Hi, long time listener, first time caller (I think), I've got a database which I'm looking to increase performance, either by buying bigger kit or by somehow optimising current configuration.
I'm running MySQL-Max-3.23.56-1 from the mysql.com RPMs on a Dell Poweredge 2500 with dual 1400MHz PIII processors and 4GB RAM with RedHat 7.3 kernel 2.4.18-10smp. The database itself is actually quite small; about 3.3GB on disk. Disk configuration is RAID-5, 3 disks, chunksize 8KB, default mounting options. Currently, when moderately busy, it's not unusual to see 400 queries/sec, so I imagine when running top whack at the moment we're probably hitting up to 500 selects/second. Keeping our developers focussed on how their design decisions affect performance is a continual process of course... Anyway, the load average on this server is hitting 2 occasionally, and it's time either to tune the configuration, move it onto some other kit, or buy in some kit specifically. Apparently I might be looking at the traffic on the database quadrupling in the next few months, so I'm keen on getting this sorted ASAP. Having Read The Fine Manual, and being more of a coder/sysadmin than a DBA I have some dumb questions. Which are: 1. Does anybody else have any experience with this situation? Good, Bad, Ugly? 2. I can move this DB to a dual PE2600 with dual Xeon 1.8GHz processors. and I can get up to 6GB RAM in there. Is it worth doing this? i.e., how much extra capacity does this buy me? Does enabling HyperThreading on the Xeons help or hinder database servers? 3. Would upgrading to 4.0.13 help at all? What kind of performance does it have compared with 3.23.56? This is a medium term goal anyway, and we'd like to take rather more time over it. 4. I read that on a 32 bit architecture (like these Pentium class CPUs) the database tables are not memory-mapped (i.e., it's not possible to store the entire database in memory anyway). Is this the case with the 64 bit Solaris too? Is there a planned implementation schedule for this functionality? 5. What's the performance of MySQL like on Solaris 8/9 compared to Linux 2.4.18? Is a big multiprocessor Sun box (like a Sun Fire 880 or 1280) a good choice for a database server running MySQL? Or are there more suitable platforms? Is, in fact, something like a SunFire 880 overkill? 6. Would it be complete lunacy, in the absence of memory-mapped tables, to specify a RAM-disk on which to store the database? Should improve seek times, eh? And lots of redundant UPS stuff. 7. Any other suggestions welcome. I'm a bit nervous about turning off atime on mounting the disks - is it really not used by the database anywhere? what kind of performance boost does it give? Regards, Andy -- Andy Stubbs, B.A., Ph.D. Network Manager, Active Hotels Ltd. +44 1223 578106 -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
