Heap Table: How to define

[Bodo Fritsche]

Hi,

I am still learning a lot about mySQL, so any advice is appreciated.

I use mySQL for a forum (about 50.000 entries) and about 30-100 users at the same time.

The application shows some user statistics (users online etc.) that are maintained in a small table.

As this table is accessed often but need not to be stored on disk (as it were temporary), my idea is to define it as a heap table in mySQL 4.0.18.

Today's definition:

CREATE TABLE `forum_useronline` (
`ip` char(15) NOT NULL default '',
`time` int(14) NOT NULL default '0',
`user_id` int(11) default '0'
) TYPE=MyISAM;

--
-- Daten für Tabelle `forum_useronline`
--

INSERT INTO `forum_useronline` VALUES ('195.90.13.73', 1143624409, 0);
INSERT INTO `forum_useronline` VALUES ('195.93.60.67', 1143624637, 0);
INSERT INTO `forum_useronline` VALUES ('84.131.87.185', 1143624790, 0);

How can I define this table to be only maintained in memory?

Can I modify the table to be heap when the server is running?

What other parameters have to be set?

As I do not have access rights to the root server, I need kind of detailled statements to be directed to my hosting provider.

Thanks for any ideas and help.

Bodo