> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mariadb.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mariadb.com/docs/release-notes/columnstore/old-releases/mariadb-columnstore-6-release-notes/mariadb-columnstore-6-1-1-release-notes.md).

# MariaDB ColumnStore 6.1.1 Release Notes

## Overview

MariaDB ColumnStore is a columnar storage engine included with MariaDB Enterprise Server. This is the first release in the ColumnStore 6 series.

MariaDB ColumnStore 6.1.1 was released on 2021-08-26. This release is of General Availability (GA) maturity.

This release of MariaDB ColumnStore is included with MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.6.4-1.

## Notable Changes

* There are no documented changes to CMAPI in this release.
* Disk-based aggregation allows larger aggregated result sets than can fit in memory ([MCOL-4709](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4709))
  * Prior to this feature, all aggregation operations were performed in memory.
  * Disk-based aggregation is enabled through configuration.
* Increased DECIMAL precision ([MCOL-641](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-641))
  * The maximum precision of DECIMAL (fixed-point numeric data type) is 38.
  * Prior to this release, the maximum precision of DECIMAL was 18.
  * The columnstore\_decimal\_overflow\_check system variable allows ColumnStore to check for decimal overflows when working with DECIMAL values of precision >= 18. For additional information, see "Enable Decimal Overflow Checks".
* Increased DECIMAL precision used by the AVG() and SUM() aggregate functions when aggregating integer data types ([MCOL-4603](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4603))
  * The AVG() and SUM() aggregate functions have a maximum precision of 38 digits. This enables AVG() and SUM() to work with larger integer values with less risk of overflow.
  * Prior to this release, the AVG() and SUM() aggregate functions had a maximum precision of 18 digits.
* Transactional tables can be updated with data from ColumnStore tables ([MCOL-1482](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-1482))
  * Through enhancement to Cross-Engine JOIN capabilities, UPDATE statements can update transactional tables (such as InnoDB and MyRocks) with data from ColumnStore tables:

```
UPDATE innodb_tab i
    JOIN columnstore_tab c
    ON i.col1 = c.col1
    SET i.col2 = c.col2;
```

**Enterprise ColumnStore's mandatory utility user is used for Cross-Engine JOIN. The mandatory utility user requires the UPDATE privilege.** Before this release, UPDATE to ColumnStore data from transactional data was supported, however UPDATE to transactional data from ColumnStore data (an operation that requires Cross-Engine JOIN) was unsupported.

* LZ4 compression ([MCOL-987](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-987))
  * With this release, MariaDB Enterprise ColumnStore supports LZ4 and Snappy compression. Configuration allows the user to choose the best compression algorithm for their data set.
  * Before this release, Snappy compression was supported.
* OFFSET syntax ([MCOL-4645](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4645))
  * With this release, SELECT .. OFFSET .. FETCH syntax is available as an alternative to LIMIT .. OFFSET
    * The syntax is:

```
OFFSET start { ROW | ROWS }
FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } [ count ] { ROW | ROWS } ONLY
```

\*\*\* The following query demonstrates the syntax:\*\*

```
SELECT username, purchase
FROM user_purchases
ORDER BY username, purchase
OFFSET 0 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;
```

* Encrypted passwords for the mandatory utility user ([MCOL-1175](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-1175))
  * This release adds the cskeys and cspasswd command-line utilities.
  * The cskeys command-line utility generates an encryption key file. The encryption key file is stored in the /var/lib/columnstore directory by default.
  * The cspasswd command-line utility uses the encryption key file generated by cskeys to encrypt the specified password.
  * Example usage:

```
$ cskeys
$ cspasswd '<plain_text_passwd>'
$ mcsSetConfig CrossEngineSupport Password '<encrypted_passwd>'
```

* Auto-switch mode for the ColumnStore Select Handler ([MCOL-4525](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4525))
  * The AUTO value for the columnstore\_select\_handler system variable enables the auto-switch mode.
  * As with prior releases, columnstore\_select\_handler=ON enables the custom select handler and columnstore\_select\_handler=OFF disables the custom select handler.
  * When columnstore\_select\_handler is set to AUTO, MariaDB Enterprise ColumnStore automatically chooses whether to use the custom select handler for each query.
  * For additional information, see "Configure the Select Handler".
* Optimizer statistics store NDV (Number of Distinct Values) for ColumnStore tables ([MCOL-4713](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4713))
  * Optimizer statistics can be collected for ColumnStore tables by executing the ANALYZE TABLE statement.
  * ColumnStore uses the optimizer statistics to add support for queries that contain circular inner joins.
  * In previous releases, ColumnStore would raise the following error when a query containing a circular inner join was executed:

```
ERROR 1815 (HY000): Internal error: IDB-1003: Circular joins are not supported.
```

**For additional information, see "Optimizer Statistics".**

* Reduced resource usage for connection configuration ([MCOL-4679](https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MCOL-4679))
  * A format change to the ColumnStore.xml configuration file has reduced resource overhead. Connection definitions (PMSn sections) have been simplified.
  * No manual action is required to change over to the new format. This configuration is handled by CMAPI.

## Platforms

In alignment with the [enterprise lifecycle](/docs/release-notes/enterprise-server/about/enterprise-server-lifecycle.md), MariaDB ColumnStore 6.1.1 is provided for:

* CentOS 7
* CentOS 8
* Debian 9
* Debian 10
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
* Ubuntu 18.04
* Ubuntu 20.04

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