I have a query that is returning in vastly different amounts of time between 2 datasets. For one set (database A) it returns in a few seconds, for the other (database B)....well I haven't waited long enough yet, but over 10 minutes. I have dumped both of these databases to my local machine where I can reproduce the issue running MySQL 5.1.37.
Curiously, database B is smaller than database A.
A stripped down version of the query that reproduces the problem is:
SELECT * FROM po_shipment ps
JOIN po_shipment_item psi USING (ship_id)
JOIN po_alloc pa ON ps.ship_id = pa.ship_id AND pa.UID_items = psi.UID_items
JOIN po_header ph ON pa.hdr_id = ph.hdr_id
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev0 ON ev0.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev0.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS0'
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev1 ON ev1.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev1.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS1'
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev2 ON ev2.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev2.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS2'
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev3 ON ev3.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev3.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS3'
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev4 ON ev4.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev4.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS4'
LEFT JOIN EVENT_TABLE ev5 ON ev5.TABLE_ID1 = ps.ship_id AND ev5.EVENT_TYPE = 'MAS5'
WHERE ps.eta >= '2010-03-22'
GROUP BY ps.ship_id
LIMIT 100;
The EXPLAIN query plan for the first database (A) that returns in ~2 seconds is:
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
| id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
| 1 | SIMPLE | ps | range | PRIMARY,IX_ETA_DATE | IX_ETA_DATE | 4 | NULL | 174 | Using where; Using temporary; Using filesort |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev0 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev1 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev2 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev3 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev4 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev5 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | psi | ref | PRIMARY,IX_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1,FK_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1 | IX_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1 | 4 | UNIVIS_PROD.ps.ship_id | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | pa | ref | IX_po_alloc_po_shipment_item2,IX_po_alloc_po_details_old,FK_po_alloc_po_shipment1,FK_po_alloc_po_shipment_item1,FK_po_alloc_po_header1 | FK_po_alloc_po_shipment1 | 4 | UNIVIS_PROD.psi.ship_id | 5 | Using where |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ph | eq_ref | PRIMARY,IX_HDR_ID | PRIMARY | 4 | UNIVIS_PROD.pa.hdr_id | 1 | |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
The EXPLAIN query plan for the second database (B) that returns in 600 seconds is:
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+--------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
| id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+--------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
| 1 | SIMPLE | ps | range | PRIMARY,IX_ETA_DATE | IX_ETA_DATE | 4 | NULL | 38 | Using where; Using temporary; Using filesort |
| 1 | SIMPLE | psi | ref | PRIMARY,IX_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1,FK_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1 | IX_po_shipment_item_po_shipment1 | 4 | UNIVIS_DEV01.ps.ship_id | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev0 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.psi.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev1 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.psi.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev2 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev3 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.psi.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev4 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.psi.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ev5 | ref | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | IX_EVENT_ID_EVENT_TYPE | 36 | UNIVIS_DEV01.ps.ship_id,const | 1 | |
| 1 | SIMPLE | pa | ref | IX_po_alloc_po_shipment_item2,IX_po_alloc_po_details_old,FK_po_alloc_po_shipment1,FK_po_alloc_po_shipment_item1,FK_po_alloc_po_header1 | IX_po_alloc_po_shipment_item2 | 4 | UNIVIS_DEV01.ps.ship_id | 4 | Using where |
| 1 | SIMPLE | ph | eq_ref | PRIMARY,IX_HDR_ID | PRIMARY | 4 | UNIVIS_DEV01.pa.hdr_id | 1 | |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------+---------+--------------------------------+------+----------------------------------------------+
When database B is running I can look at the MySQL Administrator and the state remains at "Copying to tmp table" indefinitely. Database A also has this state but for only a second or so.
There are no differences in the table structure, indexes, keys etc between these databases (I have done show create tables and diff'd them).
The sizes of the tables are:
database A:
po_shipment 1776
po_shipment_item 1945
po_alloc 36298
po_header 71642
EVENT_TABLE 1608
database B:
po_shipment 463
po_shipment_item 470
po_alloc 3291
po_header 56149
EVENT_TABLE 1089
Some points to note:
Removing the WHERE clause makes the
query return < 1 sec.
Removing the GROUP BY makes the query
return < 1 sec.
Removing ev5, ev4, ev3 etc makes the
query get faster for each one
removed.
Can anyone suggest how to resolve this issue? What have I missed?
Many Thanks.
