Thread

Hi all,

I have found a major issue whilst running MSM. We currently run 8 sites, which isn’t a lot of sites as the MSM page states:

“This gives you total control over your content and design whether you are running two sites or twenty sites”

We are currently upgrading the sites and get the following error whilst trying to add a custom field.

MySQL Error: 1117 Too Many Columns

It turns out the column limits set by MySQL is 4096 and each time you add a custom filed in EE it adds 2x fields to the exp_weblog_data table. Whilst this might not be an issue on a single site, this is a major issue on MSM.

You can quickly run out of custom fields. We are now trying to thin out all custom fields, not good. There is no mention of this limit anywhere and if adding custom fields used rows instead of columns we wouldn’t have this issue.

Sorry for the rant, but this has dropped me right in the bobbins…

Please can someone from the EE team tell me if a) There is a way around this? or b) Will this be resolved in version 2?

Thanks
Steve

Hi, Steve -

Yes, this is a possibility, and it is a MySQL limitation that you are running into.  I discussed this here.

You can also read a great, in-depth explanation from Derek in this thread.

Steve - to add to this.  What kind of data are you working with, and how many custom fields do you have?

Hi Lisa,

I understand that it’s a limitation of MySQL, but at the same time it’s a limitation of the way the table was setup by EE.

I’m now trying to trim the site right down as much as humanly possible. However this will slow me down and I will need to explain to my client what the delay is and in turn if I tell them the truth, they will then loose faith in the longevity of using EE for the CMS. Hence my question about EE 2.0 as it’s a rewrite in CI so it seems the perfect opportunity to fix this table issue as it doesn’t need to exist in the first place.

I guess all I can do at this point is trim right back?

Cheers
Steve

I think what we are going to do is using main site for all content and use categories for all of the sites, that way we can have just one site of custom fields rather than 8. We will need to redo all of the content, however I think this is the only way. What a pain man.

Cheers for your reply Lisa 😊

Steve, there is no more information about 2.0 at this time, other than what’s in the Sneak Preview.

How many custom fields do you have and what data are they holding?  That information would help me to work with you on a good, long-term solution.

Roughly 75 custom fields per site. I know that the only way forward to to manage them under one site I just wish I had the foresight to do that. This will make it work and will be a good long term solution.

It’s just having to wipe the content as there is no simple way to migrate the data across as they are technically different weblogs and custom field groups between the sites.

Wow, that is a *lot* of custom fields.  What kind of data are you storing that requires so many custom fields?

Ha lol. Yes it is. There are a lot of weblogs. The sites are for a chain of hotels in UK, so they have a lot of data. I originally built the sites when MSM first come out so I literally built one and duplicated it as I was unaware of the limit on the custom fields you see.

Now we are doing a major redesign and expanding the sites believe it or not. Once moved across to one site to manage the content management it should be fine. Just a little time consuming to implement.

Well, I’m still thinking that you may not need that many custom fields; but you seem to have a handle on everything.  Did you need more help with this, or all set?

Yeah I’m clear on what I have to do, basically reduce the custom field usage.

Thanks for your help Lisa.

Cheers
Steve

No worries, Steve. =)