Optimizing MySQL: Hardware and the Mysqld Variables

Part 1 – Compiling MySQL

Like a grand prix driver starting at the back of the track, if
you don’t do things well from the beginning, and prepare hard for
the race, it doesn’t matter how well you do once the race has
started. You’re at the back and are never going to win. So, with
MySQL, it’s extremely
important to start off on the right foot, and that means
compiling MySQL properly. The specific options you use depends on
your setup of course, but here are some pointers to get you
started.

• Firstly, compile statically (–static). This requires more
  disk space, but runs faster (13% on Linux, according to MySQL
  themselves)
• Optimize to the highest level possible (-O3 with gcc)
• Compile without debug (–without-debug). This runs 20-35% faster.
• Compile without frame pointers. (-fomit-frame-pointer). This
  is from 1-4% faster.
• Compile with only the minimum character sets that you need
  (e.g. –with-extra- charsets=none)

Here’s a sample configuration I’ve seen work well:

	CFLAGS="-mcpu=i686 -march=i686 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" 
./configure 
        --prefix=/usr/local/build/mysql 
        --with-mysqld-user=mysql 
        --without-debug 
        --with-client-ldflags=-all-static 
        --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static 
        --disable-shared 
        --localstatedir=/usr/local/build/mysql/var 
        --with-extra-charsets=none 
        --enable-assembler

Note that if you’re using a Pentium processor, using pgcc seems
to give better results than gcc. There have been problems with
pgcc and AMD processors though. For a list of complete gcc
options, run:

man gcc

Taking the time to compile as well as possible for your setup is
worth it. After all, you’ll probably only do this once, but it
can hamstring your server for life if you get it wrong (it’s not
fun recompiling after your server is setup and running!)