Tuning your MySQL server

You can do three things to make your MySQL server faster, from least effective to most effective:

1. Throw hardware at the problem.
2. Tune the settings of the MySQL process.
3. Optimize your queries.

Throwing hardware at a problem is often the first thought, especially because databases are resource hogs. This solution can only take you so far, though. In practical terms, you can usually double your central processing unit (CPU) or disk speed, and maybe increase your memory by a factor of 4 or 8.

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