Changes in the Read-Ahead Algorithm
A read-ahead request is an I/O request to prefetch multiple pages in the buffer pool asynchronously, in anticipation that these pages will be needed soon. The requests bring in all the pages in one extent. InnoDB uses two read-ahead algorithms to improve I/O performance:
Linear read-ahead is a technique that predicts what pages might be needed soon based on pages in the buffer pool being accessed sequentially. You control when InnoDB performs a read-ahead operation by adjusting the number of sequential page accesses required to trigger an asynchronous read request, using the configuration parameter innodb_read_ahead_threshold. Before this parameter was added, InnoDB would only calculate whether to issue an asynchronous prefetch request for the entire next extent when it read in the last page of the current extent.
The new configuration parameter innodb_read_ahead_threshold controls how sensitive InnoDB is in detecting patterns of sequential page access. If the number of pages read sequentially from an extent is greater than or equal to innodb_read_ahead_threshold, InnoDB initiates an asynchronous read-ahead operation of the entire following extent. It can be set to any value from 0-64. The default value is 56. The higher the value, the more strict the access pattern check. For example, if you set the value to 48, InnoDB triggers a linear read-ahead request only when 48 pages in the current extent have been accessed sequentially. If the value is 8, InnoDB would trigger an asynchronous read-ahead even if as few as 8 pages in the extent were accessed sequentially. You can set the value of this parameter in the MariaDB configuration file, or change it dynamically with the SET GLOBAL command, which requires the SUPER privilege.
Random read-ahead is a technique that predicts when pages might be needed soon based on pages already in the buffer pool, regardless of the order in which those pages were read. If 13 consecutive pages from the same extent are found in the buffer pool, InnoDB asynchronously issues a request to prefetch the remaining pages of the extent. This feature was initially turned off in MariaDB 5.5. It is available once again starting in MariaDB 5.1.59 and 5.5.16 and higher, turned off by default. To enable this feature, set the configuration variable innodb_random_read_ahead.
The SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS command displays statistics to help you evaluate the effectiveness of the read-ahead algorithm. With the return of random read-ahead in MariaDB 5.6, the SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS command once again includes Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_rnd. Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead keeps its current name. (In earlier releases, it was listed as Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_seq.) See , "More Read-Ahead Statistics" for more information.
For more information about I/O performance, see , "Optimizing InnoDB Disk I/O" and , "Optimizing Disk I/O".