Daniel Nichter - Efficient MySQL Performance

• 2021-06-29: First Release
• 2021-07-19: Second Release
• 2021-08-19: Third Release
• 2021-09-15: Fourth Release

With Early Release ebooks, you get books in their earliest formthe authors raw and unedited content as they writeso you can take advantage of these technologies long before the official release of these titles.

This will be the Preface of the final book.

If you have comments about how we might improve the content and/or examples in this book, or if you notice missing material within this chapter, please reach out to the ccollins@oreilly.com.

A gap in MySQL literature exists between basic MySQL knowledge and advanced MySQL performance.There are several books about the former, and one book about the latter: High Performance MySQL, also published by OReilly.This is the first and only book to bridge the gap.

The gap exists because MySQL is complex, and its difficult to teach performance without addressing that complexitythe proverbial elephant in the room.But engineers using (not managing) MySQL should not need to become MySQL experts to achieve remarkable MySQL performance.To bridge the gap, this book is unapologetically efficientpay no attention to the elephant; its friendly.

Efficient MySQL performance means focus: learning and applying only the best practices and techniques that directly effect remarkable MySQL performance.That focus dramatically narrows the scope of MySQL complexity and allows me to show you a much simpler and faster path through the vast and complex field of MySQL performance.The journey begins with the title and first sentence of : performance is query response time.From there, we move fast through indexes, data, access patterns, and a lot more.

On a scale of one to fivewhere one is an introduction for anyone, and five is a deep dive for aspiring expertsthis book ranges from three to four: deep, but far from the bottom.I presume that youre an experienced engineer who has basic knowledge and experience with a relational database (MySQL or otherwise), so I do not explain SQL or database fundamentals.I presume that youre an accomplished programmer who is responsible for one or more application that uses MySQL, so I continually reference the application and trust that you know the details of your application.I also presume that youre familiar with computers in general, so I talk freely about hardware, software, networks, and so forth.

Since this book focuses on MySQL performance for engineers using MySQL, not managing it, a few references to MySQL configuration are made when necessary but not explained.For help configuring MySQL, ask a DBA where you work.If you dont have a DBA, hire a MySQL consultant: there are many great consults with affordable contract options.And you can learn by reading the MySQL Reference Manual.The MySQL manual is superb, and experts use it all the time, so youre in good company.