Database performance is a hot topic among database users and practitioners. Users are always looking for the best performance, preferably out of the box, with no need for additional tuning, and at the most affordable price point. While Azure Database for MySQL is already tuned for the best performance out of the box, workloads vary. As a result, specific workloads may require some user intervention to boost and get the most out of a database server's performance. It's always a good idea to benchmark a MySQL server using sysbench to assess the capabilities of the server SKU it is uses.
This blog post provides a checklist to help improve MySQL database performance by troubleshooting and resolving issues that can commonly occur.
1. Database performance is limited by physics. In the case of server performance, the three main hardware resources: CPU, Memory, and IOPS. Test if your workload is maxing out one of these three resources. How? Check this blog post to troubleshoot basic MySQL issues.
2. Understand your workload split between reads and writes. Do you happen to have a read intensive workload? You have a few alternatives to improve performance:
3. Database version matters. Cosnider testing your workload on both supported versions of Azure Database for MySQL. It is known that different workloads run differently on v5.7 and v8.0. Learn more about Supported MySQL versions from here.
4. Monitor Azure Database for MySQL flexible server by using Azure Monitor workbooks or using Percona Monitoring and Management (PMM) and benefit from the customizable dashboards and real-time alerting.
5. Troubleshoot at the query level. Is it a subset of queries which is running slow? In that case, you have a few alternatives to improve your database performance.
6. Tune server parameters to better server your workload needs. This is a complex topic and may require pages to discuss all the aspects of it. But in short, the value of some parameters could potentially change your server performance significantly. To accommodate this, Azure Database for MySQL allows you to configure server parameters. Here are the top server parameters which you can consider adjusting while troubleshooting performance related issues:
In addition to the above, consider reviewing and applying the following best practices for optimal performance of your Azure Database for MySQL flexible server:
We hope this checklist helps you to mitigate your existing performance bottlenecks and improves the overall performance of your database server and application workload!
If you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions on what else you’d like us to write about, please leave a comment below or email us at AskAzureDBforMySQL@service.microsoft.com. Thank you!
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