Large Table - high frequency reads & writes

[Jayant Kumar]

I have a MYISAM table which currently has 90,000,000 records. This is a very high frequency table where user information is being logged and retrieved. The table is growing by 300,000 rows every day.

I was planning to break up the table using my own logic. Which is -> if i create n tables, information of user with id x will go into table no (x%n).

However, i came across mysql partitioning and found that hash partitioning in mysql does exactly what i am planning to do.

My question is :

1. Whenever an insert/update in happening, in a partitioned table, will all partitions be locked? If yes, what task would be accomplished during the locked period or what would be duration of the lock?

2. If i do a select which needs scanning of more than 1 partition, would my queries be executed in parallel on different partitions?

3. Would maintenance/administration of partitions be efficient so that i can increase the no of partitions?

Partitioning in mysql would be a very good feature if it enhances the speed of queries for large tables. I wish i could use it, since it would reduce the burden of administrative overhead on tables broken up my me.

Thanks a lot
-Jayant