MySQL supports creation and management of resource groups, and permits assigning threads running within the server to particular groups so that threads execute according to the resources available to the group. Group attributes enable control over its resources, to enable or restrict resource consumption by threads in the group. DBAs can modify these attributes as appropriate for different workloads.
Currently, CPU time is a manageable resource, represented by the concept of “virtual CPU” as a term that includes CPU cores, hyperthreads, hardware threads, and so forth. The server determines at startup how many virtual CPUs are available, and database administrators with appropriate privileges can associate these CPUs with resource groups and assign threads to groups.
For example, to manage execution of batch jobs that need not
execute with high priority, a DBA can create a
Batch
resource group, and adjust its priority
up or down depending on how busy the server is. (Perhaps batch
jobs assigned to the group should run at lower priority during the
day and at higher priority during the night.) The DBA can also
adjust the set of CPUs available to the group. Groups can be
enabled or disabled to control whether threads are assignable to
them.
The following sections describe aspects of resource group use in MySQL:
On some platforms or MySQL server configurations, resource groups are unavailable or have limitations. In particular, Linux systems might require a manual step for some installation methods. For details, see Resource Group Restrictions.
These capabilities provide the SQL interface for resource group management in MySQL:
SQL statements enable creating, altering, and dropping resource groups, and enable assigning threads to resource groups. An optimizer hint enables assigning individual statements to resource groups.
Resource group privileges provide control over which users can perform resource group operations.
The Information Schema
RESOURCE_GROUPS
table exposes information about resource group definitions and the Performance Schemathreads
table shows the resource group assignment for each thread.Status variables provide execution counts for each management SQL statement.
Resource groups have attributes that define the group. All attributes can be set at group creation time. Some attributes are fixed at creation time; others can be modified any time thereafter.
These attributes are defined at resource group creation time and cannot be modified:
Each group has a name. Resource group names are identifiers like table and column names, and need not be quoted in SQL statements unless they contain special characters or are reserved words. Group names are not case-sensitive and may be up to 64 characters long.
Each group has a type, which is either
SYSTEM
orUSER
. The resource group type affects the range of priority values assignable to the group, as described later. This attribute together with the differences in permitted priorities enables system threads to be identified so as to protect them from contention for CPU resources against user threads.System and user threads correspond to background and foreground threads as listed in the Performance Schema
threads
table.
These attributes are defined at resource group creation time and can be modified any time thereafter:
The CPU affinity is the set of virtual CPUs the resource group can use. An affinity can be any nonempty subset of the available CPUs. If a group has no affinity, it can use all available CPUs.
The thread priority is the execution priority for threads assigned to the resource group. Priority values range from -20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority). The default priority is 0, for both system and user groups.
System groups are permitted a higher priority than user groups, ensuring that user threads never have a higher priority than system threads:
For system resource groups, the permitted priority range is -20 to 0.
For user resource groups, the permitted priority range is 0 to 19.
Each group can be enabled or disabled, affording administrators control over thread assignment. Threads can be assigned only to enabled groups.
By default, there is one system group and one user group, named
SYS_default
and
USR_default
, respectively. These default
groups cannot be dropped and their attributes cannot be
modified. Each default group has no CPU affinity and priority 0.
Newly created system and user threads are assigned to the
SYS_default
and
USR_default
groups, respectively.
For user-defined resource groups, all attributes are assigned at group creation time. After a group has been created, its attributes can be modified, with the exception of the name and type attributes.
To create and manage user-defined resource groups, use these SQL statements:
CREATE RESOURCE GROUP
creates a new group. See Section 15.7.2.2, “CREATE RESOURCE GROUP Statement”.ALTER RESOURCE GROUP
modifies an existing group. See Section 15.7.2.1, “ALTER RESOURCE GROUP Statement”.DROP RESOURCE GROUP
drops an existing group. See Section 15.7.2.3, “DROP RESOURCE GROUP Statement”.
Those statements require the
RESOURCE_GROUP_ADMIN
privilege.
To manage resource group assignments, use these capabilities:
SET RESOURCE GROUP
assigns threads to a group. See Section 15.7.2.4, “SET RESOURCE GROUP Statement”.The
RESOURCE_GROUP
optimizer hint assigns individual statements to a group. See Section 10.9.3, “Optimizer Hints”.
Those operations require the
RESOURCE_GROUP_ADMIN
or
RESOURCE_GROUP_USER
privilege.
Resource group definitions are stored in the
resource_groups
data dictionary table so that
groups persist across server restarts. Because
resource_groups
is part of the data
dictionary, it is not directly accessible by users. Resource
group information is available using the Information Schema
RESOURCE_GROUPS
table, which is
implemented as a view on the data dictionary table. See
Section 28.3.26, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA RESOURCE_GROUPS Table”.
Initially, the RESOURCE_GROUPS
table has these rows describing the default groups:
mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.RESOURCE_GROUPS\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME: USR_default
RESOURCE_GROUP_TYPE: USER
RESOURCE_GROUP_ENABLED: 1
VCPU_IDS: 0-3
THREAD_PRIORITY: 0
*************************** 2. row ***************************
RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME: SYS_default
RESOURCE_GROUP_TYPE: SYSTEM
RESOURCE_GROUP_ENABLED: 1
VCPU_IDS: 0-3
THREAD_PRIORITY: 0
The THREAD_PRIORITY
values are 0, indicating
the default priority. The VCPU_IDS
values
show a range comprising all available CPUs. For the default
groups, the displayed value varies depending on the system on
which the MySQL server runs.
Earlier discussion mentioned a scenario involving a resource
group named Batch
to manage execution of
batch jobs that need not execute with high priority. To create
such a group, use a statement similar to this:
CREATE RESOURCE GROUP Batch
TYPE = USER
VCPU = 2-3 -- assumes a system with at least 4 CPUs
THREAD_PRIORITY = 10;
To verify that the resource group was created as expected, check
the RESOURCE_GROUPS
table:
mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.RESOURCE_GROUPS
WHERE RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME = 'Batch'\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME: Batch
RESOURCE_GROUP_TYPE: USER
RESOURCE_GROUP_ENABLED: 1
VCPU_IDS: 2-3
THREAD_PRIORITY: 10
If the THREAD_PRIORITY
value is 0 rather than
10, check whether your platform or system configuration limits
the resource group capability; see
Resource Group Restrictions.
To assign a thread to the Batch
group, do
this:
SET RESOURCE GROUP Batch FOR thread_id;
Thereafter, statements in the named thread execute with
Batch
group resources.
If a session's own current thread should be in the
Batch
group, execute this statement within
the session:
SET RESOURCE GROUP Batch;
Thereafter, statements in the session execute with
Batch
group resources.
To execute a single statement using the Batch
group, use the RESOURCE_GROUP
optimizer hint:
INSERT /*+ RESOURCE_GROUP(Batch) */ INTO t2 VALUES(2);
Threads assigned to the Batch
group execute
with its resources, which can be modified as desired:
For times when the system is highly loaded, decrease the number of CPUs assigned to the group, lower its priority, or (as shown) both:
ALTER RESOURCE GROUP Batch VCPU = 3 THREAD_PRIORITY = 19;
For times when the system is lightly loaded, increase the number of CPUs assigned to the group, raise its priority, or (as shown) both:
ALTER RESOURCE GROUP Batch VCPU = 0-3 THREAD_PRIORITY = 0;
Resource group management is local to the server on which it
occurs. Resource group SQL statements and modifications to the
resource_groups
data dictionary table are not
written to the binary log and are not replicated.
On some platforms or MySQL server configurations, resource groups are unavailable or have limitations:
Resource groups are unavailable if the thread pool plugin is installed.
Resource groups are unavailable on macOS, which provides no API for binding CPUs to a thread.
On FreeBSD and Solaris, resource group thread priorities are ignored. (Effectively, all threads run at priority 0.) Attempts to change priorities result in a warning:
mysql> ALTER RESOURCE GROUP abc THREAD_PRIORITY = 10; Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.18 sec) mysql> SHOW WARNINGS; +---------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Level | Code | Message | +---------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Warning | 4560 | Attribute thread_priority is ignored (using default value). | +---------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
On Linux, resource groups thread priorities are ignored unless the
CAP_SYS_NICE
capability is set. GrantingCAP_SYS_NICE
capability to a process enables a range of privileges; consult http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html for the full list. Please be careful when enabling this capability.On Linux platforms using systemd and kernel support for Ambient Capabilities (Linux 4.3 or newer), the recommended way to enable
CAP_SYS_NICE
capability is to modify the MySQL service file and leave the mysqld binary unmodified. To adjust the service file for MySQL, use this procedure:Run the appropriate command for your platform:
Oracle Linux, Red Hat, and Fedora systems:
$> sudo systemctl edit mysqld
SUSE, Ubuntu, and Debian systems:
$> sudo systemctl edit mysql
Using an editor, add the following text to the service file:
[Service] AmbientCapabilities=CAP_SYS_NICE
Restart the MySQL service.
If you cannot enable the
CAP_SYS_NICE
capability as just described, it can be set manually using the setcap command, specifying the path name to the mysqld executable (this requires sudo access). You can check the capabilities using getcap. For example:$> sudo setcap cap_sys_nice+ep /path/to/mysqld $> getcap /path/to/mysqld /path/to/mysqld = cap_sys_nice+ep
As a safety measure, restrict execution of the mysqld binary to the
root
user and users withmysql
group membership:$> sudo chown root:mysql /path/to/mysqld $> sudo chmod 0750 /path/to/mysqld
ImportantIf manual use of setcap is required, it must be performed after each reinstall.
On Windows, threads run at one of five thread priority levels. The resource group thread priority range of -20 to 19 maps onto those levels as indicated in the following table.
Table 7.6 Resource Group Thread Priority on Windows
Priority Range Windows Priority Level -20 to -10 THREAD_PRIORITY_HIGHEST
-9 to -1 THREAD_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL
0 THREAD_PRIORITY_NORMAL
1 to 10 THREAD_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL
11 to 19 THREAD_PRIORITY_LOWEST