> 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/server/server-usage/partitioning-tables/partitioning-limitations.md).

# Partitioning Limitations

The following limitations apply to partitioning in MariaDB:

* Each table can contain a maximum of 8192 partitions.
* Queries are never parallelized, even when they involve multiple partitions.
* A table can only be partitioned if the storage engine supports partitioning.
* All partitions must use the same storage engine. For a workaround, see [Using CONNECT - Partitioning and Sharding](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/connect/using-connect/using-connect-partitioning-and-sharding.md).
* A partitioned table cannot contain, or be referenced by, [foreign keys](/docs/server/ha-and-performance/optimization-and-tuning/optimization-and-indexes/foreign-keys.md).
* The [query cache](/docs/server/ha-and-performance/optimization-and-tuning/buffers-caches-and-threads/query-cache.md) is not aware of partitioning and partition pruning. Modifying a partition will invalidate the entries related to the whole table.
* Updates can run more slowly when [binlog\_format=ROW](/docs/server/server-management/server-monitoring-logs/binary-log/binary-log-formats.md#row-based-logging) and a partitioned table is updated than an equivalent update of a non-partitioned table.
* All columns used in the partitioning expression for a partitioned table must be part of every unique key that the table may have.
* In versions prior to [MariaDB 11.3.2](/docs/release-notes/community-server/old-releases/11.3/11.3.2.md), it is not possible to create partitions on tables that contain [GEOMETRY types](/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/geometry/geometry-types.md).

## See Also

* [INFORMATION\_SCHEMA.PARTITIONS](/docs/server/reference/system-tables/information-schema/information-schema-tables/information-schema-partitions-table.md) contains information about existing partitions.
* [Partition Maintenance](/docs/server/server-usage/partitioning-tables/partition-maintenance.md) for suggestions on using partitions

<sub>*This page is licensed: CC BY-SA / Gnu FDL*</sub>

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