technology at focus. It’s being tested, benchmarked, forked, improved, talked about, explained. I find this to be a major motive.
So, long live InnoDB Plugin! (At least till next year, that is, when we may all find ourselves migrating to PBXT)
“I only saw (or was exposed to, at least) progress on the plugin. The way I understand it, the plugin is the main (and only?) focus of development. And this is the significant thing to consider: if you’re keeping to “old InnoDB”, fine – but it won’t get you much farther; you’re unlikely to see great performance improvements”
Hi, the builtin InnoDB in MySQL 5.1 and the whole MySQL 5.1 is GA and frozen for new features and big/risky changes. This is a common sense – you don’t risk the stability of the stable branch with new features. Of course 5.0 and 5.1 are getting all the bugfixes, so they are nowhere near “stalled”.
Hi Vasil,
Thanks. I’m not referring to the fact that InnoDB in 5.1 & 5.0 is now frozen to new features.
I’m not referring to bug fixes, as well.
I’m wondering if any further development is going to take place on builtin InnoDB. My impression is that all further development, performance improvements etc. goes to InnoDB plugin, and I suspect that the Plugin will become that main InnoDB distribution from now on.
For example: will the builtin InnoDB code get the group-commit fix? Is it planned to get this fix in future versions?
My impression is that it will not. I may be completely wrong; but it appears this way. If you know this isn’t the case at all, please say so. But I believe I’m not the only one who got the impression I expressed here. Therefore, Innobase/Oracle may wish to speak openly about InnoDB development plans.
Regards,
Shlomi
Hi,
You can’t expect new features or significant performance improvements in a GA branch. This is what GA is by definition. Hot features and stability are adverse.
Vasil,
When the server is on a 3 to 4 year release cycle and the current release does not scale on commodity HW, then you should make these changes to the GA release or users will go elsewhere (PostgreSQL, XtraDB). The InnoDB plugin has made 5.1 much more attractive as an upgrade target.
Mark,
I agree with you 🙂