In this tutorial, Lentz takes an in-depth look at MySQL's "Pluggable Storage Engine" architecture. Understanding the features and trade-offs in each engine allows developers to optimize their applications by making appropriate choices and tuning the MySQL server appropriately for their needs.

For example, logging of page clicks on a web site places completely different requirements on a database from, say, tracking customers and sales. Functionally, either can be done using generic solutions. But by utilizing specific features available in specialised storage engines, extraordinary performance improvements can be attained.

This becomes particularly relevant when there are specific speed and scalability requirements for an application. A general purpose storage system would simply not do.

In MySQL, the storage engine can be selected on a per-table basis. This means that different engines can be used from within a single application, as appropriate for the application's needs. In many cases, the application need not even be aware which engine is used.

In this tutorial, the different available storage engines will be compared. Also, the fundamentals of adding new storage engines will be discussed.