title: At what point does MySQL INNODB fine tuning become a requirement?
body: <p>I had a look at this: <br/>
  <a href="http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2009/01/12/should-you-move-from-myisam-to-innodb/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2009/01/12/should-you-move-from-myisam-to-innodb/</a> <br/>
  and: <br/>
  <a href="http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2007/11/01/innodb-performance-optimization-basics/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2007/11/01/innodb-performance-optimization-basics/</a></p>
  
  <p>These answer a lot of my questions regarding INNODB vs MyISAM. There is no doubt in my mind that INNODB is the way I should go. However, I am working on my own and for development I have created a LAMP (ubuntu 10.10 x64) VM server. At present the server has 2 GB memory and a single SATA 20GB drive. I can increase both of these amounts without too much trouble to about 3-3.5 GB memory and a 200GB drive.</p>
  
  <p>The reasons I hesitate to switch over to INNODB is:<br/>
  <strong>A)</strong> The above articles mention that INNODB will vastly increase the size of the tables, and he recommends much larger amounts of RAM and drive space. While in a production environment I don't mind this increase, in a development environment, I fear I can not accommodate.
  <br/>
  <strong>B)</strong> I don't really see any point in fine tuning the INNODB engine on my VM. This is likely something I will not even be allowed to do in my production environment. The articles make it sound like INNODB is doomed to fail without fine tuning.</p>
  
  <p>My question is this. At what point is INNODB viable? How much RAM would I need to run INNODB on my server (with just my data for testing. This server is not open to anyone but me)? and also is it safe for me to assume that a production environment that will not allow me to fine tune the DB has likely already fine tuned it themselves?</p>
  
  <p>Also, am I overthinking/overworrying about things?</p>