Newbie with INNODB - maybe I've go it, then again ..

[Robert Hartung]

Hi all,
I am struggling a bit to get going with mysql and my tutorial works through InnoDB tables without a clear explanation of the setup.
To date I have modified the /etc/my.cnf file. mysqld starts without complaining. I have modified my.cnf to include:

innodb_data_file_path = /data/mysqldata/innodb_data/innodata:10M:autoextend
innodb_data_home_dir=

It turns out that logged in as a mysql user if I "use innodta' it mounts as a the database. So am I correct in assuming that identifying the tablespace name in innodb_data_file_path is the equivalent of 'create database <databaseName> with a MyISAM table?

Also once having 'use innodata' I can issue a create tables command and then see <tablename>.frm .MYD, and MYI listed in the innodb_data directory. However when <tblename> was created I could not use the 'engine = innodb; ' as the last line of the create table sql statement without getting an error. This suggests that the table that I made without 'engine=innodb' is just the usual MyISAM based table. Right? Wrong? Huh?

I think the documentation is a little lacking in this area as are two other MySQL books that I purchased.

Thanks for all helpful responses in advance.

Bob Hartung