Switching between InnoDB and XtraDB

By default, MariaDB uses the XtraDB storage engine in place of InnoDB because it contains improvements to InnoDB that are useful for all users. If we want to use the InnoDB storage engine for some reason, it is easy to do so.

How to do it...

Let's get started by following the ensuing steps:

1. Stop MariaDB by following the directions in the recipe we followed when installing MariaDB.

2. Open our my.cnf or my.ini file in a text editor such as Vim, Emacs, TextWrangler, or Notepad. On Windows, there is a helpful link under the MariaDB group that will automatically open the my.ini file in Notepad. On Linux, the my.cnf file is located at either /etc/mysql/my.cnf or /etc/my.cnf depending on the Linux distribution we are using.

3. Add the following lines of code to the [mysqld] section of the system's my.cnf or my.ini file. If the section does not exist, add it.

   ignore_builtin_innodb
   plugin_load=innodb=ha_innodb.so

4. Save the file and then start MariaDB by following the instructions in the recipe we followed when installing MariaDB.

How it works...

To check if we are using InnoDB or XtraDB, we use the SHOW ENGINES command. If we are using XtraDB, the InnoDB line of the output will begin as shown in the following command line:

| InnoDB | DEFAULT | Percona-XtraDB,Supports...

And, if we are using the InnoDB plugin, the InnoDB line will begin as shown in the following command line:

| InnoDB | DEFAULT | Supports...

Only one of the storage engines can be loaded at one time. It is not possible to have both the InnoDB and XtraDB plugins loaded at the same time.

See also

• Refer to another InnoDB- and XtraDB-specific recipe, Using extended keys with InnoDB and XtraDB, in Chapter 3, Optimizing and Tuning MariaDB

• The InnoDB and XtraDB section of the MariaDB Knowledgebase has lots of great information on these storage engines, which is available at https://mariadb.com/kb/en/xtradb-and-innodb/