Spec-Zone .ru
спецификации, руководства, описания, API

8.9.1. The InnoDB Buffer Pool

InnoDB maintains a storage area called the buffer pool for caching data and indexes in memory. Knowing how the InnoDB buffer pool works, and taking advantage of it to keep frequently accessed data in memory, is an important aspect of MySQL tuning.

Guidelines

Ideally, you set the size of the buffer pool to as large a value as practical, leaving enough memory for other processes on the server to run without excessive paging. The larger the buffer pool, the more InnoDB acts like an in-memory database, reading data from disk once and then accessing the data from memory during subsequent reads. The buffer pool even caches data changed by insert and update operations, so that disk writes can be grouped together for better performance.

Depending on the typical workload on your system, you might adjust the proportions of the parts within the buffer pool. You can tune the way the buffer pool chooses which blocks to cache once it fills up, to keep frequently accessed data in memory despite sudden spikes of activity for operations such as backups or reporting.

With 64-bit systems with large memory sizes, you can split the buffer pool into multiple parts, to minimize contention for the memory structures among concurrent operations. For details, see Section 14.2.4.2.27, "Improvements to Performance from Multiple Buffer Pools".

Internal Details

InnoDB manages the pool as a list, using a variation of the least recently used (LRU) algorithm. When room is needed to add a new block to the pool, InnoDB evicts the least recently used block and adds the new block to the middle of the list. This "midpoint insertion strategy" treats the list as two sublists:

This algorithm keeps blocks that are heavily used by queries in the new sublist. The old sublist contains less-used blocks; these blocks are candidates for eviction.

The LRU algorithm operates as follows by default:

By default, blocks read by queries immediately move into the new sublist, meaning they will stay in the buffer pool for a long time. A table scan (such as performed for a mysqldump operation, or a SELECT statement with no WHERE clause) can bring a large amount of data into the buffer pool and evict an equivalent amount of older data, even if the new data is never used again. Similarly, blocks that are loaded by the read-ahead background thread and then accessed only once move to the head of the new list. These situations can push frequently used blocks to the old sublist, where they become subject to eviction.

Configuration Options

Several InnoDB system variables control the size of the buffer pool and let you tune the LRU algorithm:

Setting innodb_old_blocks_time greater than 0 prevents one-time table scans from flooding the new sublist with blocks used only for the scan. Rows in a block read in for a scan are accessed many times in rapid succession, but the block is unused after that. If innodb_old_blocks_time is set to a value greater than time to process the block, the block remains in the "old" sublist and ages to the tail of the list to be evicted quickly. This way, blocks used only for a one-time scan do not act to the detriment of heavily used blocks in the new sublist.

innodb_old_blocks_time can be set at runtime, so you can change it temporarily while performing operations such as table scans and dumps:

SET GLOBAL innodb_old_blocks_time = 1000;... perform
        queries that scan tables ...SET GLOBAL innodb_old_blocks_time = 0;

This strategy does not apply if your intent is to "warm up" the buffer pool by filling it with a table's content. For example, benchmark tests often perform a table or index scan at server startup, because that data would normally be in the buffer pool after a period of normal use. In this case, leave innodb_old_blocks_time set to 0, at least until the warmup phase is complete.

Monitoring the Buffer Pool

The output from the InnoDB Standard Monitor contains several fields in the BUFFER POOL AND MEMORY section that pertain to operation of the buffer pool LRU algorithm:

The young-making rate and not rate will not normally add up to the overall buffer pool hit rate. Hits for blocks in the old sublist cause them to move to the new sublist, but hits to blocks in the new sublist cause them to move to the head of the list only if they are a certain distance from the head.

The preceding information from the Monitor can help you make LRU tuning decisions:

Note

Per second averages provided in InnoDB Monitor output are based on the elapsed time between the current time and the last time InnoDB Monitor output was printed.

For more information about InnoDB Monitors, see Section 14.2.4.4, "SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS and the InnoDB Monitors".