Many people installing the lastest version of Magento 1.2.1 are facing an issue with their server not being compatible with Innodb storage engine.

If during your Magento installation you receive the following error:
Database server does not support InnoDB storage engine

Then the simplest solution is the enable Innodb on your server. You can do it by simply locating your my.cnf files (which is the mysql configuration file) usually in /etc/ if you are on centos.

Edit this file with the following vi command in the terminal:

vi /etc/my.cnf

and find the line skip-innodb
You need to comment this line by adding the # sign before it. It should look like this:

#skip-innodb

Now save the file by entering:

:wq

And restart your mysql service with the following command if you are on centos and you are done.

service mysql restart

Your installation should go well now.

—————–

If you are facing these issues when upgrading then you need to change the old tables from MyISAM.
And if you wonder why you never faced this issue before the answer is that InnoDB has always been a requirement of Magento, however the installer never checked for the requirement before.

The new installer for Magento 1.2.1 checks for InnoDB before running the installation. This will likely begin to slowly cut down on the number of problems related to people running Magento without innodb support.

Running Magento without InnoDB could result in a corrupted database that will give you more and more problems with each upgrade. Usually foreign key issues. Many of your have already noticed that it is hard to upgrade from a very old version of Magento to the latest one.

Fortunately Magento is to release a database repair tool that will help people to fix MyISAM/InnoDB issues and recreate missing foreign keys soon.

Now it is time to re-look into where you host your Magento store and consider the proper server. Running Magento on shared hosting environment is definitely NOT good idea.

You may consider converting your Magento tables manually into InnoDB tables. Should you consider to do so, here is the list of table that should not be converted:
catalogsearch_fulltext
log_customer
log_quote
log_summary
log_summary_type
log_url
log_url_info
log_visitor
log_visitor_info
oscommerce_orders
oscommerce_orders_products
oscommerce_orders_status_history
oscommerce_orders_total
paygate_authorizenet_debug
paypal_api_debug
product_alert_stock
sendfriend_log


And finally the goody! You can run the following query in phpMyAdmin to convert the necessary tables in your existing Magento database to use the InnoDB storage engine:


ALTER TABLE `admin_assert` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `admin_role` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `admin_rule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `admin_user` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `adminnotification_inbox` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `api_assert` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `api_role` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `api_rule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `api_user` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_product` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_category_product_index` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_compare_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_bundle_option` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_bundle_option_value` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_bundle_selection` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_enabled_index` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_gallery` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_media_gallery` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_media_gallery_value` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_tier_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link_attribute` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link_attribute_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link_attribute_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link_attribute_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_link_type` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option_type_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option_type_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_option_type_value` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_super_attribute` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_super_attribute_label` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_super_attribute_pricing` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_super_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalog_product_website` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_aggregation` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_aggregation_tag` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_aggregation_to_tag` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_eav` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_minimal_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogindex_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cataloginventory_stock` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cataloginventory_stock_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogrule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogrule_affected_product` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogrule_product` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogrule_product_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogsearch_fulltext` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `catalogsearch_query` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `catalogsearch_result` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `checkout_agreement` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `checkout_agreement_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `chronopay_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cms_block` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cms_block_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cms_page` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cms_page_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_config_data` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_email_template` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_flag` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_layout_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_layout_update` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_resource` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_session` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_store_group` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_translate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_url_rewrite` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `core_website` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cron_schedule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_address_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `customer_group` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cybermut_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `cybersource_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_batch` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_batch_export` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_batch_import` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_import_data` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_profile` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_profile_history` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `dataflow_session` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `design_change` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `directory_country` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `directory_country_format` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `directory_country_region` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `directory_country_region_name` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `directory_currency_rate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_link_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_link_purchased` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_link_purchased_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_link_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_sample` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `downloadable_sample_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_attribute` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_attribute_group` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_attribute_option` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_attribute_option_value` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_attribute_set` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_attribute` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_type` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eav_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `eway_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `flo2cash_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `gift_message` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `googlebase_attributes` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `googlebase_items` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `googlebase_types` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `googlecheckout_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `googleoptimizer_code` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `ideal_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `log_customer` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_quote` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_summary` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_summary_type` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_url` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_url_info` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_visitor` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `log_visitor_info` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_problem` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_queue` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_queue_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_queue_store_link` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_subscriber` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `newsletter_template` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_import` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_import_type` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_orders` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_orders_products` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_orders_status_history` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_orders_total` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `oscommerce_ref` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `paybox_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `paybox_question_number` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `paygate_authorizenet_debug` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `paypal_api_debug` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `paypaluk_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `poll` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `poll_answer` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `poll_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `poll_vote` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `product_alert_price` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `product_alert_stock` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `protx_api_debug` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_option` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_option_vote` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_option_vote_aggregated` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `rating_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `report_event` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `report_event_types` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review_detail` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review_entity_summary` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review_status` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `review_store` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_order_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_address` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_address_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_item_option` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_payment` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_flat_quote_shipping_rate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity_datetime` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity_decimal` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_entity_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_int` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_tax` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_text` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sales_order_varchar` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `salesrule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `salesrule_customer` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sendfriend_log` ENGINE=MyISAM;
ALTER TABLE `shipping_tablerate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `sitemap` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `strikeiron_tax_rate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tag` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tag_relation` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tag_summary` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tax_calculation` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tax_calculation_rate` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tax_calculation_rate_title` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tax_calculation_rule` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `tax_class` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `weee_discount` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `weee_tax` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `wishlist` ENGINE=InnoDB;
ALTER TABLE `wishlist_item` ENGINE=InnoDB;