Can we keep AriaDB and not switch to InnoDB?

That feature is not available in this plugin. If you really need it, please post a short explanation in this thread. It’s helpful to know the use cases when adding a feature.

Why don’t we support AriaDB? Here’s an explanation.

tl;dr We didn’t think people would use it, and it just adds to the testing matrix. In plain English: “too lazy!” Again, please tell us why you need it

AriaDB shares with MyISAM the limitation of 767 bytes per index element. That means the indexes on meta_key and option_name are limited to prefixes of 191 bytes, even though thoses columns contain up to 255 characters in utfmb4, up to ? bytes per character. (767 div 4 = 191). One of the biggest wins from the plugin is from eliminating the prefix indexes.

But, we keep the prefix indexes on certain old versions of MySQL / MariaDb. Those old versions have that same 767 limitation. (The limitation is on InnoDB’s Antelope storage engine. The more up-to-date Barracuda storage engine supports longer index elements.

Thanks. That explains it well. The answer to your question is that, when I made the move, (a) InnoDB databases couldn’t be recovered, (b) appeared to take up more disk space, and (c) required advance configuration to take up the right about of space, in my.cnf (and (d) was much slower in benchmarks the last time I looked). Also, shutting off InnoDB freed up memory on my limited VPS. From what you’re saying, maybe I should be moving over, regardless; and maybe what I thought was true is actually incorrect (which could well be the case).

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by davert318.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by davert318.

InnoDB’s developers (now Oracle) have made a *lot* of progress in the past half-decade. And, both MySQL distros (Oracle and MariaDB) are getting better at configuring themselves. And, future versions of this plugin will help WordPress site operators detect MySQL configuration issues.

Suggestion: upgrade your MySQL server to a recent version (MySQL 8.x or MariaDB 10.3+) before converting your WordPress site. Otherwise, you’re just buying racing tires for your Yugo. (I’m looking at you, GoDaddy!)

You’re right about InnoDB using more disk space. Better indexes use more disk space too. It’s the classic time/space tradeoff. Disk space has been doing the Moore’s law thing, getting exponentially bigger for the same money, over the past few years.

If I had a nontransactional database app handling lots of data with short text fields and no LOBs, AriaDB would be my choice. It’s MyISAM but with significant refinements. But WordPress has long text fields and LOBs galore.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by OllieJones.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by OllieJones.

Thanks for the updates. I’ll make the changes. I can spare the disk space, I think… I’ll check first!

I’m on the current CPanel version of MariaDB, I think it’s 10.6… I’ve been clever enough to avoid GoDaddy! but admit to one brief experience with… I can’t recall the name, similar outfit, but aimed at business, I think the word “One” was in their title, and they were great until the site went down and I was very glad I was just testing them out. I’ll pay extra for decent VPS! (I’ve come down in the world, used to run a nice dedicated server.)

Well, this took a lot less time than I thought it would. I needed to move the database anyway (it was sitting outside CPanel’s setup), so I downloaded SQL, changed the engines (and database name) in BBEdit, and then shifted over from the old one to the new one in the config – so if anything went wrong, I could switch back in seconds. It worked perfectly and I think load went down ever so slightly already. I do see more disk space used but it’s a few megabytes, so no real problems.

THANK YOU for the clarifications and a fine tool.