The way the database engine physically stores data can be optimized by adhering to the MySQL partitioning best practices. Bobcares can solve your MySQL storage concerns with our MySQL Support Service.

MySQL Partitioning: Best Practices

MySQL Partitioning: MySQL partitioning optimizes the way the database engine physically stores data. We can accomplish this by distributing table data/partitions across the file system according to a set of user-defined rules.

MySQL Partitions divides a table’s contents into smaller tables that are in multiple locations. Using specific rules, this method distributes sections of the original table’s contents to distinct locations in a file system. This optimizes the use of storage capacity. Furthermore, even after the partitions, the data will appear to be in a single table from the user’s perspective.

Partitioning Function refers to the rule used to partition data. Some typical Partitioning Functions that we may use to separate the data according to the requirement are modulus, linear, and so on. Partitioning shortens the time it takes to process a query, as the query processes only a fraction of table data.

MySQL Partitioning is very important when handling large data sets. However, with small data sets, partitioning is insignificant. Some of the benefits of Partitioning are:

• Able to store more data in one table compared to a single disk or file system partition.
• Deleting a useless partition is easy compared to executing the classical DELETE query.
• With Partition Pruning, it can exclude non-matching partitions and their data from a search, thus making increased performance.

Best Practices to follow:

1. Try to find a natural partition key when implementing MySQL Partitions. This ensures that table look-ups return the right partition when queried. So, in order to prevent the storage engine from querying all partitions in a non-concurrent UNION, every SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE commands should contain that natural key (column) in the WHERE clause.
2. Form a composite primary key by combining the partition key and the auto-increment. This prevents secondary indexes from growing and using store space.
3. Use RANGE and HASH Partitions depending on the stored data and intended output. When we have a set of known IDs in each table, the RANGE Partitions is ideal. It will make querying across partition IDs easier. However, if we want to add fresh data to the partition, HASH Partitions are the best option. This allows to balance the incoming data load and write to partitions more concurrently.

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Conclusion

Following best practices while MySQL partitioning is an effective way to optimize the storage space. In this article, we provide some of the methods to follow during MySQL partitioning provided by our Support team.