
Challenges of Big Databases with MySQL - Tokutek
http://www.tokutek.com/2011/10/challenges-of-big-databases-with-mysql-oow11-presentation/#.TqcF72y5QoI.hackernews
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eknuth
I would never have thought that MySQL could handle massive databases, but it
honestly isn't that bad. You just can't expect it to behave like a normal
database.

I had to use mysql to build a 200 million row 200gb database. The trick was
using myisam and indexing it as little as possible (just the pk). I used
sphinx to handle full text searching. Searching and retrieving records was
very fast.

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Tokutek
Good insight. As to your point -- keeping up many indexes with MyISAM or
InnoDB is definitely a problem, especially if the indexes grow too big for
RAM. In these cases, TokuDB (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TokuDB>), a drop in
storage engine replacement for MySQL, can help by replacing dated B-tree
technology with more modern Fractal Tree indexes, since B-trees suffer in
performance with high insertion rates (especially random insertions) into
disk. By allowing for faster write performance, Fractal Tree engines allow for
more indexes to be maintained, and hence better query performance can be
obtained.

