You can use the same instance for both MYISAM/INNODB. If MySQL isn't running with --skip-innodb option then Innodb is enabled but you need to allocate memory for Innnodb, e.g.:
[mysqld]
..
innodb_buffer_pool_size=N # 50-70% on a dedicated machine
key_buffer_size = N # 20-30% of the total RAM but the combine size of innodb_buffer_pool + key_buffer_size shouldn't exceed 70%.
# Note: Since MyISAM let O/S to cache it's data, so don't allocate most of the memory to Innodb.
MySQL merge tables are sort of earlier, simpler version of table partitioning. It offers some of the features that partitions don't:
1. Myisam table can be a member of many merge tables
2. You can copy underlying tables between servers by copying .frm , MYI, and .MYD files
3. you can easily add more tables to a merge collections easily
4. You can create TEMP merge tables that include only the data you want, such as data from a specific time period, which you cannot do with partitions.
5. you can use myisampack to compress some or all of the underlying tables.
6. you can remove a table from the merge, if you want to ALTER schema, repair it or perform any other operation on it.And you can add it back when you are done with it.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2012 04:40AM by Aftab Khan.