System variables that are true or false can be enabled at server startup by naming them, or disabled by using a --skip- prefix. For example, to enable or disable the InnoDB adaptive hash index, you can use --innodb_adaptive_hash_index or --skip-innodb_adaptive_hash_index on the command line, or innodb_adaptive_hash_index or skip-innodb_adaptive_hash_index in an option file.

System variables that take a numeric value can be specified as --var_name=value on the command line or as var_name=value in option files.

Many system variables can be changed at runtime (see Section 5.1.6.2, “Dynamic System Variables”).

For information about GLOBAL and SESSION variable scope modifiers, refer to the SET statement documentation.

Certain options control the locations and layout of the InnoDB data files. Section 14.6.1, “InnoDB Startup Configuration” explains how to use these options.

Some options, which you might not use initially, help tune InnoDB performance characteristics based on machine capacity and your database workload.

For more information on specifying options and system variables, see Section 4.2.3, “Specifying Program Options”.

--ignore-builtin-innodb

In MySQL 5.1, this option caused the server to behave as if the built-in InnoDB were not present, which enabled the InnoDB Plugin to be used instead. In MySQL 5.6, InnoDB is the default storage engine and InnoDB Plugin is not used, so this option has no effect. As of MySQL 5.6.5, it is ignored.

--innodb[=value]

Controls loading of the InnoDB storage engine, if the server was compiled with InnoDB support. This option has a tristate format, with possible values of OFF, ON, or FORCE. See Section 5.5.2, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To disable InnoDB, use --innodb=OFF or --skip-innodb. In this case, because the default storage engine is InnoDB, the server does not start unless you also use --default-storage-engine and --default-tmp-storage-engine to set the default to some other engine for both permanent and TEMPORARY tables.

As of MySQL 5.6.21, --innodb=OFF and --skip-innodb options are deprecated and their use results in a warning. These options will be removed in a future MySQL release.

--innodb-status-file

Controls whether InnoDB creates a file named innodb_status.pid in the MySQL data directory. If enabled, InnoDB periodically writes the output of SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS to this file.

By default, the file is not created. To create it, start mysqld with the --innodb-status-file=1 option. The file is deleted during normal shutdown.

--skip-innodb

Disable the InnoDB storage engine. See the description of --innodb.

daemon_memcached_enable_binlog

Enable this option on the master server to use the InnoDB memcached plugin (daemon_memcached) with the MySQL binary log. This option can only be set at server startup. You must also enable the MySQL binary log on the master server using the --log-bin option.

For more information, see Section 14.20.6, “The InnoDB memcached Plugin and Replication”.

daemon_memcached_engine_lib_name

Specifies the shared library that implements the InnoDB memcached plugin.

For more information, see Section 14.20.3, “Setting Up the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

daemon_memcached_engine_lib_path

The path of the directory containing the shared library that implements the InnoDB memcached plugin. The default value is NULL, representing the MySQL plugin directory. You should not need to modify this parameter unless specifying a memcached plugin for a different storage engine that is located outside of the MySQL plugin directory.

For more information, see Section 14.20.3, “Setting Up the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

daemon_memcached_option

Used to pass space-separated memcached options to the underlying memcached memory object caching daemon on startup. For example, you might change the port that memcached listens on, reduce the maximum number of simultaneous connections, change the maximum memory size for a key/value pair, or enable debugging messages for the error log.

See Section 14.20.3, “Setting Up the InnoDB memcached Plugin” for usage details. For information about memcached options, refer to the memcached man page.

daemon_memcached_r_batch_size

Specifies how many memcached read operations (get operations) to perform before doing a COMMIT to start a new transaction. Counterpart of daemon_memcached_w_batch_size.

This value is set to 1 by default, so that any changes made to the table through SQL statements are immediately visible to memcached operations. You might increase it to reduce the overhead from frequent commits on a system where the underlying table is only being accessed through the memcached interface. If you set the value too large, the amount of undo or redo data could impose some storage overhead, as with any long-running transaction.

For more information, see Section 14.20.3, “Setting Up the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

daemon_memcached_w_batch_size

Specifies how many memcached write operations, such as add, set, and incr, to perform before doing a COMMIT to start a new transaction. Counterpart of daemon_memcached_r_batch_size.

This value is set to 1 by default, on the assumption that data being stored is important to preserve in case of an outage and should immediately be committed. When storing non-critical data, you might increase this value to reduce the overhead from frequent commits; but then the last N-1 uncommitted write operations could be lost if a crash occurs.

For more information, see Section 14.20.3, “Setting Up the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

ignore_builtin_innodb

See the description of --ignore-builtin-innodb under “InnoDB Command Options” earlier in this section.

innodb_adaptive_flushing

Specifies whether to dynamically adjust the rate of flushing dirty pages in the InnoDB buffer pool based on the workload. Adjusting the flush rate dynamically is intended to avoid bursts of I/O activity. This setting is enabled by default. See Section 14.6.3.5, “Configuring InnoDB Buffer Pool Flushing” for more information. For general I/O tuning advice, see Section 8.5.8, “Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O”.

innodb_adaptive_flushing_lwm

Defines the low water mark representing percentage of redo log capacity at which adaptive flushing is enabled. For more information, see Section 14.6.3.6, “Fine-tuning InnoDB Buffer Pool Flushing”.

innodb_adaptive_hash_index

Whether the InnoDB adaptive hash index is enabled or disabled. It may be desirable, depending on your workload, to dynamically enable or disable adaptive hash indexing to improve query performance. Because the adaptive hash index may not be useful for all workloads, conduct benchmarks with it both enabled and disabled, using realistic workloads. See Section 14.4.3, “Adaptive Hash Index” for details.

This variable is enabled by default. You can modify this parameter using the SET GLOBAL statement, without restarting the server. Changing the setting requires the SUPER privilege. You can also use --skip-innodb_adaptive_hash_index at server startup to disable it.

Disabling the adaptive hash index empties the hash table immediately. Normal operations can continue while the hash table is emptied, and executing queries that were using the hash table access the index B-trees directly instead. When the adaptive hash index is re-enabled, the hash table is populated again during normal operation.

innodb_adaptive_max_sleep_delay

Permits InnoDB to automatically adjust the value of innodb_thread_sleep_delay up or down according to the current workload. Any non-zero value enables automated, dynamic adjustment of the innodb_thread_sleep_delay value, up to the maximum value specified in the innodb_adaptive_max_sleep_delay option. The value represents the number of microseconds. This option can be useful in busy systems, with greater than 16 InnoDB threads. (In practice, it is most valuable for MySQL systems with hundreds or thousands of simultaneous connections.)

For more information, see Section 14.6.6, “Configuring Thread Concurrency for InnoDB”.

innodb_additional_mem_pool_size

The size in bytes of a memory pool InnoDB uses to store data dictionary information and other internal data structures. The more tables you have in your application, the more memory you allocate here. If InnoDB runs out of memory in this pool, it starts to allocate memory from the operating system and writes warning messages to the MySQL error log. The default value is 8MB.

This variable relates to the InnoDB internal memory allocator, which is unused if innodb_use_sys_malloc is enabled. For more information, see Section 14.6.4, “Configuring the Memory Allocator for InnoDB”.

As of MySQL 5.6.3, innodb_additional_mem_pool_size is deprecated and will be removed in a future MySQL release.

innodb_api_bk_commit_interval

How often to auto-commit idle connections that use the InnoDB memcached interface, in seconds. For more information, see Section 14.20.5.4, “Controlling Transactional Behavior of the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

innodb_api_disable_rowlock

Use this option to disable row locks when InnoDB memcached performs DML operations. By default, innodb_api_disable_rowlock is disabled, which means that memcached requests row locks for get and set operations. When innodb_api_disable_rowlock is enabled, memcached requests a table lock instead of row locks.

innodb_api_disable_rowlock is not dynamic. It must be specified on the mysqld command line or entered in the MySQL configuration file. Configuration takes effect when the plugin is installed, which occurs when the MySQL server is started.

For more information, see Section 14.20.5.4, “Controlling Transactional Behavior of the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

innodb_api_enable_binlog

Lets you use the InnoDB memcached plugin with the MySQL binary log. For more information, see Enabling the InnoDB memcached Binary Log.

innodb_api_enable_mdl

Locks the table used by the InnoDB memcached plugin, so that it cannot be dropped or altered by DDL through the SQL interface. For more information, see Section 14.20.5.4, “Controlling Transactional Behavior of the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

innodb_api_trx_level

Controls the transaction isolation level on queries processed by the memcached interface. The constants corresponding to the familiar names are:

For more information, see Section 14.20.5.4, “Controlling Transactional Behavior of the InnoDB memcached Plugin”.

innodb_autoextend_increment

The increment size (in megabytes) for extending the size of an auto-extending InnoDB system tablespace file when it becomes full. The default value is 64. For related information, see System Tablespace Data File Configuration, and Section 14.7.1, “Resizing the InnoDB System Tablespace”.

The innodb_autoextend_increment setting does not affect file-per-table tablespace files. These files are auto-extending regardless of of the innodb_autoextend_increment setting. The initial extensions are by small amounts, after which extensions occur in increments of 4MB.

innodb_autoinc_lock_mode

The lock mode to use for generating auto-increment values. Permissible values are 0, 1, or 2, for “traditional”, “consecutive”, or “interleaved”, respectively. The default setting is 1 (“consecutive”). For the characteristics of each lock mode, see InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT Lock Modes.

innodb_buffer_pool_dump_at_shutdown

Specifies whether to record the pages cached in the InnoDB buffer pool when the MySQL server is shut down, to shorten the warmup process at the next restart. Typically used in combination with innodb_buffer_pool_load_at_startup.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_dump_now

Immediately records the pages cached in the InnoDB buffer pool. Typically used in combination with innodb_buffer_pool_load_now.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_filename

Specifies the name of the file that holds the list of tablespace IDs and page IDs produced by innodb_buffer_pool_dump_at_shutdown or innodb_buffer_pool_dump_now. Tablespace IDs and page IDs are saved in the following format: space, page_id. By default, the file is named ib_buffer_pool and is located in the InnoDB data directory. A non-default location must be specified relative to the data directory.

A file name can be specified at runtime, using a SET statement:

SET GLOBAL innodb_buffer_pool_filename='file_name';

You can also specify a file name at startup, in a startup string or MySQL configuration file. When specifying a file name at startup, the file must exist or InnoDB will return a startup error indicating that there is no such file or directory.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_instances

The number of regions that the InnoDB buffer pool is divided into. For systems with buffer pools in the multi-gigabyte range, dividing the buffer pool into separate instances can improve concurrency, by reducing contention as different threads read and write to cached pages. Each page that is stored in or read from the buffer pool is assigned to one of the buffer pool instances randomly, using a hashing function. Each buffer pool manages its own free lists, flush lists, LRUs, and all other data structures connected to a buffer pool, and is protected by its own buffer pool mutex.

This option only takes effect when setting innodb_buffer_pool_size to a size of 1GB or more. The total size you specify is divided among all the buffer pools. For best efficiency, specify a combination of innodb_buffer_pool_instances and innodb_buffer_pool_size so that each buffer pool instance is at least 1GB.

Before MySQL 5.6.6, the default is 1. The default value in MySQL 5.6.6 and higher on 32-bit Windows systems depends on the value of innodb_buffer_pool_size, as described below:

On all other platforms, the default value in MySQL 5.6.6 and higher is 8 when innodb_buffer_pool_size is greater than or equal to 1GB. Otherwise, the default is 1.

innodb_buffer_pool_load_abort

Interrupts the process of restoring InnoDB buffer pool contents triggered by innodb_buffer_pool_load_at_startup or innodb_buffer_pool_load_now.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_load_at_startup

Specifies that, on MySQL server startup, the InnoDB buffer pool is automatically warmed up by loading the same pages it held at an earlier time. Typically used in combination with innodb_buffer_pool_dump_at_shutdown.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_load_now

Immediately warms up the InnoDB buffer pool by loading a set of data pages, without waiting for a server restart. Can be useful to bring cache memory back to a known state during benchmarking, or to ready the MySQL server to resume its normal workload after running queries for reports or maintenance.

For more information, see Section 14.6.3.7, “Saving and Restoring the Buffer Pool State”.

innodb_buffer_pool_size

The size in bytes of the buffer pool, the memory area where InnoDB caches table and index data. The default value is 128MB. The maximum value depends on the CPU architecture; the maximum is 4294967295 (2³²-1) on 32-bit systems and 18446744073709551615 (2⁶⁴-1) on 64-bit systems. On 32-bit systems, the CPU architecture and operating system may impose a lower practical maximum size than the stated maximum. When the size of the buffer pool is greater than 1GB, setting innodb_buffer_pool_instances to a value greater than 1 can improve the scalability on a busy server.

A larger buffer pool requires less disk I/O to access the same table data more than once. On a dedicated database server, you might set the buffer pool size to 80% of the machine's physical memory size. Be aware of the following potential issues when configuring buffer pool size, and be prepared to scale back the size of the buffer pool if necessary.

innodb_change_buffer_max_size

Maximum size for the InnoDB change buffer, as a percentage of the total size of the buffer pool. You might increase this value for a MySQL server with heavy insert, update, and delete activity, or decrease it for a MySQL server with unchanging data used for reporting. For more information, see Section 14.4.2, “Change Buffer”, and Section 14.6.5, “Configuring InnoDB Change Buffering”. For general I/O tuning advice, see Section 8.5.8, “Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O”.

innodb_change_buffering

Whether InnoDB performs change buffering, an optimization that delays write operations to secondary indexes so that the I/O operations can be performed sequentially. Permitted values are described in the following table.

For more information, see Section 14.4.2, “Change Buffer”, and Section 14.6.5, “Configuring InnoDB Change Buffering”. For general I/O tuning advice, see Section 8.5.8, “Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O”.

innodb_change_buffering_debug

Sets a debug flag for InnoDB change buffering. A value of 1 forces all changes to the change buffer. A value of 2 causes a crash at merge. A default value of 0 indicates that the change buffering debug flag is not set. This option is only available when debugging support is compiled in using the WITH_DEBUG CMake option.

innodb_checksum_algorithm

Specifies how to generate and verify the checksum stored in the disk blocks of InnoDB tablespaces.

innodb_checksum_algorithm replaces the innodb_checksums option in MySQL 5.6.3. The following values are provided for compatibility:

To avoid conflicts, remove references to innodb_checksums from MySQL configuration files and startup scripts.

The value innodb is backward-compatible with earlier versions of MySQL. The value crc32 uses an algorithm that is faster to compute the checksum for every modified block, and to check the checksums for each disk read. It scans blocks 32 bits at a time, which is faster than the innodb checksum algorithm, which scans blocks 8 bits at a time. The value none writes a constant value in the checksum field rather than computing a value based on the block data. The blocks in a tablespace can use a mix of old, new, and no checksum values, being updated gradually as the data is modified; once blocks in a tablespace are modified to use the crc32 algorithm, the associated tables cannot be read by earlier versions of MySQL.

The strict form of a checksum algorithm reports an error if it encounters a valid but non-matching checksum value in a tablespace. It is recommended that you only use strict settings in a new instance, to set up tablespaces for the first time. Strict settings are somewhat faster, because they do not need to compute all checksum values during disk reads.

The following table shows the difference between the none, innodb, and crc32 option values, and their strict counterparts. none, innodb, and crc32 write the specified type of checksum value into each data block, but for compatibility accept other checksum values when verifying a block during a read operation. Strict settings also accept valid checksum values but print an error message when a valid non-matching checksum value is encountered. Using the strict form can make verification faster if all InnoDB data files in an instance are created under an identical innodb_checksum_algorithm value.

The default value for innodb_checksum_algorithm was changed from innodb to crc32 in MySQL 5.6.6, but switched back to innodb in 5.6.7 for backward compatibility of InnoDB data files, and for use with MySQL Enterprise Backup. The limitations encountered included:

innodb_checksums

InnoDB can use checksum validation on all tablespace pages read from disk to ensure extra fault tolerance against hardware faults or corrupted data files. This validation is enabled by default. Under specialized circumstances (such as when running benchmarks) this safety feature can be disabled with --skip-innodb-checksums. You can specify the method of calculating the checksum using the innodb_checksum_algorithm option.

In MySQL 5.6.3 and higher, innodb_checksums is deprecated, replaced by innodb_checksum_algorithm. innodb_checksum_algorithm=innodb is the same as innodb_checksums=ON (the default). innodb_checksum_algorithm=none is the same as innodb_checksums=OFF. Remove innodb_checksums options from your configuration files and startup scripts to avoid conflicts with innodb_checksum_algorithm: innodb_checksums=OFF automatically sets innodb_checksum_algorithm=none; innodb_checksums=ON is ignored and overridden by any other setting for innodb_checksum_algorithm.

innodb_cmp_per_index_enabled

Enables per-index compression-related statistics in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_CMP_PER_INDEX table. Because these statistics can be expensive to gather, only enable this option on development, test, or slave instances during performance tuning related to InnoDB compressed tables.

For more information, see Section 21.29.6, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA INNODB_CMP_PER_INDEX and INNODB_CMP_PER_INDEX_RESET Tables”, and Section 14.9.4, “Monitoring Compression at Runtime”.

innodb_commit_concurrency

The number of threads that can commit at the same time. A value of 0 (the default) permits any number of transactions to commit simultaneously.

The value of innodb_commit_concurrency cannot be changed at runtime from zero to nonzero or vice versa. The value can be changed from one nonzero value to another.

innodb_compression_failure_threshold_pct

Sets the cutoff point at which MySQL begins adding padding within compressed pages to avoid expensive compression failures. A value of zero disables the mechanism that monitors compression efficiency and dynamically adjusts the padding amount.

For more information, see Section 14.9.6, “Compression for OLTP Workloads”.

innodb_compression_level

Specifies the level of zlib compression to use for InnoDB compressed tables and indexes.

For more information, see Section 14.9.6, “Compression for OLTP Workloads”.

innodb_compression_pad_pct_max

Specifies the maximum percentage that can be reserved as free space within each compressed page, allowing room to reorganize the data and modification log within the page when a compressed table or index is updated and the data might be recompressed. Only applies when innodb_compression_failure_threshold_pct is set to a non-zero value, and the rate of compression failures passes the cutoff point.

For more information, see Section 14.9.6, “Compression for OLTP Workloads”.

innodb_concurrency_tickets

Determines the number of threads that can enter InnoDB concurrently. A thread is placed in a queue when it tries to enter InnoDB if the number of threads has already reached the concurrency limit. When a thread is permitted to enter InnoDB, it is given a number of “ tickets” equal to the value of innodb_concurrency_tickets, and the thread can enter and leave InnoDB freely until it has used up its tickets. After that point, the thread again becomes subject to the concurrency check (and possible queuing) the next time it tries to enter InnoDB. The default value is 5000 as of MySQL 5.6.6, 500 before that.

With a small innodb_concurrency_tickets value, small transactions that only need to process a few rows compete fairly with larger transactions that process many rows. The disadvantage of a small innodb_concurrency_tickets value is that large transactions must loop through the queue many times before they can complete, which extends the amount of time required to complete their task.

With a large innodb_concurrency_tickets value, large transactions spend less time waiting for a position at the end of the queue (controlled by innodb_thread_concurrency) and more time retrieving rows. Large transactions also require fewer trips through the queue to complete their task. The disadvantage of a large innodb_concurrency_tickets value is that too many large transactions running at the same time can starve smaller transactions by making them wait a longer time before executing.

With a non-zero innodb_thread_concurrency value, you may need to adjust the innodb_concurrency_tickets value up or down to find the optimal balance between larger and smaller transactions. The SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS report shows the number of tickets remaining for an executing transaction in its current pass through the queue. This data may also be obtained from the TRX_CONCURRENCY_TICKETS column of the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_TRX table.

For more information, see Section 14.6.6, “Configuring Thread Concurrency for InnoDB”.

innodb_data_file_path

Defines the path and file size for individual InnoDB system tablespace data files. The full directory path for system tablespace data files is formed by concatenating path defined by innodb_data_home_dir and innodb_data_file_path. File sizes are specified KB, MB or GB (1024MB) by appending K, M or G to the size value. If specifying the data file size in kilobytes (KB), do so in multiples of 1024. Otherwise, KB values are rounded to nearest megabyte (MB) boundary. The sum of the sizes of the files must be at least slightly larger than 10MB. If you do not specify innodb_data_file_path, the default behavior is to create a single auto-extending data file, slightly larger than 12MB, named ibdata1. The size limit of individual files is determined by your operating system. You can set the file size to more than 4GB on operating systems that support large files. You can also use raw disk partitions as data files. For more information about configuring system tablespace data files, see Section 14.6.1, “InnoDB Startup Configuration”.

innodb_data_home_dir

The common part of the directory path for InnoDB system tablespace data files. This setting does not affect the location of file-per-table tablespaces when innodb_file_per_table is enabled. The default value is the MySQL data directory. If you specify the value as an empty string, you can specify an absolute file paths for innodb_data_file_path.

For related information, see Section 14.6.1, “InnoDB Startup Configuration”.

innodb_disable_sort_file_cache

Disables the operating system file system cache for merge-sort temporary files. The effect is to open such files with the equivalent of O_DIRECT.

innodb_doublewrite

When enabled (the default), InnoDB stores all data twice, first to the doublewrite buffer, then to the actual data files. This variable can be turned off with --skip-innodb_doublewrite for benchmarks or cases when top performance is needed rather than concern for data integrity or possible failures.

For related information, see Section 14.4.7, “Doublewrite Buffer”.

innodb_fast_shutdown

The InnoDB shutdown mode. If the value is 0, InnoDB does a slow shutdown, a full purge and a change buffer merge before shutting down. If the value is 1 (the default), InnoDB skips these operations at shutdown, a process known as a fast shutdown. If the value is 2, InnoDB flushes its logs and shuts down cold, as if MySQL had crashed; no committed transactions are lost, but the crash recovery operation makes the next startup take longer.

The slow shutdown can take minutes, or even hours in extreme cases where substantial amounts of data are still buffered. Use the slow shutdown technique before upgrading or downgrading between MySQL major releases, so that all data files are fully prepared in case the upgrade process updates the file format.

Use innodb_fast_shutdown=2 in emergency or troubleshooting situations, to get the absolute fastest shutdown if data is at risk of corruption.

innodb_fil_make_page_dirty_debug

By default, setting innodb_fil_make_page_dirty_debug to the ID of a tablespace immediately dirties the first page of the tablespace. If innodb_saved_page_number_debug is set to a non-default value, setting innodb_fil_make_page_dirty_debug dirties the specified page. The innodb_fil_make_page_dirty_debug option is only available if debugging support is compiled in using the WITH_DEBUG CMake option.

innodb_file_format

Enables an InnoDB file format for file-per-table tablespaces. Supported file formats are Antelope and Barracuda. Antelope is the original InnoDB file format, which supports REDUNDANT and COMPACT row formats for InnoDB tables. Barracuda is the newer file format, which supports COMPRESSED and DYNAMIC row formats.

COMPRESSED and DYNAMIC row formats enable important storage features for InnoDB tables. See Section 14.11, “InnoDB Row Storage and Row Formats”.

To create tables that use COMPRESSED or DYNAMIC row format, the Barracuda file format and innodb_file_per_table must be enabled.

Changing the innodb_file_format setting does not affect the file format of existing InnoDB tablespace files.

For more information, see Section 14.10, “InnoDB File-Format Management”.

innodb_file_format_check

This variable can be set to 1 or 0 at server startup to enable or disable whether InnoDB checks the file format tag in the system tablespace (for example, Antelope or Barracuda). If the tag is checked and is higher than that supported by the current version of InnoDB, an error occurs and InnoDB does not start. If the tag is not higher, InnoDB sets the value of innodb_file_format_max to the file format tag.

For more information, see Section 14.10.2.1, “Compatibility Check When InnoDB Is Started”.

innodb_file_format_max

At server startup, InnoDB sets the value of this variable to the file format tag in the system tablespace (for example, Antelope or Barracuda). If the server creates or opens a table with a “higher” file format, it sets the value of innodb_file_format_max to that format.

For related information, see Section 14.10, “InnoDB File-Format Management”.

innodb_file_per_table

When innodb_file_per_table is enabled (the default), InnoDB stores the data and indexes for each newly created table in a separate .ibd file instead of the system tablespace. The storage for these tables is reclaimed when the tables are dropped or truncated. This setting enables InnoDBfeatures such as table compression. See Section 14.7.4, “InnoDB File-Per-Table Tablespaces” for more information.

Enabling innodb_file_per_table also means that an ALTER TABLE operation moves an InnoDB table from the system tablespace to an individual .ibd file in cases where ALTER TABLE rebuilds the table (ALGORITHM=COPY).

When innodb_file_per_table is disabled, InnoDB stores the data for tables and indexes in the ibdata files that make up the system tablespace. This setting reduces the performance overhead of file system operations for operations such as DROP TABLE or TRUNCATE TABLE. It is most appropriate for a server environment where entire storage devices are devoted to MySQL data. Because the system tablespace never shrinks, and is shared across all databases in an instance, avoid loading huge amounts of temporary data on a space-constrained system when innodb_file_per_table is disabled. Set up a separate instance in such cases, so that you can drop the entire instance to reclaim the space.

innodb_file_per_table is enabled by default as of MySQL 5.6.6. Consider disabling it if backward compatibility with MySQL 5.5 or 5.1 is a concern. This will prevent ALTER TABLE from moving InnoDB tables from the system tablespace to individual .ibd files.

innodb_file_per_table is dynamic and can be set ON or OFF using SET GLOBAL. You can also set this option in the MySQL configuration file (my.cnf or my.ini) but this requires shutting down and restarting the server.

Dynamically changing the value requires the SUPER privilege and immediately affects the operation of all connections.

innodb_flush_log_at_timeout

Write and flush the logs every N seconds. innodb_flush_log_at_timeout allows the timeout period between flushes to be increased in order to reduce flushing and avoid impacting performance of binary log group commit. Prior to the introduction of this configuration option, flushing frequency was once per second. The default setting for innodb_flush_log_at_timeout is also once per second.

innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit

Controls the balance between strict ACID compliance for commit operations and higher performance that is possible when commit-related I/O operations are rearranged and done in batches. You can achieve better performance by changing the default value but then you can lose up to a second of transactions in a crash.

For durability and consistency in a replication setup that uses InnoDB with transactions:

innodb_flush_method

Defines the method used to flush data to InnoDB data files and log files, which can affect I/O throughput. This variable is only configurable on Unix and Linux systems.

If innodb_flush_method is set to NULL on a Unix-like system, the fsync option is used by default. If innodb_flush_method is set to NULL on Windows, the async_unbuffered option is used by default.

If innodb_flush_method=NULL on a Unix-like system, the fdatasync option is used by default. If innodb_flush_method=NULL on Windows, the async_unbuffered option is used by default.

The innodb_flush_method options for Unix-like systems include:

The innodb_flush_method options for Windows systems include:

How each setting affects performance depends on hardware configuration and workload. Benchmark your particular configuration to decide which setting to use, or whether to keep the default setting. Examine the Innodb_data_fsyncs status variable to see the overall number of fsync() calls for each setting. The mix of read and write operations in your workload can affect how a setting performs. For example, on a system with a hardware RAID controller and battery-backed write cache, O_DIRECT can help to avoid double buffering between the InnoDB buffer pool and the operating system file system cache. On some systems where InnoDB data and log files are located on a SAN, the default value or O_DSYNC might be faster for a read-heavy workload with mostly SELECT statements. Always test this parameter with hardware and workload that reflect your production environment. For general I/O tuning advice, see Section 8.5.8, “Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O”.

innodb_flush_neighbors

Specifies whether flushing a page from the InnoDB buffer pool also flushes other dirty pages in the same extent.

When the table data is stored on a traditional HDD storage device, flushing such neighbor pages in one operation reduces I/O overhead (primarily for disk seek operations) compared to flushing individual pages at different times. For table data stored on SSD, seek time is not a significant factor and you can turn this setting off to spread out write operations. For related information, see Section 14.6.3.6, “Fine-tuning InnoDB Buffer Pool Flushing”.

innodb_flushing_avg_loops

Number of iterations for which InnoDB keeps the previously calculated snapshot of the flushing state, controlling how quickly adaptive flushing responds to changing workloads. Increasing the value makes the rate of flush operations change smoothly and gradually as the workload changes. Decreasing the value makes adaptive flushing adjust quickly to workload changes, which can cause spikes in flushing activity if the workload increases and decreases suddenly.

For related information, see Section 14.6.3.6, “Fine-tuning InnoDB Buffer Pool Flushing”.

innodb_force_load_corrupted

Permits InnoDB to load tables at startup that are marked as corrupted. Use only during troubleshooting, to recover data that is otherwise inaccessible. When troubleshooting is complete, disable this setting and restart the server.

innodb_force_recovery

The crash recovery mode, typically only changed in serious troubleshooting situations. Possible values are from 0 to 6. For the meanings of these values and important information about innodb_force_recovery, see Section 14.21.2, “Forcing InnoDB Recovery”.

innodb_ft_aux_table

Specifies the qualified name of an InnoDB table containing a FULLTEXT index. This variable is intended for diagnostic purposes and can only be set at runtime. For example:

SET GLOBAL innodb_ft_aux_table = 'test/t1';

Attempting to set this variable at startup will result in a “mysqld: option '--innodb-ft-aux-table' cannot take an argument” error and startup will abort. After you set this variable to a name in the format db_name/table_name, the INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables INNODB_FT_INDEX_TABLE, INNODB_FT_INDEX_CACHE, INNODB_FT_CONFIG, INNODB_FT_DELETED, and INNODB_FT_BEING_DELETED show information about the search index for the specified table.

For more information, see Section 14.15.4, “InnoDB INFORMATION_SCHEMA FULLTEXT Index Tables”.

innodb_ft_cache_size

The memory allocated, in bytes, for the InnoDB FULLTEXT search index cache, which holds a parsed document in memory while creating an InnoDB FULLTEXT index. Index inserts and updates are only committed to disk when the innodb_ft_cache_size size limit is reached. innodb_ft_cache_size defines the cache size on a per table basis. To set a global limit for all tables, see innodb_ft_total_cache_size.

For more information, see InnoDB Full-Text Index Cache.

innodb_ft_enable_diag_print

Whether to enable additional full-text search (FTS) diagnostic output. This option is primarily intended for advanced FTS debugging and will not be of interest to most users. Output is printed to the error log and includes information such as:

innodb_ft_enable_stopword

Specifies that a set of stopwords is associated with an InnoDB FULLTEXT index at the time the index is created. If the innodb_ft_user_stopword_table option is set, the stopwords are taken from that table. Else, if the innodb_ft_server_stopword_table option is set, the stopwords are taken from that table. Otherwise, a built-in set of default stopwords is used.

For more information, see Section 12.9.4, “Full-Text Stopwords”.

innodb_ft_max_token_size

Maximum character length of words that are stored in an

FULLTEXT index. Setting a limit on this value reduces the size of the index, thus speeding up queries, by omitting long keywords or arbitrary collections of letters that are not real words and are not likely to be search terms.

For more information, see Section 12.9.6, “Fine-Tuning MySQL Full-Text Search”.

innodb_ft_min_token_size

Minimum length of words that are stored in an InnoDB FULLTEXT index. Increasing this value reduces the size of the index, thus speeding up queries, by omitting common words that are unlikely to be significant in a search context, such as the English words “a” and “to”. For content using a CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) character set, specify a value of 1.

For more information, see Section 12.9.6, “Fine-Tuning MySQL Full-Text Search”.

innodb_ft_num_word_optimize

Number of words to process during each OPTIMIZE TABLE operation on an InnoDB FULLTEXT index. Because a bulk insert or update operation to a table containing a full-text search index could require substantial index maintenance to incorporate all changes, you might do a series of OPTIMIZE TABLE statements, each picking up where the last left off.

For more information, see Section 12.9.6, “Fine-Tuning MySQL Full-Text Search”.

innodb_ft_result_cache_limit

The InnoDB full-text search query result cache limit (defined in bytes) per full-text search query or per thread. Intermediate and final InnoDB full-text search query results are handled in memory. Use innodb_ft_result_cache_limit to place a size limit on the full-text search query result cache to avoid excessive memory consumption in case of very large InnoDB full-text search query results (millions or hundreds of millions of rows, for example). Memory is allocated as required when a full-text search query is processed. If the result cache size limit is reached, an error is returned indicating that the query exceeds the maximum allowed memory.

As of MySQL 5.6.17, the maximum value of innodb_ft_result_cache_limit for all platform types and bit sizes is 2**32-1.

innodb_ft_server_stopword_table

This option is used to specify your own InnoDB FULLTEXT index stopword list for all InnoDB tables. To configure your own stopword list for a specific InnoDB table, use innodb_ft_user_stopword_table.

Set innodb_ft_server_stopword_table to the name of the table containing a list of stopwords, in the format db_name/table_name.

The stopword table must exist before you configure innodb_ft_server_stopword_table. innodb_ft_enable_stopword must be enabled and innodb_ft_server_stopword_table option must be configured before you create the FULLTEXT index.

The stopword table must be an InnoDB table, containing a single VARCHAR column named value.

For more information, see Section 12.9.4, “Full-Text Stopwords”.

innodb_ft_sort_pll_degree

Number of threads used in parallel to index and tokenize text in an InnoDB FULLTEXT index when building a search index.

For related information, see Section 14.8.10, “InnoDB FULLTEXT Indexes”, and innodb_sort_buffer_size.

innodb_ft_total_cache_size

The total memory allocated, in bytes, for the InnoDB full-text search index cache for all tables. Creating numerous tables, each with a FULLTEXT search index, could consume a significant portion of available memory. innodb_ft_total_cache_size defines a global memory limit for all full-text search indexes to help avoid excessive memory consumption. If the global limit is reached by an index operation, a forced sync is triggered.

For more information, see InnoDB Full-Text Index Cache.

innodb_ft_user_stopword_table

This option is used to specify your own InnoDB FULLTEXT index stopword list on a specific table. To configure your own stopword list for all InnoDB tables, use innodb_ft_server_stopword_table.

Set innodb_ft_user_stopword_table to the name of the table containing a list of stopwords, in the format db_name/table_name.

The stopword table must exist before you configure innodb_ft_user_stopword_table. innodb_ft_enable_stopword must be enabled and innodb_ft_user_stopword_table must be configured before you create the FULLTEXT index.

The stopword table must be an InnoDB table, containing a single VARCHAR column named value.

For more information, see Section 12.9.4, “Full-Text Stopwords”.

innodb_io_capacity

The innodb_io_capacity parameter sets an upper limit on I/O activity performed by InnoDB background tasks, such as flushing pages from the buffer pool and merging data from the change buffer.

The innodb_io_capacity limit is a total limit for all buffer pool instances. When dirty pages are flushed, the limit is divided equally among buffer pool instances.

innodb_io_capacity should be set to approximately the number of I/O operations that the system can perform per second. Ideally, keep the setting as low as practical, but not so low that background activities fall behind. If the value is too high, data is removed from the buffer pool and insert buffer too quickly for caching to provide a significant benefit.

The default value is 200. For busy systems capable of higher I/O rates, you can set a higher value to help the server handle the background maintenance work associated with a high rate of row changes.

In general, you can increase the value as a function of the number of drives used for InnoDB I/O. For example, you can increase the value on systems that use multiple disks or solid-state disks (SSD).

The default setting of 200 is generally sufficient for a lower-end SSD. For a higher-end, bus-attached SSD, consider a higher setting such as 1000, for example. For systems with individual 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM drives, you might lower the value to 100, which represents an estimated proportion of the I/O operations per second (IOPS) available to older-generation disk drives that can perform about 100 IOPS.

Although you can specify a very high value such as one million, in practice such large values have little if any benefit. Generally, a value of 20000 or higher is not recommended unless you have proven that lower values are insufficient for your workload.

Consider write workload when tuning innodb_io_capacity. Systems with large write workloads are likely to benefit from a higher setting. A lower setting may be sufficient for systems with a small write workload.

You can set innodb_io_capacity to any number 100 or greater to a maximum defined by innodb_io_capacity_max. innodb_io_capacity can be set in the MySQL option file (my.cnf or my.ini) or changed dynamically using a SET GLOBAL statement, which requires the SUPER privilege.

See Section 14.6.8, “Configuring the InnoDB Master Thread I/O Rate” for more information. For general information about InnoDB I/O performance, see Section 8.5.8, “Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O”.

innodb_io_capacity_max