Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) has become the de facto data analysis technology used in modern decision support systems. It has experienced tremendous growth, and is among the top priorities for enterprises. Open source systems have become an effective alternative to proprietary systems in terms of cost and function. The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of two leading database storage engines in an open source OLAP environment. Despite recent upgrades in performance features for the InnoDB database engine, the MyISAM database engine is shown to outperform the InnoDB database engine under a standard benchmark. This result was demonstrated in tests that included concurrent user sessions as well as asynchronous user sessions using data sets ranging from 6GB to 12GB. Although MyISAM outperformed InnoDB in all test performed, InnoDB provides ACID compliant transaction technologies are beneficial in a hybrid OLAP/OLTP system.
","abstract_html":"<p>Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) has become the de facto data analysis technology used in modern decision support systems. It has experienced tremendous growth, and is among the top priorities for enterprises. Open source systems have become an effective alternative to proprietary systems in terms of cost and function. The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of two leading database storage engines in an open source OLAP environment. Despite recent upgrades in performance features for the InnoDB database engine, the MyISAM database engine is shown to outperform the InnoDB database engine under a standard benchmark. This result was demonstrated in tests that included concurrent user sessions as well as asynchronous user sessions using data sets ranging from 6GB to 12GB. Although MyISAM outperformed InnoDB in all test performed, InnoDB provides ACID compliant transaction technologies are beneficial in a hybrid OLAP/OLTP system.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tocci, Gabriel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS (Master of Science)","degree_level":"Thesis - unrestricted","degree_discipline":"Computer and Information Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:19:59Z","subjects":["Online Analytical Processing","OLAP","MySQL","MyISAM","InnoDB","TPC-DS","Databases and Information Systems"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright by the authors."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1111","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tocci, Gabriel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-03-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2013-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer and Information Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - unrestricted"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS (Master of Science)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Online Analytical Processing","OLAP","MySQL","MyISAM","InnoDB","TPC-DS","Databases and Information Systems"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright by the authors."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etd/article/2271/viewcontent/TocciG040113f.pdf","https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1111"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) has become the de facto data analysis technology used in modern decision support systems. It has experienced tremendous growth, and is among the top priorities for enterprises. Open source systems have become an effective alternative to proprietary systems in terms of cost and function. The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of two leading database storage engines in an open source OLAP environment. Despite recent upgrades in performance features for the InnoDB database engine, the MyISAM database engine is shown to outperform the InnoDB database engine under a standard benchmark. This result was demonstrated in tests that included concurrent user sessions as well as asynchronous user sessions using data sets ranging from 6GB to 12GB. Although MyISAM outperformed InnoDB in all test performed, InnoDB provides ACID compliant transaction technologies are beneficial in a hybrid OLAP/OLTP system.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Comparison of Leading Database Storage Engines in Support of Online Analytical Processing in an Open Source Environment"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Tocci, Gabriel"],"dc:date.available":["2013-03-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2013-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) has become the de facto data analysis technology used in modern decision support systems. It has experienced tremendous growth, and is among the top priorities for enterprises. Open source systems have become an effective alternative to proprietary systems in terms of cost and function. The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of two leading database storage engines in an open source OLAP environment. Despite recent upgrades in performance features for the InnoDB database engine, the MyISAM database engine is shown to outperform the InnoDB database engine under a standard benchmark. This result was demonstrated in tests that included concurrent user sessions as well as asynchronous user sessions using data sets ranging from 6GB to 12GB. Although MyISAM outperformed InnoDB in all test performed, InnoDB provides ACID compliant transaction technologies are beneficial in a hybrid OLAP/OLTP system.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etd/article/2271/viewcontent/TocciG040113f.pdf","https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1111"],"dc:rights":["Copyright by the authors."],"dc:subject":["Online Analytical Processing","OLAP","MySQL","MyISAM","InnoDB","TPC-DS","Databases and Information Systems"],"dc:title":["A Comparison of Leading Database Storage Engines in Support of Online Analytical Processing in an Open Source Environment"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Computer and Information Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - unrestricted"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS (Master of Science)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:19:59Z"}