Of course, since James said he will never search for a record matching receiver_ID AND sender_ID, it would be more efficient to simply create one index for each of the columns.
-Noah -----Original Message----- From: Kristian Myllymäki [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 3:50 AM To: Ananda Kumar Cc: James Tu; MySQL List Subject: Re: index, unique index question A composite index on both columns may be used by queries involving either both columns, or the first column in the index. http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/multiple-column-indexes.html So, an index on (receiver_id, sender_id) may be used by predicates on both columns or receiver_id alone, but never sender_id alone. (Or I should never say never, since mysql could in the future implement an index scan on the secondary column if the first has very few distinct values). Since James only uses the predicates alone and never combined, I would also suggest a secondary index on (sender_id). unique index (receiver_id, sender_id) index (sender_id) /Kristian Quoting Ananda Kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hi James, > Since your queries have both receiver_id and sender_id in the where > condition and u want this to be unique, just create one combined unique > index on both these columns. > > Do this at db level will give you much better options, performance, rather > than doing at code level, which might involve quite bit of coding and will > slow down the performance of the app. > > If you create individual index and combined index, there will be huge > performance degradation as there would be unnecessary index over heads. > > regards > anandkl > > > On 8/14/07, James Tu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> I have a table that has a Primary key using the 'id' column. >> The table also has a 'receiver_id' and a 'sender_id'. >> >> I have queries that will use >> (1) "WHERE receiver_id =" >> or >> (2) "WHERE sender_id=" >> but never "WHERE receiver_id='###' AND sender_id='###'" >> >> Also, I want the receiver_id/sender_id pair to be unique. The reason >> I want this unique key is so that I can issue a >> 'INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE' kind of query. >> >> >> What's the best approach to create indices in this case? >> (A) Create an index on 'receiver_id' and also create an index on >> 'sender_id' >> ...and enforce the uniqueness of receiver_id and sender_id in >> code...first do a query to see if it's there then either do an UPDATE >> or and INSERT. >> or >> (B) Create a unique index on the 'receiver_id' and 'sender_id' pair? >> >> When I create both (A) and (B), phpmyadmin gives me a warning >> indicating that more than one index is created on 'receiver_id.' >> >> >> Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? >> -James >> >> >> >> -- >> MySQL General Mailing List >> For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql >> To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> > -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
