View source for Software:Aria (storage engine)

{{short description|Storage engine for the MariaDB and MySQL relational database management systems}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Aria
| logo =
| screenshot =
| caption =
| author = AskMonty.org
| developer = Monty Program Ab
| released =
| latest release version = MariaDB 10.0.12
| latest release date = {{start date and age|2014|06|16}}
| latest preview version = All
| latest preview date =
| operating system =
| platform = All
| programming language = [[C++]]
| genre = [[Database engine]]
| license =  [[Software:GNU General Public License#Version 2|GNU GPLv2]]
| website = {{URL|https://mariadb.com/kb/en/aria-storage-engine/}}
}}
'''Aria''' is a storage engine for the [[Software:MariaDB|MariaDB]] and [[Software:MySQL|MySQL]] [[Software:Relational database management system|relational database management system]]s. Its goal is to make a crash-safe alternative to [[Software:MyISAM|MyISAM]]. It is not [[Database transaction|transactional]].

Aria has been in development since 2007 and was first announced by Michael "Monty" Widenius on his blog.<ref>[http://askmonty.org/wiki/index.php/Maria#What_is_Maria.3F Aria – AskMonty KnowledgeBase<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531154308/http://askmonty.org/wiki/index.php/Maria#What_is_Maria.3F |date=May 31, 2009 }}</ref> Aria is used for internal temporary tables in [[Software:MariaDB|MariaDB]], a community-developed branch of the MySQL database led by Widenius. Aria is not shipped with MySQL or Percona Server.

The Maria project is hosted on [[Software:Launchpad (website)|Launchpad]].

Aria was initially named "Maria", as a reference to Monty's youngest child.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kb.askmonty.org/v/aria-faq#why-is-the-engine-called-aria |title=Aria FAQ - AskMonty KnowledgeBase<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2010-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822140046/http://kb.askmonty.org/v/aria-faq#why-is-the-engine-called-aria |archive-date=2010-08-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
It was renamed Aria in 2010 to avoid confusion with the main database it is developed for, MariaDB.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rename Maria |url=http://askmonty.org/wiki/Rename_Maria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503155953/http://askmonty.org/wiki/Rename_Maria |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-05-03 |publisher=askmonty.org |accessdate=2011-05-19 }}</ref> Chris Tooley, who won a contest to suggest the name, wrote, "Aria is Maria without the 'M'; also it is a pleasant musical term."<ref>{{cite web|title=Rename Maria Contest Winner! |url=https://blogs.gnome.org/mneptok/2010/07/20/rename-maria-contest-winner/
|url-status=live |publisher=GNOME Blogs |accessdate=2018-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723115503/http://blogs.gnome.org:80/mneptok/2010/07/20/rename-maria-contest-winner/ |archive-date=2010-07-23 }}</ref>

== Features ==

Aria is very similar to MyISAM, but its purpose is to be a crash-safe alternative to MyISAM.

Aria does not support [[Foreign key|foreign key]]s and, currently, transactions.

Aria supports:
* Fulltext indexes;
* OpenGIS data types;
* [[Software:Virtual column|Virtual column]]s.

==Files structure==

Non-partitioned Aria tables consist of three physical files:
* table_name.frm
* table_name.MAD
* table_name.MAI

The .frm file contains the table definition (this file exists for all storage engines which write data to disk). The .MAD file contains the data. The .MAI file contains the indexes.

===Formats===

Three table formats are available for Aria tables:

* '''PAGE''';
* '''FIXED''';
* '''DYNAMIC'''.

PAGE is the only format available for "transactional" tables. It makes Aria tables crash-safe.

FIXED and DYNAMIC are the same formats used by MyISAM, and have been mainly implemented for compatibility. However, MyISAM's COMPRESSED format is not available in Aria.

In order to set the table format, one can use the ROW_FORMAT option in a CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE command.

==See also==
* [[Software:Falcon (storage engine)|Falcon]]
* [[Software:InnoDB|InnoDB]]
* [[Software:MyISAM|MyISAM]]
* [[Software:XtraDB|XtraDB]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://mariadb.com/kb/en/aria/ Aria in the MariaDB KnowledgeBase]
*[http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2008/01/maria-engine-is-released.html The Maria engine is released] - written by Michael Widenius (founder of MySQL AB)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110714170246/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9141778279227463045 Maria: The new MySQL Storage Engine] at Google Videos - A talk given by Michael Widenius

{{MySQL}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aria (Storage Engine)}}
[[Category:Database engines]]
[[Category:MySQL]]
[[Category:MariaDB]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C++]]


{{Sourceattribution|Aria (storage engine)}}