# 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](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/connect/using-connect/using-connect-partitioning-and-sharding).
* A partitioned table cannot contain, or be referenced by, [foreign keys](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/ha-and-performance/optimization-and-tuning/optimization-and-indexes/foreign-keys).
* The [query cache](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/ha-and-performance/optimization-and-tuning/buffers-caches-and-threads/query-cache) 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](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/server-management/server-monitoring-logs/binary-log/binary-log-formats#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](https://app.gitbook.com/s/aEnK0ZXmUbJzqQrTjFyb/community-server/old-releases/11.3/11.3.2), it is not possible to create partitions on tables that contain [GEOMETRY types](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/geometry/geometry-types).

## See Also

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

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