General tablespaces provide the following capabilities:

General tablespaces are created using CREATE TABLESPACE syntax.

CREATE TABLESPACE tablespace_name
    [ADD DATAFILE 'file_name']
    [FILE_BLOCK_SIZE = value]
        [ENGINE [=] engine_name]

A general tablespace can be created in the data directory or outside of it. To avoid conflicts with implicitly created file-per-table tablespaces, creating a general tablespace in a subdirectory under the data directory is not supported. When creating a general tablespace outside of the data directory, the directory must exist and must be known to InnoDB prior to creating the tablespace. To make an unknown directory known to InnoDB, add the directory to the innodb_directories argument value. innodb_directories is a read-only startup option. Configuring it requires restarting the server.

Examples:

Creating a general tablespace in the data directory:

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts1` ADD DATAFILE 'ts1.ibd' Engine=InnoDB;

or

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts1` Engine=InnoDB;

The ADD DATAFILE clause is optional as of MySQL 8.0.14 and required before that. If the ADD DATAFILE clause is not specified when creating a tablespace, a tablespace data file with a unique file name is created implicitly. The unique file name is a 128 bit UUID formatted into five groups of hexadecimal numbers separated by dashes (aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee). General tablespace data files include an .ibd file extension. In a replication environment, the data file name created on the source is not the same as the data file name created on the replica.

Creating a general tablespace in a directory outside of the data directory:

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts1` ADD DATAFILE '/my/tablespace/directory/ts1.ibd' Engine=InnoDB;

You can specify a path that is relative to the data directory as long as the tablespace directory is not under the data directory. In this example, the my_tablespace directory is at the same level as the data directory:

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts1` ADD DATAFILE '../my_tablespace/ts1.ibd' Engine=InnoDB;

After creating a general tablespace, CREATE TABLE tbl_name ... TABLESPACE [=] tablespace_name or ALTER TABLE tbl_name TABLESPACE [=] tablespace_name statements can be used to add tables to the tablespace, as shown in the following examples:

CREATE TABLE:

mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 INT PRIMARY KEY) TABLESPACE ts1;

ALTER TABLE:

mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 TABLESPACE ts1;

For detailed syntax information, see CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE.

General tablespaces support all table row formats (REDUNDANT, COMPACT, DYNAMIC, COMPRESSED) with the caveat that compressed and uncompressed tables cannot coexist in the same general tablespace due to different physical page sizes.

For a general tablespace to contain compressed tables (ROW_FORMAT=COMPRESSED), the FILE_BLOCK_SIZE option must be specified, and the FILE_BLOCK_SIZE value must be a valid compressed page size in relation to the innodb_page_size value. Also, the physical page size of the compressed table (KEY_BLOCK_SIZE) must be equal to FILE_BLOCK_SIZE/1024. For example, if innodb_page_size=16KB and FILE_BLOCK_SIZE=8K, the KEY_BLOCK_SIZE of the table must be 8.

The following table shows permitted innodb_page_size, FILE_BLOCK_SIZE, and KEY_BLOCK_SIZE combinations. FILE_BLOCK_SIZE values may also be specified in bytes. To determine a valid KEY_BLOCK_SIZE value for a given FILE_BLOCK_SIZE, divide the FILE_BLOCK_SIZE value by 1024. Table compression is not support for 32K and 64K InnoDB page sizes. For more information about KEY_BLOCK_SIZE, see CREATE TABLE, and Section 15.9.1.2, “Creating Compressed Tables”.

This example demonstrates creating a general tablespace and adding a compressed table. The example assumes a default innodb_page_size of 16KB. The FILE_BLOCK_SIZE of 8192 requires that the compressed table have a KEY_BLOCK_SIZE of 8.

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts2` ADD DATAFILE 'ts2.ibd' FILE_BLOCK_SIZE = 8192 Engine=InnoDB;

mysql> CREATE TABLE t4 (c1 INT PRIMARY KEY) TABLESPACE ts2 ROW_FORMAT=COMPRESSED KEY_BLOCK_SIZE=8;

If you do not specify FILE_BLOCK_SIZE when creating a general tablespace, FILE_BLOCK_SIZE defaults to innodb_page_size. When FILE_BLOCK_SIZE is equal to innodb_page_size, the tablespace may only contain tables with an uncompressed row format (COMPACT, REDUNDANT, and DYNAMIC row formats).

ALTER TABLE with the TABLESPACE option can be used to move a table to an existing general tablespace, to a new file-per-table tablespace, or to the system tablespace.

To move a table from a file-per-table tablespace or from the system tablespace to a general tablespace, specify the name of the general tablespace. The general tablespace must exist. See ALTER TABLESPACE for more information.

ALTER TABLE tbl_name TABLESPACE [=] tablespace_name;

To move a table from a general tablespace or file-per-table tablespace to the system tablespace, specify innodb_system as the tablespace name.

ALTER TABLE tbl_name TABLESPACE [=] innodb_system;

To move a table from the system tablespace or a general tablespace to a file-per-table tablespace, specify innodb_file_per_table as the tablespace name.

ALTER TABLE tbl_name TABLESPACE [=] innodb_file_per_table;

ALTER TABLE ... TABLESPACE operations cause a full table rebuild, even if the TABLESPACE attribute has not changed from its previous value.

ALTER TABLE ... TABLESPACE syntax does not support moving a table from a temporary tablespace to a persistent tablespace.

The DATA DIRECTORY clause is permitted with CREATE TABLE ... TABLESPACE=innodb_file_per_table but is otherwise not supported for use in combination with the TABLESPACE option. As of MySQL 8.0.21, the directory specified in a DATA DIRECTORY clause must be known to InnoDB. For more information, see Using the DATA DIRECTORY Clause.

Restrictions apply when moving tables from encrypted tablespaces. See Encryption Limitations.

Renaming a general tablespace is supported using ALTER TABLESPACE ... RENAME TO syntax.

ALTER TABLESPACE s1 RENAME TO s2;

The CREATE TABLESPACE privilege is required to rename a general tablespace.

RENAME TO operations are implicitly performed in autocommit mode regardless of the autocommit setting.

A RENAME TO operation cannot be performed while LOCK TABLES or FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK is in effect for tables that reside in the tablespace.

Exclusive metadata locks are taken on tables within a general tablespace while the tablespace is renamed, which prevents concurrent DDL. Concurrent DML is supported.

The DROP TABLESPACE statement is used to drop an InnoDB general tablespace.

All tables must be dropped from the tablespace prior to a DROP TABLESPACE operation. If the tablespace is not empty, DROP TABLESPACE returns an error.

Use a query similar to the following to identify tables in a general tablespace.

mysql> SELECT a.NAME AS space_name, b.NAME AS table_name FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_TABLESPACES a,
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_TABLES b WHERE a.SPACE=b.SPACE AND a.NAME LIKE 'ts1';
+------------+------------+
| space_name | table_name |
+------------+------------+
| ts1        | test/t1    |
| ts1        | test/t2    |
| ts1        | test/t3    |
+------------+------------+

A general InnoDB tablespace is not deleted automatically when the last table in the tablespace is dropped. The tablespace must be dropped explicitly using DROP TABLESPACE tablespace_name.

A general tablespace does not belong to any particular database. A DROP DATABASE operation can drop tables that belong to a general tablespace but it cannot drop the tablespace, even if the DROP DATABASE operation drops all tables that belong to the tablespace.

Similar to the system tablespace, truncating or dropping tables stored in a general tablespace creates free space internally in the general tablespace .ibd data file which can only be used for new InnoDB data. Space is not released back to the operating system as it is when a file-per-table tablespace is deleted during a DROP TABLE operation.

This example demonstrates how to drop an InnoDB general tablespace. The general tablespace ts1 is created with a single table. The table must be dropped before dropping the tablespace.

mysql> CREATE TABLESPACE `ts1` ADD DATAFILE 'ts1.ibd' Engine=InnoDB;

mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 INT PRIMARY KEY) TABLESPACE ts1 Engine=InnoDB;

mysql> DROP TABLE t1;

mysql> DROP TABLESPACE ts1;