What are "Merge Tables" ??
In mySQL Terms, a merge table is a group of database tables, with different names but the same structure, that can be "merged" together under one common table name, so that you have many tables with information, but can easily reference them all from one table name in your queries.
In Hyperseek Terms (Laymen's terms), Merge tables are a way to split your log tables into smaller chunks but still have all the reports remain accurate as the reports will use the "merged" data in all of these smaller tables to report information back to you.
Why "Merge Tables" ??
mySQL is a good database. It's efficient and fast. However, on very large database tables, it's prone to corruption, especially when the tables are accessed frequently. As far as Hyperseek is concerned, there are 4 tables that tend to grow very large ... the tables that log every click, every search, and every fraudulent click run through the system. On busy engines, these tables can see a million or more new records added to them each month. Over time, they can become corrupted, which slows down your system and breaks the reports. By using merge tables, each month, a new set of log tables is automatically created (and named with the month and year). This prevents corruption from occurring on older data, and allows for tens of millions of transactions to be logged and used without a performance hit. If you are a busy search engine (more than 100,000 clicks per month), merge tables are a must.
How to set them up ....
Merge tables for each month will be automatically created with the first transaction each month, so you don't need to worry about creating them. However, you will need to, on the first of each month, run the Merge Table Utility from the Database part of the admin center to define the merge. An example of this page is shown below.
All that you need to do is check off the year/month table corresponding to the parent table (in the black bar), and hit the "Save Assignments" button. Note that you must NOT select "hyperseek_log_summary" as part of the "hyperseek_log" merge.
