Getting Started with phpMyAdmin - Mastering phpMyAdmin 3.4 for Effective MySQL Management - page 21

The pmadb and each table have a specific function as listed next:

Function Description Explained in

pmadb Defines the database where all tables are

located

This chapter

bookmarktable

Chapter 14 Contains the query bookmarks

relation Defines inter-table relations, as used in many

of the phpMyAdmin's features

Chapter 10

table_info

Chapter 10 Contains the display field

table_coords and
pdf_pages

Contains the metadata necessary for drawing
a schema of the relations in a PDF format

Chapter 15

column_info

Chapter 16 Used for column-commenting and MIME-

based transformations

history Contains SQL query history information

Chapter 11

tracking Contains the metadata and the actual SQL

statements related to the tracked tables

Chapter 18

designer_coords Holds the coordinates used by the Designer

feature

Chapter 10

userconfig Holds the user's preferences

Chapter 3

Between each phpMyAdmin version, the infrastructure may be enhanced—the
changes are explained in Documentation.html . This is why phpMyAdmin has
various checks to ascertain the structure of the tables. If we know we are using the
latest structure, $cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose_check'] can be set to FALSE to
avoid checks, thereby slightly increasing phpMyAdmin's speed.

Installing for multiple users
In this setup, we will have a distinct database— pmadb —to store the metadata tables.
Our control user will have specific rights to this database. Each user will work with
his/her login name and password which will be used to access his/her databases.
However, whenever phpMyAdmin itself accesses pmadb to obtain some metadata, it
will use the control user's privileges.

Setting a multi-user installation is possible only for a MySQL
system administrator who has the privileges of assigning rights
to another user (here, the pma user).