Information on FALCON mysql storage engine   (as of October, 2007)

This storage engine is available as Alpha-release in mysql v6.0

this engine is recommended for high-traffic transactional database applications,  but it requires a host server with a large

memory architecture and multi-CPU capability.

It supports True Multi Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) which enable tables to be updated without the overhead

of row-level locking.  The MVCC  eliminates the need for table and row-level locking during updates.

FALCON is fully ACID compliant.  Savepoints ensure data integrity during transactions.

Referential integrity is enforced at the server level

Data is stored on disk in compressed format,  compressing and decompressing on the fly as needed.

Data and index caching provide faster access to data, in addition to the advanced B-tree indexing technology.

There is currently no online backup available,  but is planned for the future,  and there is currently no foreign key support.

There is a table limitation of 4.3 billion rows,  but this limitation will be lifted in upcoming releases.