Max Table size you have seen in a MySQL DB

Question

Hey guys,

What is the maximum size you have seen a MySQL table? 2 Million at 50gig? 5million at 80gig?

Any stories appreciated. Did you end up compressing data? Splitting the table if it grew too big?

Answer 1

This article should answer some as your questions. It is about youtube and their use of MySQL:

http://mysqldatabaseadministration.blogspot.com/2007/04/youtube-and-mysql.html

Also, take a look at this video:

http://blip.tv/file/537790

Answer 2

About your first question, the effective maximum size for the database is usually determined by operating system, specifically the file size MySQL Server will be able to create, not by MySQL Server itself. Those limits play a big role in table size limits. And MyISAM works differently from InnoDB. So any tables will be dependant on those limits.

If you use InnoDB you will have more options on manipulating table sizes, resizing the tablespace is an option in this case, so if you plan to resize it, this is the way to go. Give a look at The table is full error page.

I am not sure the real record quantity of each table given all necessary information (OS, Table type, Columns, data type and size of each and etc...) And I am not sure if this info is easy to calculate, but I've seen simple table with around 1bi records in a couple cases and MySQL didn't gave up.

Answer 3

I have a story about a small database that got too big.

The Small Database That Got Too Big

Once upon a time there was a small database who lived near a village. The people of the village liked the database and kept feeding it. The database got bigger and bigger and ate more and more food, until one day, the database grew into a ferocious dragon.

People became scared of the dragon and had to keep feeding it to keep it happy. The amount of food the dragon ate broke many records.

One day, a smart young boy was walking around in the town. He found a gold bar on the floor. Genuine gold. He took it to the dragon, and fed it the gold.

The dragon died later that day. A knight stabbed him.

All the people rejoiced and ate more food. They had so much food that they burnt some of it for fun.

The end.