increasing mysql storage

Sorry in advance in if this is a dumb question but I was wondering if anyone could explain to me how to scale mysql?

Here's my situation..I work for a startup and we're creating software that will rely on very large datasets. I'm trying to setup the mysql server and the data structure, etc..

I am realistic enough to realize I won't make a perfect solution that'll last forever and will eventually need to make changes to the structure and since I can't really predict how much d开发者_如何学编程ata I'll need, I suspect I'll eventually have to make changes. Does anyone have any tips or sources I could read to understand how to deal with increasing storage? How does the process work and is there any considerations I need to make before setting up the database? I want to physically have different storage but logically I want this to be transparent to the users(i.e. table is actually stored on multiple servers but users only query one table).

I read that mysql has a 4 gig limit on tables, how does facebook scale so well on mysql then?

Thanks in advance and sorry if this question either doesn't make sense or is too basic.

You can also look at scalable MySql 'in the cloud' providers like AMAZON RDS or Joyent. They provide low cost scalable and reliable infrastructure in minutes.

The MySQL 4Gb limit is mainly on 32 bit infrastructures. you can increase with an ALTER TABLE

Keep us informed !

I am having the same issue, what I am doing at the moment is reading this guide here (From the mysql site) here , there is the way of scaling the database :) I hope this can help