When you use the InnoDB storage engine 1.1 and above, with MySQL 5.5 and above, you do not need to do anything special to install: everything comes configured as part of the MySQL source and binary distributions. This is a change from earlier releases of the InnoDB Plugin, where you were required to match up MySQL and InnoDB version numbers and update your build and configuration processes.

The InnoDB storage engine is included in the MySQL distribution, starting from MySQL 5.1.38. From MySQL 5.1.46 and up, this is the only download location for the InnoDB storage engine; it is not available from the InnoDB web site.

If you used any scripts or configuration files with the earlier InnoDB storage engine from the InnoDB web site, be aware that the filename of the shared library as supplied by MySQL is ha_innodb_plugin.so or ha_innodb_plugin.dll, as opposed to ha_innodb.so or ha_innodb.dll in the older Plugin downloaded from the InnoDB web site. You might need to change the applicable file names in your startup or configuration scripts.

Because the InnoDB storage engine has now replaced the built-in InnoDB, you no longer need to specify options like --ignore-builtin-innodb and --plugin-load during startup.

In your configuration file, you might want to specify some or all of the following options:

default-storage-engine=InnoDB
innodb_file_per_table=1
innodb_file_format=barracuda
innodb_strict_mode=1

By default, the InnoDB storage engine does not create tables in a format that is incompatible with the built-in InnoDB in MySQL. Tables in the new format may be compressed, and they may store portions of long columns off-page, outside the B-tree nodes. You may wish to enable the creation of tables in the new format, using one of these techniques:

You may also want to enable the new InnoDB strict mode, which guards SQL or certain operational errors that otherwise generate warnings and possible unintended consequences of ignored or incorrect SQL commands or parameters. As described in Section 8.5, “InnoDB Strict Mode”, the GLOBAL parameter innodb_strict_mode can be set ON or OFF in the same way as the parameters just mentioned. You can also use the command SET SESSION innodb_strict_mode=mode (where mode is ON or OFF) to enable or disable InnoDB strict mode on a per-session basis.