MySQL Performance Tuning

Introduction to MySQL Performance Tuning

MySQL Performance Tuning is a MySQL technique to enhance the MySQL queries to make the speed and performance of the database better. In MySQL, the special language SQL (Structured Query Language) is used to write command or do programming in the server so that we can create, insert, update, modify, delete and fetch data records from the MySQL database. The SQL programming is implemented and found to be applied in many relational databases such as MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Postgres and others.

By applying the SQL query statements, a programmer can easily perform different functional server operations like CRUD events on data, creating triggers, etc. Now, therefore it is beneficial to make MySQL databases to be optimized properly as the quantity of data grows and the technology gets progressively complex. This will ensure to bring end-user understanding and will minimize the substructure costs.

How to Perform Performance Tuning in MySQL?

• With the growing data dimensions which have given complexity with workloads, the MySQL Performance tuning and database query enhancing is essential to maximize system presentation and resource consumption.
• There may be a number of motives why MySQL tuning process will be a bit difficult for the developers because initially it may require broad technical proficiency to code and recognize several executional strategies. It is the task of one who can utilize the knowledge while scripting clean and comprehensive MySQL statements.
• Besides its complication, the tuning is considered to be very time overwhelming. There are various benefits of it. Once the MySQL Tuning is done properly the database will result in sensible performance and excessive functionalities with quick data retrieval which ultimately reduces the cost and improves the data storage in the server. This performance tuning will improve the memory bandwidth, Disk seeks, reading and writing, CPU cycles and network utilizations on queries execution in the MySQL server as these elements basically are the sources from where the system performance may be hampered or slow down.

Examples of MySQL Performance Tuning

Following are few factors to be implemented for MySQL Performance Tuning and maintaining the database operations and query execution:

Example #1

Procedures for query optimization in MySQL.

We have to follow the best practices to make MySQL Performance Tuning process effective for database speed and maintenance.

a. Indexing all columns applied in WHERE, ORDER BY, GROUP BY & JOIN clauses

An index not only uniquely evaluates the records from databases but also allows the server to retrieve the results quicker from the MySQL queries executed.

Suppose we have table Products and we can create an index in MySQL using the query below:

Code:

select * from products;

Output:

Syntax:

CREATE INDEX IndexName ON TableName(ColumnName1, ColumnName2,….);

CREATE INDEX Productinfo ON Products (Product_Name);

Output:

Improper indexing of queries may lead to table scans that will give locking type problems and slow performance issue.

b. Escape using functions with columns

If a column has some functions predefined on it then, the MySQL database will not make the use index associated to it.

For illustration, let us consider a query:

Code:

SELECT * FROM TableA WHERE UCASE(ColumnA) = ‘XYZ’ ;

Due to the function UCASE() the database will not apply the index on ColumnA. You need to build up a new function based index otherwise produce custom columns to optimize performance.

c. Not to use LIKE expression with wildcard(%) in the start

The predicate such as LIKE ‘%ghj’ will cause full table scan that leads to performance drawback.

For Example:

SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE ColumnA LIKE ‘%GHJ’;

d. Escape pointless fields in SELECT clause

We should specify the column names that we need to fetch from the query instead of all the columns where some might be not necessary to be fetched using SELECT * option. This may bring slow speed and execution load on the database.

e. Application of INNER JOIN rather than OUTER JOIN

We must apply outer join in MySQL only if required otherwise when used not needed may give reduced execution speed and hamper the performance of database.

f. Adding if necessary the DISTINCT and UNION options

Without any main target, try to avoid use of UNION and DISTINCT MySQL operators which will bring undesirable sorting and slow server execution. But we can use UNION ALL instead of UNION, to increase efficiency.

g. Use of ORDER BY MySQL clause for sorted list

To have an impactful result, we can use ORDER BY clause to order the rows in used columns type that make advantages for tuning performance.

h. Escape use of NULL values

We may have some column value containing NULL inputs that may harm the MySQL results during query execution of all records. For this, we can use IFNULL statement too to provide alternative result.

Example #2

Avoid use of MySQL as Queue.

Using of queues may affect the database performance by increasing workload and does not make the task complete as it creates additional load time without any reason to manage the database resources.

Example #3

Accepting the four MySQL major resources.

We need to work on the four main resources that make the database to function properly to have performance tuning. They are Memory, CPU, Network and disk.We have to be careful in selecting hardware and solving any problems with it to avoid the server performance to be affected.

Example #4

Pagination MySQL Queries.

Pagination used in applications tend to show server slow speed. This can be optimized with user interface where we can display a link to the next page instead of showing the precise number of pages and irrelevant links to separate pages.

Example #5

To improve MySQL Subqueries.

Subqueries give an intense work to the server and we must prefer to use JOIN clauses as an alternative to help in database optimization.

Example #6

Query Cache in MySQL.

Caching the contents in database like SELECT query text, while fetching the result is an important factor to maximize performance.

We can do this by:

Code:

SET GLOBALquery_cache_size = 30000;

Example #7

Using Memcached for Caching in MySQL.

Memcached helps to speed up websites containing huge dynamic databases using distributed memory caching system. Here, the database objects are sorted in Dynamic Memory to decrease the pressure on the server.

Conclusion

MySQL Performance regulation is responsible to craft effective query statements and provides a well-structured design of your database that will be simple to be maintained. Not only this, it also gives constancy to the website or software applications. The MySQL Performance Tuning process delivers some tools that can support the database professionals to swiftly recognize bottlenecks, inadequate target operations through analysis of query code plans and eradicate any predicting games.

This is a guide to MySQL Performance Tuning. Here we discuss the introduction, how to perform performance tuning in MySQL? and examples respectively. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. MySQL Repair Table
2. MySQL DELETE JOIN
3. MySQL COALESCE
4. MySQL Transaction