Learning MySQL, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11. Configuring and Tuning the Server

The MySQL installation process (see Chapter 1) provides everything necessary to install the MySQL process and start using it. However, it is required for production systems to do some fine-tuning, adjusting MySQL parameters and the operating system to optimize MySQL Server’s performance. This chapter will cover the recommended best practices for different installations and show you the parameters that need to be adjusted based on the expected or current workload. As you’ll see, it is not necessary to memorize all the MySQL parameters. Based on the Pareto principle, which states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, we will concentrate on the MySQL and operating system parameters that are responsible for most of the performance issues. There are some advanced topics in this chapter related to computer architecture (such as NUMA); the intent here is to introduce you to a few components that can affect MySQL performance that you will need to interact with sooner or later in your career.

The MySQL Server Daemon

Since 2015, the majority of Linux distributions have adopted systemd. Because of that, Linux operating systems do not use the mysqld_safe process to start MySQL anymore. mysqld_safe is called an angel process, because it adds some safety features, such as restarting the server when an error occurs and logging runtime information to the MySQL error log. For operating systems that use systemd ...