A database engine (or "storage engine") is the underlying software component that a database management system (DBMS) uses to create, read, update and delete (CRUD) data from a database. Most database management systems include their own application programming interface (API) that allows the user to interact with their underlying engine without going through the user interface of the DBMS.
The term database engine is frequently used interchangeably with database server or database management system.
Many of the modern DBMS support multiple storage engines within the same database. For example, MySQL supports InnoDB as well as MyISAM.
Some storage engines are transactional.
| Name | Free | Transactional |
|---|---|---|
| Aria | GPL | No |
| BlitzDB | GPL | No |
| Falcon | GPL | Yes |
| InnoDB | GPL | Yes |
| MyISAM | GPL | No |
| InfiniDB | CPL | No |
| TokuDB | N/A | Yes |
| XtraDB | GPL | Yes |
Famous quotes containing the word engine:
“The machine unmakes the man. Now that the machine is perfect, the engineer is nobody. Every new step in improving the engine restricts one more act of the engineer,—unteaches him.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)