Manage high number of tables

The Cloud SQL high-number-of-tables recommender helps you detect instances whose table count is too high and close to the SLA limit. It then provides recommendations on how to optimize such instances and improve instance performance.

This page describes how the high-number-of-tables recommender works and how you can use it.

How it works

If you have 50,000 or more database tables on a single instance, it could result in the instance becoming unresponsive or unable to perform maintenance operations, and the instance is not covered by the SLA.

The Cloud SQL high-number-of-tables recommender analyzes metrics for the number of tables on a Cloud SQL MySQL instance. If the number of tables is larger than or equal to 80% of the SLA limit, which allows for 50,000 tables, the instance is considered to have a high number of tables.

Pricing

The Cloud SQL high-number-of-open-tables recommender is in the Standard Recommender pricing tier.

Before you begin

Before you can view recommendations and insights, do the following:

  • To get the permissions to view and work with insights and recommendations, ensure that you have the required roles.
    Tasks Roles
    View recommendations One of these roles: recommender.cloudsqlViewer or cloudsql.viewer.
    Apply recommendations One of these roles: recommender.cloudsqlAdmin, cloudsql.editor, or cloudsql.admin.
    For more information about roles, see understanding roles and granting IAM permissions.

  • Enable the Recommender API.

    Enable the API

List Improve Instance Performance recommendations

You can list the Improve Instance Performance recommendations by using the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, or the Recommender API.

The improve instance performance recommendations are shown only if you have instances that are nearing performance threshold limits.

Console

To list recommendations about instance performance by using the Google Cloud console, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Cloud SQL Instances page.

    Go to Cloud SQL Instances

  2. Click View all on the Manage high number of tables recommendations banner.

Alternatively, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Recommendation Hub. See also Getting started with Recommendation Hub.

    Go to the Recommendation Hub

  2. In the Improve Cloud SQL Instance Performance card, click View all.

  3. Select the instances with Manage high number of tables recommendation.

gcloud CLI

To list Improve Instance Performance recommendations by using gcloud CLI, run the gcloud recommender recommendations list command as follows:

gcloud recommender recommendations list \
--project=PROJECT_ID \
--location=LOCATION \
--recommender=google.cloudsql.instance.PerformanceRecommender \
--filter=recommenderSubtype=MYSQL_HIGH_NUMBER_OF_TABLES_BEST_PRACTICE

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: Your project ID
  • LOCATION: A region, such as us-central1

API

To list Improve Instance Performance recommendations by using the Recommendations API, call the recommendations.list method as follows:

GET https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/PROJECT-ID/locations/LOCATION/recommenders/google.cloudsql.instance.PerformanceRecommender.MySqlHighNumberOfTablesBestPractice/recommendations

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: Your project ID.
  • LOCATION: A region, such as us-central1.

If the recommender detects instances with high number of tables, it lists them in a table with other performance recommendations. Each row shows the instance ID, a brief recommendation, database engine, the location, and the last refresh date.

View insights and detailed recommendations

You can view insights and detailed recommendations about instances that have a high number of tables by using the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, or the Recommender API.

Console

To view insights and detailed recommendations about instances that are close to the performance threshold by using the Google Cloud console, click the recommendation link in the list of instances.

gcloud CLI

To view insights and detailed recommendations about instances that are close to the performance threshold by using gcloud CLI, run the gcloud recommender insights list command as follows:

gcloud recommender insights list \
--project=PROJECT_ID \
--location=LOCATION \
--insight-type=google.cloudsql.instance.PerformanceInsight \
--filter=insightSubtype=MYSQL_HIGH_NUMBER_OF_TABLES

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: Your project ID.
  • LOCATION: A region, such as us-central1.

API

To view insights and detailed recommendations about instances that are close to the performance threshold by using the Recommendations API, call the insights.list method as follows:

GET https://recommender.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/PROJECT-ID/locations/LOCATION/insightTypes/google.cloudsql.instance.PerformanceRecommender.MySqlHighNumberOfTables/insights

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: Your project ID.
  • LOCATION: A region, such as us-central1.

The following table lists the insight and recommendation that the Cloud SQL high-number-of-open-tables recommender generates to help you improve performance. The subtypes are visible in the gcloud CLI and API results.

Insight Recommendation
Number of tables on this instance is more than or equal to 80% of the SLA limit, which is 50,000 tables.
Subtype: MYSQL_HIGH_NUMBER_OF_TABLES 		Improve Cloud SQL instance performance by reducing number of tables.
Subtype: MYSQL_HIGH_NUMBER_OF_TABLES_BEST_PRACTICE

Apply recommendations

Evaluate the recommendations carefully and do any of the following:

  • To examine the instance, click View instance. See Optimize the performance of your instance and follow the recommendations.

  • To dismiss the recommendation so that it's de-emphasized and appears dimmed, click Dismiss.

  • To close the panel without applying or dismissing the recommendation, click Cancel.

Optimize the performance of your instance

  • Edit your instance to increase the number of vCPUs to at least 32 cores and the memory size to at least 200 GB. This increases the instance's table limit from 50,000 to 500,000.

  • Drop unnecessary tables:

    DROP TABLE TABLE_NAME;

    Replace the following:

    • TABLE_NAME: Name of the table you intend to drop.

  • Reduce the number of tables per instance by splitting the database across multiple instances to keep the number of tables in each instance within the recommended limits.

  • If you cannot immediately reduce the number of tables, you can reduce the likelihood of your instance being impacted by the high table count by setting the innodb_file_per_table flag to OFF. To turn off the value of the innodb_file_per_table flag, see Configure a database flag. However, this setting does not bring the instance back into SLA compliance. See these operational guidelines.

  • Use a general tablespace to create tables or move existing tables to a general tablespace. To learn more, see MySQL documentation on general tablespaces.

What's next