MySQL has the advantage of containing several storage engines
providing you with what is effectively several different types
of databases in one software package. You install MySQL then
choose MyISAM or InnoDB or one of the other storage engines.
InnoDB became the default in MySQL 5.1. InnoDB is now the
default database engine and is benefiting from the extra focus.
MySQL 5.5 includes InnoDB enhancements to make better use of
storage technology coupled with multiple processor cores. The
main change splits a workload into two separate streams to let
the workloads run on separate cores. Input/Output requests
should start faster, producing more requests per second. You
then need faster disks to serve those extra requests. There are
several improvements to make better use of multiple core
processors. You will not see a difference when you step up from
2 cores to 4 cores. The difference will be noticeable when you
jump up to 12 cores, as provided in an AMD Operon chip. The
improvement is created by splitting workl