MTA account system

[glowdemon1]

Hi, I'm looking to work on an account system, but my question is ; Will the MTA account system be better than a custom made one ? Does the MTA acc system have limits or does it work slow ? Any more information about the MTA acc. system would be helpful and apreciated. Thanks in advance.

-Another question I had was the about sqlite and mysql. Which one would be better ? I'm mainly striving for a server with a community of around 50 active users around the day, maybe more in the future, I'm going to store a lot of data however ; Houses, vehicles, player info, vehicle info, house info, ...

[CocaColaBear]

MTA Internal Database

+ Simple functions and use

+ No need to set up and install an external server for database

- Limited actions

- Doesn't have the ability to do stuff that SQLite/MySQL does (altering, etc.)

- Slow (?)

MySQL

+ Ability to make tables to save specific data in

+ Ability to modify tables and do stuff with them

+ Good for big data saving and managing

- Slower than SQLite

- Need of an external server to run

- Easy but complex querying

SQLite

+ Fast

+ Nearly the same abilities as in MySQL (limited however)

+ Good for semi-big data saving and managing

+ No need for an external server in order to save

- Doesn't have all the abilities than in MySQL

- Easy but complex querying

If you want to save a few stuff about a few things then you can use the internal database or SQLite. If you're saving a lot, use MySQL or SQLite.

My personal favorite is MySQL but I guess it's because I've used it more times than the two other ones.

[glowdemon1]

Thanks.

+ Good for semi-big data saving and managing

What are the aprox. numbers of semi-big ?

[myonlake]

Thanks.

+ Good for semi-big data saving and managing

What are the aprox. numbers of semi-big ?

Tables that are not huge and don't contain that much data. For example storing some player positions in SQLite is fine, but making a big table with 30 columns and long JSON values, I'd very much prefer MySQL. I just find MySQL an easy solution for my own use, but SQLite is quite handy as well.

SQLite can do most of the stuff that MySQL can, so if you're not looking for special abilities and features, I'd say use SQLite.

[Zango]

Great question.

This debate is sometimes ruined by biased opinions, unfortunately.

SQLite themselves "conservatively estimates" their database software to be able to serve a website with 100,000 visits per day.

MySQL is essentially designed for the enterprise and "large scale applications".

If you wish to easily access your data from outside MTA it could be beneficial to move to a server<->client database engine as well.

SQLite stores all databases in a single file. Do you store excessive amounts of data you could reach OS file size limitations.

In a case such as an MTA server, it's not a question about which database engine is the "fastest". No MTA server serves a million users daily. A big server has around 100,000 to 300,000 registered player accounts. Theoretically a SQLite table can contain 1e+13 rows. If we consider a quarter of this, it's still around 2,500,000,000,000 rows. (Impractical example)

Do you structure your data properly and use SQL effectively, SQLite can cater to any server despite size, really. The real bottlenecks exists in how you write, access and process data.

Whether MTA's internal account functions are "slow" - I don't know - but it's essentially a SQLite database. They provide the benefit of not having to deal with SQL syntax at all.

[glowdemon1]

Mh, thanks again to both of you, just the information I needed.

Any news on the account system ? Could anyone at the MTA team or even any scripter confirm the amount of max. registered users with the current mta acc system ? And would it get slower by time ?

[myonlake]

Like thisisdoge replied, the account system is based in SQLite. The MTA internal database system just has the limitation that you can't create actual tables and columns in it.

And like he said, it quite is just about personal opinions after all, but the thing is, it lacks some parameters for column configuration and like its name says, it's a light version of SQL, in other words.

[glowdemon1]

Mh, could be something good for a beginner server like mine. Perhaps I should be able to upgrade this later to my own mysql-based system ?

[myonlake]

Do as you see is fit for your use. Beginners might find SQLite easier than MySQL as you don't have to install any kind of external servers to run together with MTA server. Go ahead and try SQLite out and if it seems to be too clumsy for you, then switch to MySQL.