> 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

This page outlines constraints when using partitioning, such as the maximum number of partitions and restrictions on foreign keys and query cache usage.

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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