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5.2.3. System Variables

The mysql server maintains many system variables that indicate how it is configured. Each system variable has a default value. System variables can be set at server startup using options on the command line or in an option file. Most of them can be changed dynamically while the server is running by means of the SET statement, which enables you to modify operation of the server without having to stop and restart it. You can refer to system variable values in expressions.

There are several ways to see the names and values of system variables:

  • To see the values that a server will use based on its compiled-in defaults and any option files that it reads, use this command: 

    mysqld --verbose --help

  • To see the values that a server will use based on its compiled-in defaults, ignoring the settings in any option files, use this command: 

    mysqld --no-defaults --verbose --help

  • To see the current values used by a running server, use the SHOW VARIABLES statement.

This section provides a description of each system variable. Variables with no version indicated are present in all MySQL 5.1 releases. For historical information concerning their implementation, please see MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual and MySQL 3.23, 4.0, 4.1 Reference Manual.

For additional system variable information, see these sections:

Note: Some of the following variable descriptions refer to “enabling” or “disabling” a variable. These variables can be enabled with the SET statement by setting them to ON or 1, or disabled by setting them to OFF or 0. However, to set such a variable on the command line or in an option file, you must set it to 1 or 0; setting it to ON or OFF will not work. For example, on the command line, --delay_key_write=1 works but --delay_key_write=ON does not.

Values for buffer sizes, lengths, and stack sizes are given in bytes unless otherwise specified.

  • auto_increment_increment

    auto_increment_increment and auto_increment_offset are intended for use with master-to-master replication, and can be used to control the operation of AUTO_INCREMENT columns. Both variables can be set globally or locally, and each can assume an integer value between 1 and 65,535 inclusive. Setting the value of either of these two variables to 0 causes its value to be set to 1 instead. Attempting to set the value of either of these two variables to an integer greater than 65,535 or less than 0 causes its value to be set to 65,535 instead. Attempting to set the value of auto_increment_increment or auto_increment_offset to a non-integer value gives rise to an error, and the actual value of the variable remains unchanged.

    Important: auto_increment_increment and auto_increment_offset are not intended for use with MySQL Cluster replication. Attempting to set them in a Cluster replication scenario may give rise to unpredictable (and unrecoverable) errors. The use of these variables with Cluster replication is therefore not supported.

    These two variables affect AUTO_INCREMENT column behavior as follows:

    • auto_increment_increment controls the interval between successive column values. For example: 

      mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'auto_inc%';
+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name            | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| auto_increment_increment | 1     |
| auto_increment_offset    | 1     |
+--------------------------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> CREATE TABLE autoinc1
    -> (col INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY);
  Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.04 sec)

mysql> SET @@auto_increment_increment=10;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'auto_inc%';
+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name            | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| auto_increment_increment | 10    |
| auto_increment_offset    | 1     |
+--------------------------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.01 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO autoinc1 VALUES (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL);
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 4  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> SELECT col FROM autoinc1;
+-----+
| col |
+-----+
|   1 |
|  11 |
|  21 |
|  31 |
+-----+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

      (Note how SHOW VARIABLES is used here to obtain the current values for these variables.)

    • auto_increment_offset determines the starting point for the AUTO_INCREMENT column value. Consider the following, assuming that these statements are executed during the same session as the example given in the description for auto_increment_increment: 

      mysql> SET @@auto_increment_offset=5;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'auto_inc%';
+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name            | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| auto_increment_increment | 10    |
| auto_increment_offset    | 5     |
+--------------------------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> CREATE TABLE autoinc2
    -> (col INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.06 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO autoinc2 VALUES (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL);
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 4  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> SELECT col FROM autoinc2;
+-----+
| col |
+-----+
|   5 |
|  15 |
|  25 |
|  35 |
+-----+
4 rows in set (0.02 sec)

      If the value of auto_increment_offset is greater than that of auto_increment_increment, the value of auto_increment_offset is ignored.

    Should one or both of these variables be changed and then new rows inserted into a table containing an AUTO_INCREMENT column, the results may seem counterintuitive because the series of AUTO_INCREMENT values is calculated without regard to any values already present in the column, and the next value inserted is the least value in the series that is greater than the maximum existing value in the AUTO_INCREMENT column. In other words, the series is calculated like so:

    auto_increment_offset + N × auto_increment_increment

    where N is a positive integer value in the series [1, 2, 3, ...]. For example: 

    mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'auto_inc%';
+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name            | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| auto_increment_increment | 10    |
| auto_increment_offset    | 5     |
+--------------------------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT col FROM autoinc1;
+-----+
| col |
+-----+
|   1 |
|  11 |
|  21 |
|  31 |
+-----+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO autoinc1 VALUES (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL);
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 4  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> SELECT col FROM autoinc1;
+-----+
| col |
+-----+
|   1 |
|  11 |
|  21 |
|  31 |
|  35 |
|  45 |
|  55 |
|  65 |
+-----+
8 rows in set (0.00 sec)

    The values shown for auto_increment_increment and auto_increment_offset generate the series 5 + N × 10, that is, [5, 15, 25, 35, 45, ...]. The greatest value present in the col column prior to the INSERT is 31, and the next available value in the AUTO_INCREMENT series is 35, so the inserted values for col begin at that point and the results are as shown for the SELECT query.

    It is important to remember that it is not possible to confine the effects of these two variables to a single table, and thus they do not take the place of the sequences offered by some other database management systems; these variables control the behavior of all AUTO_INCREMENT columns in all tables on the MySQL server. If one of these variables is set globally, its effects persist until the global value is changed or overridden by setting them locally, or until mysqld is restarted. If set locally, the new value affects AUTO_INCREMENT columns for all tables into which new rows are inserted by the current user for the duration of the session, unless the values are changed during that session.

    The default value of auto_increment_increment is 1. See Auto-Increment in Multiple-Master Replication.

  • auto_increment_offset

    This variable has a default value of 1. For particulars, see the description for auto_increment_increment.

  • automatic_sp_privileges

    When this variable has a value of 1 (the default), the server automatically grants the EXECUTE and ALTER ROUTINE privileges to the creator of a stored routine, if the user cannot already execute and alter or drop the routine. (The ALTER ROUTINE privileges is required to drop the routine.) The server also automatically drops those privileges when the creator drops the routine. If automatic_sp_privileges is 0, the server does not automatically add and drop these privileges.

  • back_log

    The number of outstanding connection requests MySQL can have. This comes into play when the main MySQL thread gets very many connection requests in a very short time. It then takes some time (although very little) for the main thread to check the connection and start a new thread. The back_log value indicates how many requests can be stacked during this short time before MySQL momentarily stops answering new requests. You need to increase this only if you expect a large number of connections in a short period of time.

    In other words, this value is the size of the listen queue for incoming TCP/IP connections. Your operating system has its own limit on the size of this queue. The manual page for the Unix listen() system call should have more details. Check your OS documentation for the maximum value for this variable. back_log cannot be set higher than your operating system limit.

  • basedir

    The MySQL installation base directory. This variable can be set with the --basedir option.

  • binlog_cache_size

    The size of the cache to hold the SQL statements for the binary log during a transaction. A binary log cache is allocated for each client if the server supports any transactional storage engines and if the server has the binary log enabled (--log-bin option). If you often use large, multiple-statement transactions, you can increase this cache size to get more performance. The Binlog_cache_use and Binlog_cache_disk_use status variables can be useful for tuning the size of this variable. See Section 5.11.4, “The Binary Log”.

    MySQL Enterprise.  For recommendations on the optimum setting for binlog_cache_size subscribe to the MySQL Network Monitoring and Advisory Service. For more information see http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html.

  • binlog_format

    The binary logging format, either STATEMENT, ROW, or MIXED. binlog_format is set by the --binlog-format option at startup, or by the binlog_format variable at runtime (you need the SUPER privilege to set this variable on a global scope). See Section 6.1.2, “Replication Formats”. The startup variable was added in MySQL 5.1.5, and the runtime variable in MySQL 5.1.8. MIXED was added in MySQL 5.1.8.

    STATEMENT is used by default. If MIXED is specified, statement-based replication is used, too, except for cases where only row-based replication is guaranteed to lead to proper results. For example, this is the case when statements contain user-defined functions (UDF) or the UUID() function. An exception to this rule is that MIXED always uses statement-based replication for stored functions and triggers.

    There are exceptions when you cannot switch the replication format at runtime:

    • From within a stored function or a trigger.

    • If NDB is enabled.

    • If the session is currently in row-based replication mode and has open temporary tables.

    Trying to switch the format in those cases results in an error.

    Before MySQL 5.1.8, switching to row-based replication format would implicitly set --log-bin-trust-function-creators=1 and --innodb_locks_unsafe_for_binlog. MySQL 5.1.8 and later no longer implicitly set these options when row-based replication is used.

  • bulk_insert_buffer_size

    MyISAM uses a special tree-like cache to make bulk inserts faster for INSERT ... SELECT, INSERT ... VALUES (...), (...), ..., and LOAD DATA INFILE when adding data to non-empty tables. This variable limits the size of the cache tree in bytes per thread. Setting it to 0 disables this optimization. The default value is 8MB.

  • character_set_client

    The character set for statements that arrive from the client.

  • character_set_connection

    The character set used for literals that do not have a character set introducer and for number-to-string conversion.

  • character_set_database

    The character set used by the default database. The server sets this variable whenever the default database changes. If there is no default database, the variable has the same value as character_set_server.

  • character_set_filesystem

    The filesystem character set. This variable is used to interpret string literals that refer to filenames, such as in the LOAD DATA INFILE and SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE statements and the LOAD_FILE() function. Such filenames are converted from character_set_client to character_set_filesystem before the file opening attempt occurs. The default value is binary, which means that no conversion occurs. For systems on which multi-byte filenames are allowed, a different value may be more appropriate. For example, if the system represents filenames using UTF-8, set character_set_filesytem to 'utf8'. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.6.

  • character_set_results

    The character set used for returning query results to the client.

  • character_set_server

    The server's default character set.

  • character_set_system

    The character set used by the server for storing identifiers. The value is always utf8.

  • character_sets_dir

    The directory where character sets are installed.

  • collation_connection

    The collation of the connection character set.

  • collation_database

    The collation used by the default database. The server sets this variable whenever the default database changes. If there is no default database, the variable has the same value as collation_server.

  • collation_server

    The server's default collation.

  • completion_type

    The transaction completion type:

    • If the value is 0 (the default), COMMIT and ROLLBACK are unaffected.

    • If the value is 1, COMMIT and ROLLBACK are equivalent to COMMIT AND CHAIN and ROLLBACK AND CHAIN, respectively. (A new transaction starts immediately with the same isolation level as the just-terminated transaction.)

    • If the value is 2, COMMIT and ROLLBACK are equivalent to COMMIT RELEASE and ROLLBACK RELEASE, respectively. (The server disconnects after terminating the transaction.)

  • concurrent_insert

    If 1 (the default), MySQL allows INSERT and SELECT statements to run concurrently for MyISAM tables that have no free blocks in the middle of the data file. You can turn this option off by starting mysqld with --safe or --skip-new.

    This variable can take three integer values:

    Value Description
    0 Off
    1 (Default) Enables concurrent insert for MyISAM tables that don't have holes
    2 Enables concurrent inserts for all MyISAM tables, even those that have holes. For a table with a hole, new rows are inserted at the end of the table if it is in use by another thread. Otherwise, MySQL acquires a normal write lock and inserts the row into the hole.

    See also Section 7.3.3, “Concurrent Inserts”.

  • connect_timeout

    The number of seconds that the mysqld server waits for a connect packet before responding with Bad handshake.

  • datadir

    The MySQL data directory. This variable can be set with the --datadir option.

  • date_format

    This variable is not implemented.

  • datetime_format

    This variable is not implemented.

  • default_week_format

    The default mode value to use for the WEEK() function. See Section 12.6, “Date and Time Functions”.

  • delay_key_write

    This option applies only to MyISAM tables. It can have one of the following values to affect handling of the DELAY_KEY_WRITE table option that can be used in CREATE TABLE statements.

    Option Description
    OFF DELAY_KEY_WRITE is ignored.
    ON MySQL honors any DELAY_KEY_WRITE option specified in CREATE TABLE statements. This is the default value.
    ALL All new opened tables are treated as if they were created with the DELAY_KEY_WRITE option enabled.

    If DELAY_KEY_WRITE is enabled for a table, the key buffer is not flushed for the table on every index update, but only when the table is closed. This speeds up writes on keys a lot, but if you use this feature, you should add automatic checking of all MyISAM tables by starting the server with the --myisam-recover option (for example, --myisam-recover=BACKUP,FORCE). See Section 5.2.2, “Command Options”, and Section 14.4.1, “MyISAM Startup Options”.

    Note that if you enable external locking with --external-locking, there is no protection against index corruption for tables that use delayed key writes.

  • delayed_insert_limit

    After inserting delayed_insert_limit delayed rows, the INSERT DELAYED handler thread checks whether there are any SELECT statements pending. If so, it allows them to execute before continuing to insert delayed rows.

  • delayed_insert_timeout

    How many seconds an INSERT DELAYED handler thread should wait for INSERT statements before terminating.

  • delayed_queue_size

    This is a per-table limit on the number of rows to queue when handling INSERT DELAYED statements. If the queue becomes full, any client that issues an INSERT DELAYED statement waits until there is room in the queue again.

  • div_precision_increment

    This variable indicates the number of digits of precision by which to increase the result of division operations performed with the / operator. The default value is 4. The minimum and maximum values are 0 and 30, respectively. The following example illustrates the effect of increasing the default value. 

    mysql> SELECT 1/7;
+--------+
| 1/7    |
+--------+
| 0.1429 |
+--------+
mysql> SET div_precision_increment = 12;
mysql> SELECT 1/7;
+----------------+
| 1/7            |
+----------------+
| 0.142857142857 |
+----------------+

  • event_scheduler

    This variable indicates the status of the Event Scheduler; as of MySQL 5.1.12, possible values are ON, OFF, and DISABLED, with the default being OFF. This variable and its effects on the Event Scheduler's operation are discussed in greater detail in the Overview section of the Events chapter.

    This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.6.

  • engine_condition_pushdown

    This variable applies to NDB. By default it is 0 (OFF): If you execute a query such as SELECT * FROM t WHERE mycol = 42, where mycol is a non-indexed column, the query is executed as a full table scan on every NDB node. Each node sends every row to the MySQL server, which applies the WHERE condition. If engine_condition_pushdown is set to 1 (ON), the condition is “pushed down” to the storage engine and sent to the NDB nodes. Each node uses the condition to perform the scan, and only sends back to the MySQL server the rows that match the condition.

  • expire_logs_days

    The number of days for automatic binary log removal. The default is 0, which means “no automatic removal.” Possible removals happen at startup and at binary log rotation.

  • flush

    If ON, the server flushes (synchronizes) all changes to disk after each SQL statement. Normally, MySQL does a write of all changes to disk only after each SQL statement and lets the operating system handle the synchronizing to disk. See Section B.1.4.2, “What to Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing”. This variable is set to ON if you start mysqld with the --flush option.

  • flush_time

    If this is set to a non-zero value, all tables are closed every flush_time seconds to free up resources and synchronize unflushed data to disk. We recommend that this option be used only on Windows 9x or Me, or on systems with minimal resources.

  • ft_boolean_syntax

    The list of operators supported by boolean full-text searches performed using IN BOOLEAN MODE. See Section 12.8.1, “Boolean Full-Text Searches”.

    The default variable value is '+ -><()~*:""&|'. The rules for changing the value are as follows:

    • Operator function is determined by position within the string.

    • The replacement value must be 14 characters.

    • Each character must be an ASCII non-alphanumeric character.

    • Either the first or second character must be a space.

    • No duplicates are allowed except the phrase quoting operators in positions 11 and 12. These two characters are not required to be the same, but they are the only two that may be.

    • Positions 10, 13, and 14 (which by default are set to ‘:’, ‘&’, and ‘|’) are reserved for future extensions.

  • ft_max_word_len

    The maximum length of the word to be included in a FULLTEXT index.

    Note: FULLTEXT indexes must be rebuilt after changing this variable. Use REPAIR TABLE tbl_name QUICK.

  • ft_min_word_len

    The minimum length of the word to be included in a FULLTEXT index.

    Note: FULLTEXT indexes must be rebuilt after changing this variable. Use REPAIR TABLE tbl_name QUICK.

  • ft_query_expansion_limit

    The number of top matches to use for full-text searches performed using WITH QUERY EXPANSION.

  • ft_stopword_file

    The file from which to read the list of stopwords for full-text searches. All the words from the file are used; comments are not honored. By default, a built-in list of stopwords is used (as defined in the storage/myisam/ft_static.c file). Setting this variable to the empty string ('') disables stopword filtering.

    Note: FULLTEXT indexes must be rebuilt after changing this variable or the contents of the stopword file. Use REPAIR TABLE tbl_name QUICK.

  • general_log

    Whether the general query log is enabled. The value can be 0 (or OFF) to disable the log or 1 (or ON) to enable the log. The default value depends on whether the --log option is given. The destination for log output is controlled by the log_output system variable; if that value is NONE, no log entries are written even if the log is enabled. The general_log variable was added in MySQL 5.1.12.

  • general_log_file

    The name of the general query log file. The default value is host_name.log, but the initial value can be changed with the --log option. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.12.

  • group_concat_max_len

    The maximum allowed result length for the GROUP_CONCAT() function. The default is 1024.

  • have_archive

    YES if mysqld supports ARCHIVE tables, NO if not.

  • have_blackhole_engine

    YES if mysqld supports BLACKHOLE tables, NO if not.

  • have_compress

    YES if the zlib compression library is available to the server, NO if not. If not, the COMPRESS() and UNCOMPRESS() functions cannot be used.

  • have_crypt

    YES if the crypt() system call is available to the server, NO if not. If not, the ENCRYPT() function cannot be used.

  • have_csv

    YES if mysqld supports ARCHIVE tables, NO if not.

  • have_dynamic_loading

    YES if mysqld supports dynamic loading of plugins, NO if not. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.10.

  • have_example_engine

    YES if mysqld supports EXAMPLE tables, NO if not.

    have_federated_engine

    YES if mysqld supports FEDERATED tables, NO if not.

  • have_geometry

    YES if the server supports spatial data types, NO if not.

  • have_innodb

    YES if mysqld supports InnoDB tables. DISABLED if --skip-innodb is used.

  • have_ndbcluster

    YES if mysqld supports NDB Cluster tables. DISABLED if --skip-ndbcluster is used.

  • have_partitioning

    YES if mysqld supports partitioning. Added in MySQL 5.1.1 as have_partition_engine and renamed to have_partioning in 5.1.6.

  • have_openssl

    YES if mysqld supports SSL connections, NO if not.

  • have_query_cache

    YES if mysqld supports the query cache, NO if not.

  • have_row_based_replication

    YES if the server can perform replication using row-based binary logging. If the value is NO, the server can use only statement-based logging. See Section 6.1.2, “Replication Formats”. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.5. This variable was removed in 5.1.15.

  • have_rtree_keys

    YES if RTREE indexes are available, NO if not. (These are used for spatial indexes in MyISAM tables.)

  • have_symlink

    YES if symbolic link support is enabled, NO if not. This is required on Unix for support of the DATA DIRECTORY and INDEX DIRECTORY table options, and on Windows for support of data directory symlinks.

  • hostname

    The server sets this variable to the server hostname at startup. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.17.

  • init_connect

    A string to be executed by the server for each client that connects. The string consists of one or more SQL statements. To specify multiple statements, separate them by semicolon characters. For example, each client begins by default with autocommit mode enabled. There is no global system variable to specify that autocommit should be disabled by default, but init_connect can be used to achieve the same effect: 

    SET GLOBAL init_connect='SET AUTOCOMMIT=0';

    This variable can also be set on the command line or in an option file. To set the variable as just shown using an option file, include these lines: 

    [mysqld]
init_connect='SET AUTOCOMMIT=0'

    Note that the content of init_connect is not executed for users that have the SUPER privilege. This is done so that an erroneous value for init_connect does not prevent all clients from connecting. For example, the value might contain a statement that has a syntax error, thus causing client connections to fail. Not executing init_connect for users that have the SUPER privilege enables them to open a connection and fix the init_connect value.

  • init_file

    The name of the file specified with the --init-file option when you start the server. This should be a file containing SQL statements that you want the server to execute when it starts. Each statement must be on a single line and should not include comments.

    Note that the --init-file option is unavailable if MySQL was configured with the --disable-grant-options option. See Section 2.9.2, “Typical configure Options”.

  • init_slave

    This variable is similar to init_connect, but is a string to be executed by a slave server each time the SQL thread starts. The format of the string is the same as for the init_connect variable.

  • innodb_xxx

    InnoDB system variables are listed in Section 14.5.4, “InnoDB Startup Options and System Variables”.

  • interactive_timeout

    The number of seconds the server waits for activity on an interactive connection before closing it. An interactive client is defined as a client that uses the CLIENT_INTERACTIVE option to mysql_real_connect(). See also wait_timeout.

  • join_buffer_size

    The size of the buffer that is used for joins that do not use indexes and thus perform full table scans. Normally, the best way to get fast joins is to add indexes. Increase the value of join_buffer_size to get a faster full join when adding indexes is not possible. One join buffer is allocated for each full join between two tables. For a complex join between several tables for which indexes are not used, multiple join buffers might be necessary.

  • key_buffer_size

    Index blocks for MyISAM tables are buffered and are shared by all threads. key_buffer_size is the size of the buffer used for index blocks. The key buffer is also known as the key cache.

    The maximum allowable setting for key_buffer_size is 4GB. The effective maximum size might be less, depending on your available physical RAM and per-process RAM limits imposed by your operating system or hardware platform.

    Increase the value to get better index handling (for all reads and multiple writes) to as much as you can afford. Using a value that is 25% of total memory on a machine that mainly runs MySQL is quite common. However, if you make the value too large (for example, more than 50% of your total memory) your system might start to page and become extremely slow. MySQL relies on the operating system to perform filesystem caching for data reads, so you must leave some room for the filesystem cache. Consider also the memory requirements of other storage engines.

    For even more speed when writing many rows at the same time, use LOCK TABLES. See Section 7.2.17, “Speed of INSERT Statements”.

    You can check the performance of the key buffer by issuing a SHOW STATUS statement and examining the Key_read_requests, Key_reads, Key_write_requests, and Key_writes status variables. (See Section 13.5.4, “SHOW Syntax”.) The Key_reads/Key_read_requests ratio should normally be less than 0.01. The Key_writes/Key_write_requests ratio is usually near 1 if you are using mostly updates and deletes, but might be much smaller if you tend to do updates that affect many rows at the same time or if you are using the DELAY_KEY_WRITE table option.

    The fraction of the key buffer in use can be determined using key_buffer_size in conjunction with the Key_blocks_unused status variable and the buffer block size, which is available from the key_cache_block_size system variable: 

    1 - ((Key_blocks_unused × key_cache_block_size) / key_buffer_size)

    This value is an approximation because some space in the key buffer may be allocated internally for administrative structures.

    It is possible to create multiple MyISAM key caches. The size limit of 4GB applies to each cache individually, not as a group. See Section 7.4.6, “The MyISAM Key Cache”.

  • key_cache_age_threshold

    Name key_cache_age_threshold
    Description This characterizes the number of hits a hot block has to be untouched until it is considered aged enough to be downgraded to a warm block. This specifies the percentage ratio of that number of hits to the total number of blocks in key cache
    Option Sets Variable Yes, key_cache_age_threshold
    Variable Name key_cache_age_threshold
    Variable Scope Server
    Dynamic Variable yes
    Value Set
    Type numeric
    Default 300
    Min Value 100

    This value controls the demotion of buffers from the hot sub-chain of a key cache to the warm sub-chain. Lower values cause demotion to happen more quickly. The minimum value is 100. The default value is 300. See Section 7.4.6, “The MyISAM Key Cache”.

  • key_cache_block_size

    The size in bytes of blocks in the key cache. The default value is 1024. See Section 7.4.6, “The MyISAM Key Cache”.

  • key_cache_division_limit

    The division point between the hot and warm sub-chains of the key cache buffer chain. The value is the percentage of the buffer chain to use for the warm sub-chain. Allowable values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 100. See Section 7.4.6, “The MyISAM Key Cache”.

  • language

    The language used for error messages.

  • large_file_support

    Whether mysqld was compiled with options for large file support.

  • large_pages

    Whether large page support is enabled.

  • lc_time_names

    This variable specifies the locale that controls the language used to display day and month names and abbreviations. This variable affects the output from the DATE_FORMAT(), DAYNAME() and MONTHNAME() functions. Locale names are POSIX-style values such as 'ja_JP' or 'pt_BR'. The default value is 'en_US' regardless of your system's locale setting. For further information, see Section 5.10.9, “MySQL Server Locale Support”. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.12.

  • license

    The type of license the server has.

  • local_infile

    Whether LOCAL is supported for LOAD DATA INFILE statements. See Section 5.6.4, “Security Issues with LOAD DATA LOCAL”.

  • locked_in_memory

    Whether mysqld was locked in memory with --memlock.

  • log

    Whether logging of all statements to the general query log is enabled. See Section 5.11.3, “The General Query Log”.

  • log_bin

    Whether the binary log is enabled. See Section 5.11.4, “The Binary Log”.

  • log_bin_trust_function_creators

    This variable applies when binary logging is enabled. It controls whether stored function creators can be trusted not to create stored functions that will cause unsafe events to be written to the binary log. If set to 0 (the default), users are not allowed to create or alter stored routines unless they have the SUPER privilege in addition to the CREATE ROUTINE or ALTER ROUTINE privilege. A setting of 0 also enforces the restriction that a function must be declared with the DETERMINISTIC characteristic, or with the READS SQL DATA or NO SQL characteristic. If the variable is set to 1, MySQL does not enforce these restrictions on stored function creation. See Section 18.4, “Binary Logging of Stored Routines and Triggers”.

  • log_error

    The location of the error log.

  • log_output

    The destination for general query log and slow query log output. The value can be a comma-separated list of one or more of the words TABLE (log to tables), FILE (log to files), or NONE (do not log to tables or files). The default value is TABLE. NONE, if present, takes precedence over any other specifiers. If the value is NONE log entries are not written even if the logs are enabled. If the logs are not enabled, no logging occurs even if the value of log_output is not NONE. For more information, see Section 5.11.1, “Selecting General Query and Slow Query Log Output Destinations”. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.6.

  • log_queries_not_using_indexes

    Whether queries that do not use indexes are logged to the slow query log. See Section 5.11.5, “The Slow Query Log”. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.11.

  • log_slave_updates

    Whether updates received by a slave server from a master server should be logged to the slave's own binary log. Binary logging must be enabled on the slave for this variable to have any effect. See Section 6.1.3, “Replication Options and Variables”.

  • log_slow_queries

    Whether slow queries should be logged. “Slow” is determined by the value of the long_query_time variable. See Section 5.11.5, “The Slow Query Log”.

  • log_warnings

    Whether to produce additional warning messages. It is enabled (1) by default and can be disabled by setting it to 0. Aborted connections are not logged to the error log unless the value is greater than 1.

  • long_query_time

    If a query takes longer than this many seconds, the server increments the Slow_queries status variable. If you are using the --log-slow-queries option, the query is logged to the slow query log file. This value is measured in real time, not CPU time, so a query that is under the threshold on a lightly loaded system might be above the threshold on a heavily loaded one. The minimum value is 1. The default is 10. See Section 5.11.5, “The Slow Query Log”.

  • low_priority_updates

    If set to 1, all INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and LOCK TABLE WRITE statements wait until there is no pending SELECT or LOCK TABLE READ on the affected table. This variable previously was named sql_low_priority_updates.

  • lower_case_file_system

    This variable describes the case sensitivity of filenames on the filesystem where the data directory is located. OFF means filenames are case sensitive, ON means they are not case sensitive.

  • lower_case_table_names

    If set to 1, table names are stored in lowercase on disk and table name comparisons are not case sensitive. If set to 2 table names are stored as given but compared in lowercase. This option also applies to database names and table aliases. See Section 9.2.2, “Identifier Case Sensitivity”.

    If you are using InnoDB tables, you should set this variable to 1 on all platforms to force names to be converted to lowercase.

    You should not set this variable to 0 if you are running MySQL on a system that does not have case-sensitive filenames (such as Windows or Mac OS X). If this variable is not set at startup and the filesystem on which the data directory is located does not have case-sensitive filenames, MySQL automatically sets lower_case_table_names to 2.

  • max_allowed_packet

    The maximum size of one packet or any generated/intermediate string.

    The packet message buffer is initialized to net_buffer_length bytes, but can grow up to max_allowed_packet bytes when needed. This value by default is small, to catch large (possibly incorrect) packets.

    You must increase this value if you are using large BLOB columns or long strings. It should be as big as the largest BLOB you want to use. The protocol limit for max_allowed_packet is 1GB.

  • max_binlog_cache_size

    If a multiple-statement transaction requires more than this many bytes of memory, the server generates a Multi-statement transaction required more than 'max_binlog_cache_size' bytes of storage error. The minimum value is 4096, the maximum and default values are 4GB.

  • max_binlog_size

    If a write to the binary log causes the current log file size to exceed the value of this variable, the server rotates the binary logs (closes the current file and opens the next one). You cannot set this variable to more than 1GB or to less than 4096 bytes. The default value is 1GB.

    A transaction is written in one chunk to the binary log, so it is never split between several binary logs. Therefore, if you have big transactions, you might see binary logs larger than max_binlog_size.

    If max_relay_log_size is 0, the value of max_binlog_size applies to relay logs as well.

  • max_connect_errors

    If there are more than this number of interrupted connections from a host, that host is blocked from further connections. You can unblock blocked hosts with the FLUSH HOSTS statement.

  • max_connections

    The number of simultaneous client connections allowed. By default, this is 150, beginning with MySQL 5.1.15. (Previously, the default was 100.) See Section B.1.2.6, “Too many connections”, for more information.

    MySQL Enterprise.  For notification that the maximum number of connections is getting dangerously high and for advice on setting the optimum value for max_connections subscribe to the MySQL Network Monitoring and Advisory Service. For more information see http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html.

    Increasing this value increases the number of file descriptors that mysqld requires. See Section 7.4.8, “How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables”, for comments on file descriptor limits.

  • max_delayed_threads

    Do not start more than this number of threads to handle INSERT DELAYED statements. If you try to insert data into a new table after all INSERT DELAYED threads are in use, the row is inserted as if the DELAYED attribute wasn't specified. If you set this to 0, MySQL never creates a thread to handle DELAYED rows; in effect, this disables DELAYED entirely.

  • max_error_count

    The maximum number of error, warning, and note messages to be stored for display by the SHOW ERRORS and SHOW WARNINGS statements.

  • max_heap_table_size

    This variable sets the maximum size to which MEMORY tables are allowed to grow. The value of the variable is used to calculate MEMORY table MAX_ROWS values. Setting this variable has no effect on any existing MEMORY table, unless the table is re-created with a statement such as CREATE TABLE or altered with ALTER TABLE or TRUNCATE TABLE.

    MySQL Enterprise.  Subscribers to the MySQL Network Monitoring and Advisory Service receive recommendations for the optimum setting for max_heap_table_size. For more information see http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html.

  • max_insert_delayed_threads

    This variable is a synonym for max_delayed_threads.

  • max_join_size

    Do not allow SELECT statements that probably need to examine more than max_join_size rows (for single-table statements) or row combinations (for multiple-table statements) or that are likely to do more than max_join_size disk seeks. By setting this value, you can catch SELECT statements where keys are not used properly and that would probably take a long time. Set it if your users tend to perform joins that lack a WHERE clause, that take a long time, or that return millions of rows.

    Setting this variable to a value other than DEFAULT resets the value of SQL_BIG_SELECTS to 0. If you set the SQL_BIG_SELECTS value again, the max_join_size variable is ignored.

    If a query result is in the query cache, no result size check is performed, because the result has previously been computed and it does not burden the server to send it to the client.

    This variable previously was named sql_max_join_size.

  • max_length_for_sort_data

    The cutoff on the size of index values that determines which filesort algorithm to use. See Section 7.2.12, “ORDER BY Optimization”.

  • max_prepared_stmt_count

    This variable limits the total number of prepared statements in the server. It can be used in environments where there is the potential for denial-of-service attacks based on running the server out of memory by preparing huge numbers of statements. The default value is 16382. The allowable range of values is from 0 to 1 million. If the value is set lower than the current number of prepared statements, existing statements are not affected and can be used, but no new statements can be prepared until the current number drops below the limit. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.10.

  • max_relay_log_size

    If a write by a replication slave to its relay log causes the current log file size to exceed the value of this variable, the slave rotates the relay logs (closes the current file and opens the next one). If max_relay_log_size is 0, the server uses max_binlog_size for both the binary log and the relay log. If max_relay_log_size is greater than 0, it constrains the size of the relay log, which enables you to have different sizes for the two logs. You must set max_relay_log_size to between 4096 bytes and 1GB (inclusive), or to 0. The default value is 0. See Section 6.4.1, “Replication Implementation Details”.

  • max_seeks_for_key

    Limit the assumed maximum number of seeks when looking up rows based on a key. The MySQL optimizer assumes that no more than this number of key seeks are required when searching for matching rows in a table by scanning an index, regardless of the actual cardinality of the index (see Section 13.5.4.17, “SHOW INDEX Syntax”). By setting this to a low value (say, 100), you can force MySQL to prefer indexes instead of table scans.

  • max_sort_length

    The number of bytes to use when sorting BLOB or TEXT values. Only the first max_sort_length bytes of each value are used; the rest are ignored.

  • max_sp_recursion_depth

    The number of times that a stored procedure may call itself. The default value for this option is 0, which completely disallows recursion in stored procedures. The maximum value is 255.

    This variable can be set globally and per session.

  • max_tmp_tables

    The maximum number of temporary tables a client can keep open at the same time. (This option does not yet do anything.)

  • max_user_connections

    The maximum number of simultaneous connections allowed to any given MySQL account. A value of 0 means “no limit.”

    This variable has both a global scope and a (read-only) session scope. The session variable has the same value as the global variable unless the current account has a non-zero MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS resource limit. In that case, the session value reflects the account limit.

  • max_write_lock_count

    After this many write locks, allow some pending read lock requests to be processed in between.

  • multi_range_count

    The maximum number of ranges to send to a table handler at once during range selects. The default value is 256. Sending multiple ranges to a handler at once can improve the performance of certain selects dramatically. This especially true for the NDB Cluster table handler, which needs to send the range requests to all nodes. Sending a batch of those requests at once reduces the communication costs significantly.

  • myisam_block_size

    The block size to be used for MyISAM index pages.

  • myisam_data_pointer_size

    The default pointer size in bytes, to be used by CREATE TABLE for MyISAM tables when no MAX_ROWS option is specified. This variable cannot be less than 2 or larger than 7. The default value is 6. See Section B.1.2.11, “The table is full”.

  • myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size (DEPRECATED)

    Note: This variable is not supported in MySQL 5.1. See MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual for more information.

  • myisam_max_sort_file_size

    The maximum size of the temporary file that MySQL is allowed to use while re-creating a MyISAM index (during REPAIR TABLE, ALTER TABLE, or LOAD DATA INFILE). If the file size would be larger than this value, the index is created using the key cache instead, which is slower. The value is given in bytes.

    The default value is 2GB. If MyISAM index files exceed this size and disk space is available, increasing the value may help performance.

  • myisam_recover_options

    The value of the --myisam-recover option. See Section 5.2.2, “Command Options”.

  • myisam_repair_threads

    If this value is greater than 1, MyISAM table indexes are created in parallel (each index in its own thread) during the Repair by sorting process. The default value is 1.

    Note: Multi-threaded repair is still beta-quality code.

  • myisam_sort_buffer_size

    The size of the buffer that is allocated when sorting MyISAM indexes during a REPAIR TABLE or when creating indexes with CREATE INDEX or ALTER TABLE.

  • myisam_stats_method

    How the server treats NULL values when collecting statistics about the distribution of index values for MyISAM tables. This variable has two possible values, nulls_equal and nulls_unequal. For nulls_equal, all NULL index values are considered equal and form a single value group that has a size equal to the number of NULL values. For nulls_unequal, NULL values are considered unequal, and each NULL forms a distinct value group of size 1.

    The method that is used for generating table statistics influences how the optimizer chooses indexes for query execution, as described in Section 7.4.7, “MyISAM Index Statistics Collection”.

  • myisam_use_mmap

    Use memory mapping for reading and writing MyISAM tables. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.4.

  • multi_read_range

    Specifies the maximum number of ranges to send to a storage engine during range selects. The default value is 256. Sending multiple ranges to an engine is a feature that can improve the performance of certain selects dramatically, particularly for NDBCLUSTER. This engine needs to send the range requests to all nodes, and sending many of those requests at once reduces the communication costs significantly.

  • named_pipe

    (Windows only.) Indicates whether the server supports connections over named pipes.

  • ndb_autoincrement_prefetch_sz

    Determines the probability of gaps in an autoincremented column. Set to 1 to minimize this. Set to a high value for optimization — makes inserts faster, but decreases the likelihood that consecutive autoincrement numbers will be used in a batch of inserts. Default value: 32. Mimimum value: 1.

  • ndb_cache_check_time

    The number of milliseconds to wait before checking the NDB query cache. Setting this to 0 (the default and minimum value) means that the NDB query cache will be checked for validation on every query.

    The recommended maximum value for this variable is 1000, which means that the query cache is checked once per second. A larger value means the NDB query cache is less often checked and invalidated due to updates on a different mysqld. It is generally not desirable to set this to a value greater than 2000.

  • ndb_extra_logging

    This variable can be set to a non-zero value to enable extra NDB logging for debugging or troubleshooting purposes. The default value is 0.

    This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.6.

  • ndb_force_send

    Forces sending of buffers to NDB immediately, without waiting for other threads. Defaults to ON.

  • ndb_index_stat_cache_entries

    Sets the granularity of the statistics by determining the number of starting and ending keys to store in the statistics memory cache. Zero means no caching takes place; in this case, the data nodes are always queried directly. Default value: 32.

  • ndb_index_stat_enable

    Use NDB index statistics in query optimization. Defaults to ON.

  • ndb_index_stat_update_freq

    How often to query data nodes instead of the statistics cache. For example, a value of 20 (the default) means to direct every 20th query to the data nodes.

  • ndb_report_thresh_binlog_epoch_slip

    This is a threshold on the number of epochs to be behind before reporting binlog status. For example, a value of 3 (the default) means that if the difference between which epoch has been received from the storage nodes and which epoch has been applied to the binlog is 3 or more, a status message will be sent to the cluster log.

  • ndb_report_thresh_binlog_mem_usage

    This is a threshold on the percentage of free memory remaining before reporting binlog status. For example, a value of 10 (the default) means that if the amount of available memory for receiving binlog data from the data nodes falls below 10%, a status message will be sent to the cluster log.

  • ndb_use_copying_alter_table

    Forces NDB to use copying of tables in the event of problems with online ALTER TABLE operations. The default value is OFF.

    This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.12.

  • ndb_use_exact_count

    Forces NDB to use a count of records during SELECT COUNT(*) query planning to speed up this type of query. The default value is ON. For faster queries overall, disable this feature by setting the value of ndb_use_exact_count to OFF.

  • ndb_use_transactions

    You can disable NDB transaction support by setting this variable's values to OFF (not recommended). The default is ON.

  • net_buffer_length

    Each client thread is associated with a connection buffer and result buffer. Both begin with a size given by net_buffer_length but are dynamically enlarged up to max_allowed_packet bytes as needed. The result buffer shrinks to net_buffer_length after each SQL statement.

    This variable should not normally be changed, but if you have very little memory, you can set it to the expected length of statements sent by clients. If statements exceed this length, the connection buffer is automatically enlarged. The maximum value to which net_buffer_length can be set is 1MB.

  • net_read_timeout

    The number of seconds to wait for more data from a connection before aborting the read. This timeout applies only to TCP/IP connections, not to connections made via Unix socket files, named pipes, or shared memory. When the server is reading from the client, net_read_timeout is the timeout value controlling when to abort. When the server is writing to the client, net_write_timeout is the timeout value controlling when to abort. See also slave_net_timeout.

  • net_retry_count

    If a read on a communication port is interrupted, retry this many times before giving up. This value should be set quite high on FreeBSD because internal interrupts are sent to all threads.

  • net_write_timeout

    The number of seconds to wait for a block to be written to a connection before aborting the write. This timeout applies only to TCP/IP connections, not to connections made via Unix socket files, named pipes, or shared memory. See also net_read_timeout.

  • new

    This variable was used in MySQL 4.0 to turn on some 4.1 behaviors, and is retained for backward compatibility. In MySQL 5.1, its value is always OFF.

  • old

    old is a compatibility variable. It is disabled by default, but can be enabled at startup to revert the server to behaviors present in older versions.

    Currently, when old is enabled, it changes the default scope of index hints to that used prior to MySQL 5.1.17. That is, index hints with no FOR clause apply only to how indexes are used for row retrieval and not to resolution of ORDER BY or GROUP BY clauses. (See Section 13.2.7.2, “Index Hint Syntax”.) Take care about enabling this in a replication setup. With statement-based binary logging, having different modes for the master and slaves might lead to replication errors.

    This variable was added as old_mode in MySQL 5.1.17 and renamed to old in MySQL 5.1.18.

  • old_passwords

    Whether the server should use pre-4.1-style passwords for MySQL user accounts. See Section B.1.2.3, “Client does not support authentication protocol”.

  • one_shot

    This is not a variable, but it can be used when setting some variables. It is described in Section 13.5.3, “SET Syntax”.

  • open_files_limit

    The number of files that the operating system allows mysqld to open. This is the real value allowed by the system and might be different from the value you gave using the --open-files-limit option to mysqld or mysqld_safe. The value is 0 on systems where MySQL can't change the number of open files.

  • optimizer_prune_level

    Controls the heuristics applied during query optimization to prune less-promising partial plans from the optimizer search space. A value of 0 disables heuristics so that the optimizer performs an exhaustive search. A value of 1 causes the optimizer to prune plans based on the number of rows retrieved by intermediate plans.

  • optimizer_search_depth

    The maximum depth of search performed by the query optimizer. Values larger than the number of relations in a query result in better query plans, but take longer to generate an execution plan for a query. Values smaller than the number of relations in a query return an execution plan quicker, but the resulting plan may be far from being optimal. If set to 0, the system automatically picks a reasonable value. If set to the maximum number of tables used in a query plus 2, the optimizer switches to the algorithm used in MySQL 5.0.0 (and previous versions) for performing searches.

  • pid_file

    The pathname of the process ID (PID) file. This variable can be set with the --pid-file option.

  • plugin_dir

    The pathname of the plugins directory. This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.2.

  • port

    The number of the port on which the server listens for TCP/IP connections. This variable can be set with the --port option.

  • preload_buffer_size

    The size of the buffer that is allocated when preloading indexes.

  • prepared_stmt_count

    The current number of prepared statements. (The maximum number of statements is given by the max_prepared_stmt_count system variable.) This variable was added in MySQL 5.1.10. In MySQL 5.1.14, it was converted to the global Prepared_stmt_count status variable.

  • protocol_version

    The version of the client/server protocol used by the MySQL server.

  • query_alloc_block_size

    The allocation size of memory blocks that are allocated for objects created during statement parsing and execution. If you have problems with memory fragmentation, it might help to increase this a bit.

  • query_cache_limit

    Don't cache results that are larger than this number of bytes. The default value is 1MB.

  • query_cache_min_res_unit

    The minimum size (in bytes) for blocks allocated by the query cache. The default value is 4096 (4KB). Tuning information for this variable is given in Section 5.13.3, “Query Cache Configuration”.

  • query_cache_size

    The amount of memory allocated for caching query results. The default value is 0, which disables the query cache. The allowable values are multiples of 1024; other values are rounded down to the nearest multiple. Note that query_cache_size bytes of memory are allocated even if query_cache_type is set to 0. See Section 5.13.3, “Query Cache Configuration”, for more information.

  • query_cache_type

    Set the query cache type. Setting the GLOBAL value sets the type for all clients that connect thereafter. Individual clients can set the SESSION value to affect their own use of the query cache. Possible values are shown in the following table:

    Option Description
    0 or OFF Don't cache results in or retrieve results from the query cache. Note that this does not deallocate the query cache buffer. To do that, you should set query_cache_size to 0.
    1 or ON Cache all query results except for those that begin with SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE.
    2 or DEMAND Cache results only for queries that begin with SELECT SQL_CACHE.

    This variable defaults to ON.

  • query_cache_wlock_invalidate

    Normally, when one client acquires a WRITE lock on a MyISAM table, other clients are not blocked from issuing statements that read from the table if the query results are present in the query cache. Setting this variable to 1 causes acquisition of a WRITE lock for a table to invalidate any queries in the query cache that refer to the table. This forces other clients that attempt to access the table to wait while the lock is in effect.

  • query_prealloc_size

    The size of the persistent buffer used for statement parsing and execution. This buffer is not freed between statements. If you are running complex queries, a larger query_prealloc_size value might be helpful in improving performance, because it can reduce the need for the server to perform memory allocation during query execution operations.

  • range_alloc_block_size

    The size of blocks that are allocated when doing range optimization.

  • read_buffer_size

    Each thread that does a sequential scan allocates a buffer of this size (in bytes) for each table it scans. If you do many sequential scans, you might want to increase this value, which defaults to 131072.

    read_buffer_size and read_rnd_buffer_size are not specific to any storage engine and apply in a general manner for optimization. See Section 7.5.5, “How MySQL Uses Memory”, for example.

  • read_only

    When this variable is set to ON, the server allows no updates except from users that have the SUPER privilege or (on a slave server) from updates performed by slave threads. On a slave server, this can be useful to ensure that the slave accepts updates only from its master server and not from clients. This variable does not apply to TEMPORARY tables.

    read_only exists only as a GLOBAL variable, so changes to its value require the SUPER privilege. Changes to read_only on a master server are not replicated to slave servers. The value can be set on a slave server independent of the setting on the master.

    As of MySQL 5.1.15, the following conditions apply:

    • If you attempt to enable read_only while you have any explicit locks (acquired with LOCK TABLES or have a pending transaction, an error will occur.

    • If other clients hold explicit table lock