Database Insights

Deploy PMM to get deep MySQL and PostgreSQL visibility — query analytics, dashboards, and alerting in one tool

MySQL's EXPLAIN command reveals exactly how the query optimizer plans to execute your SQL — which indexes it will use, how many rows it expects to examine, and where it may sort or create temporary tables.

A production guide to online MySQL schema changes — when to use pt-online-schema-change vs gh-ost vs MySQL 8.0 INSTANT DDL, configuration parameters, the cutover mechanism, and a step-by-step safety playbook.

GTIDs eliminate manual binlog position tracking in MySQL replication. This guide covers enabling GTIDs, CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_AUTO_POSITION, and failover.

Configure MySQL timeout variables correctly for your workload. Learn wait_timeout, interactive_timeout, lock_wait_timeout, and net_read_timeout best practices.

Deep dive into InnoDB storage engine internals. Understand buffer pool, redo log, undo log, change buffer, and adaptive hash index for expert-level MySQL optimization.

Optimize MySQL connection management for maximum throughput. Learn connection pooling with HikariCP, ProxySQL load balancing, and thread pool configuration.

A production guide to MySQL slow query log — enabling with long_query_time and log_queries_not_using_indexes, analyzing with pt-query-digest, reading EXPLAIN output, and fixing full table scans and N+1 loops.

MySQL 8.0 finally supports true descending indexes — eliminating the filesort that MySQL 5.7 required when sorting results in descending order. Here's how descending indexes work and when to add them.

Build fault-tolerant MySQL clusters with Group Replication. Learn multi-primary vs single-primary modes, conflict resolution, network partitioning handling, and failover strategies.

Most MySQL maintenance tasks still rely on cron, but systemd timers offer better logging, dependency management, and failure handling. Here's how to convert your MySQL maintenance scripts to systemd services.

Avoid these common MySQL configuration mistakes that cripple performance. Learn proper buffer pool sizing, connection limits, and InnoDB settings for production workloads.