Can I change a MySQL table back and forth between InnoDB and MyISAM without any problems?

Posted by Daniel Magliola on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Daniel Magliola
Published on 2011-01-17T16:21:38Z Indexed on 2011/01/17 16:55 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 284

Filed under:

mysql

|

Performance

|

migration

|

innodb

|

myisam

I have a site with a decently big database, 3Gb in size, a couple of tables with a dozen million records.

It's currently 100% on MyISAM, and I have the feeling that the server is going slower than it should because of too much locking, so I'd like to try going to InnoDB and see if that makes things better. However, I need to do that directly in production, because obviously without load this doesn't make any difference.

However, I'm a bit worried about this, because InnoDB actually has potential to be slower, so the question is:

If I convert all tables to InnoDB and it turns out i'm worse off than before, can I go back to MyISAM without losing anything?

Can you think of any problems I might encounter? (For example, I know that InnoDB stores all data in ONE big file that only gets bigger, can this be a problem?)

Thank you very much
Daniel

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about mysql

How to remove MySQL completely with config and library files on ubuntu 12.04 gnome 3.0

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I tried everything till now: sudo apt-get remove mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common sudo apt-get purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common sudo apt-get autoremove and even more commands... But whenever I am trying to locate mysql. I get a no. of files related to mysql command: shell>>… >>> More
mysql: Cannot load from mysql.proc. The table is probably corrupted

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Mysql was started: /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/srv/mysql/myDB --log-error=/srv/mysql/logs/mysqld-myDB.log --pid-file=/srv/mysql/pids/mysqld-myDB.pid --user=mysql --socket=/srv/mysql/sockets/mysql-myDB.sock --port=3700 but when I'm trying to do something: ERROR 1548 (HY000) at line 1: Cannot… >>> More
Why is there a /etc/init.d/mysql file on this Slackware machine? How could it have gotten there?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
A client of my IT-consulting service owns a web-development shop. He's been having problems with a Slackware 12.0 server running MySQL 5.0.67. The machine was set up by the client's sysadmin, who left on bad terms. My client no longer employs a sysadmin. As far as I can tell, the only copy of MySQL… >>> More
mysql: Bind on unix socket: Permission denied

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Can't start mysql with: sudo /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/srv/mysql/myDB --log-error=/srv/mysql/logs/mysqld-myDB.log --pid-file=/srv/mysql/pids/mysqld-myDB.pid --user=mysql --socket=/srv/mysql/sockets/mysql-myDB.sock --port=3700 120222 13:40:48 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases… >>> More
MySQL – Learning MySQL Online in 6 Hours – MySQL Fundamentals in 320 Minutes

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
MySQL is one of the most popular database language and I have been recently working with it a lot. Data have no barrier and every database have their own place. I have been working with MySQL for quite a while and just like SQL Server, I often find lots of people asking me if I have a tutorial which… >>> More

Related posts about Performance

Improving VPN performance - stronger encryption = more performance?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a site-to-site VPN set up with two SonicWall's (a TZ170 and a Pro1260). It was suggested to me that turning off encryption (so the VPN is tunneling only) would improve performance. (I'm not concerned with security, because the VPN is running over a trusted line.) Using FTP and HTTP transfers… >>> More
Inaccurate performance counter timer values in Windows Performance Monitor

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am implementing instrumentation within an application and have encountered an issue where the value that is displayed in Windows Performance Monitor from a PerformanceCounter is incongruent with the value that is recorded. I am using a Stopwatch to record the duration of a method execution, then… >>> More
Excel-based Performance Reviews transformed into Web Application for Performance Management

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
HR TMS provides enterprise talent management solutions for healthcare, retail and corporate customers, focusing on performance management, compensation management and succession planning. As the competency of nurses and other healthcare workers is critical, the government, via the Joint Commission… >>> More
How to save a perfmon Performance Counter as a textfile (Reliability and Performance Monitor Version

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Now the file gets saved as blg, but I would like a txt versin to import in Excel. >>> More
SQLAuthority News – A Successful Performance Tuning Seminar at Pune – Dec 4-5, 2010

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
This is report to my third of very successful seminar event on SQL Server Performance Tuning. SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar in Colombo was oversubscribed with total of 35 attendees. You can read the details over here SQLAuthority News – SQL Server Performance Optimizations Seminar – Grand… >>> More