When table data is cached in the InnoDB buffer pool, it can be processed over and over by queries without requiring any disk I/O. Specify the size of the buffer pool with the innodb_buffer_pool_size option. This memory area is important enough that busy databases often specify a size approximately 80% of the amount of of physical memory. For more information, see Section 7.9.1, “The InnoDB Buffer Pool”.

In some versions of GNU/Linux and Unix, flushing files to disk with the Unix fsync() call (which InnoDB uses by default) and similar methods is surprisingly slow. If database write performance is an issue, conduct benchmarks with the innodb_flush_method parameter set to O_DSYNC.

When using the InnoDB storage engine on Solaris 10 for x86_64 architecture (AMD Opteron), use direct I/O for InnoDB-related files, to avoid degradation of InnoDB performance. To use direct I/O for an entire UFS file system used for storing InnoDB-related files, mount it with the forcedirectio option; see mount_ufs(1M). (The default on Solaris 10/x86_64 is not to use this option.) To apply direct I/O only to InnoDB file operations rather than the whole filesystem, set innodb_flush_method = O_DIRECT. With this setting, InnoDB calls directio() instead of fcntl() for I/O to data files (not for I/O to log files).

When using the InnoDB storage engine with a large innodb_buffer_pool_size value on any release of Solaris 2.6 and up and any platform (sparc/x86/x64/amd64), conduct benchmarks with InnoDB data files and log files on raw devices or on a separate direct I/O UFS file system, using the forcedirectio mount option as described earlier. (It is necessary to use the mount option rather than setting innodb_flush_method if you want direct I/O for the log files.) Users of the Veritas file system VxFS should use the convosync=direct mount option.

Do not place other MySQL data files, such as those for MyISAM tables, on a direct I/O file system. Executables or libraries must not be placed on a direct I/O file system.

If you have additional storage devices available to set up a RAID configuration or symbolic links to different disks, Section 7.11.3, “Optimizing Disk I/O” for additional low-level I/O tips.