MySQL Troubleshooting

How to Solve a Problem

This book is shaped around the goal of pursuing problems and finding causes. I step through what I would do to uncover the problem, without showing dozens of distracting details or fancy methods.

Note

It is very important to identify what the problem is.

For example, when saying that a MySQL installation is slow, you need to identify where it is slow: is only part of the application affected, or do all queries sent to the MySQL server run slowly? It’s also good to know whether the same installation was “slow” in the past and whether this problem is consistent or repeatable only periodically.

Another example is wrong behavior. You need to know what behaved wrongly, what results you have, and what you expected.

I have been very disciplined in presenting troubleshooting methods. Most problems can be solved in different ways, and the best solution depends on the application and the user’s needs. If I described how to go off in every direction, this book would be 10 times bigger and you would miss the fix that works for you. My purpose is to put you on the right path from the start so that you can deal quickly with each type of problem. Details about fixing the issue can be found in other information sources, many of which I cite and point you to in the course of our journey.