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MySQL: Set Cache Size

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In MySQL, you can set the cache size for different types of caches to improve performance. Here are the steps to set the cache size:

  1. Open the MySQL configuration file my.cnf in a text editor.

    sudo nano /etc/my.cnf

  2. Find the section for the cache you want to set the size for. For example, the key_buffer_size parameter is used to set the size of the key buffer cache.

    [mysqld]
key_buffer_size = 256M

  3. Set the cache size by specifying the amount of memory in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. In the example above, the key buffer cache size is set to 256 megabytes.
  4. Save the my.cnf file and restart the MySQL server for the changes to take effect.

    sudo systemctl restart mysql

rnHere are some other caches that can be set in the my.cnf file:
  • query_cache_size: The size of the query cache in bytes. This cache stores the results of SELECT queries for faster access.
  • innodb_buffer_pool_size: The size of the InnoDB buffer pool in bytes. This cache stores data and indexes for InnoDB tables for faster access.
  • table_open_cache: The number of open tables for all threads. This cache is used to reduce the number of file openings for repeated queries.
  • thread_cache_size: The number of threads that can be cached for reuse. This cache is used to reduce the number of new threads created for each connection.
rnBy setting appropriate cache sizes, you can optimize the performance of your MySQL server. However, keep in mind that setting the cache sizes too high may cause memory usage issues, so it's important to monitor the system performance after making changes to the cache size.