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mysqldatabase-performanceexplain

Need some help deciphering MYSQL EXPLAIN output for complex join

My site's homepage has a complex query that looks like this:

SELECT karmalog.*, image.title as img_title, image.date_uploaded, imagefile.file_name as img_filename, imagefile.width as img_width, imagefile.height as img_height, imagefile.transferred as img_transferred, u1.uname as usr_name1, u2.uname as usr_name2, u1.avat_url as usr_avaturl1, u2.avat_url as usr_avaturl2, class.title as class_title,forum.id as f_id, forum.name as f_name, forum.icon, forumtopic.id as ft_id, forumtopic.subject
FROM karmalog 
LEFT JOIN image on karmalog.event_type = 'image' and karmalog.object_id = image.id 
LEFT JOIN imagefile on karmalog.object_id = imagefile.image_id and imagefile.type = 'smallthumb'
LEFT JOIN class on karmalog.event_type = 'class' and karmalog.object_id = class.num
LEFT JOIN user as u1 on karmalog.user_id = u1.id
LEFT JOIN user as u2 on karmalog.user_sec_id = u2.id
LEFT JOIN forumtopic on karmalog.object_id = forumtopic.id and karmalog.event IN ('FORUM_REPLY','FORUM_CREATE')
LEFT JOIN forum on forumtopic.forum_id = forum.id
WHERE karmalog.event IN ('EDIT_PROFILE','FAV_IMG_ADD','FOLLOW','COM_POST','IMG_UPLOAD','IMG_VOTE','LIST_VOTE','JOIN','CLASS_UP','CLASS_DOWN','LIST_CREATE','FORUM_REPLY','FORUM_CREATE','FORUM_SUBSCRIBE')
  AND karmalog.delete=0
ORDER BY karmalog.date_created DESC, karmalog.id DESC 
LIMIT 0,13

I won't bore you with the exact details, but a short explanation: Basically this is a list of events that happened in the system, kind of like a stream. A event can be of several types and based on its type it needs to join in specific data from various tables.

Currently, this query takes 2 seconds to run but it will get slower over time as the amount of entries grows. Therefore I'm looking to optimize it. Here's the output of MYSQL explain:

enter image description here

My understanding of EXPLAIN is too limited to understand this. I would prefer to keep this query as is (instead of denormalizing it), yet to improve its performance using appropriate indices or other quick wins. Based on this explain output, is there anything you see that I can follow-up with?

Edit: as requested hereby the definition of the karmalog table:

CREATE TABLE `karmalog` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `guid` char(36) default NULL,
  `user_id` int(11) default NULL,
  `user_sec_id` int(11) default NULL,
  `event` enum('EDIT_PROFILE','EDIT_AVATAR','EDIT_EMAIL','EDIT_PASSWORD','FAV_IMG_ADD','FAV_IMG_ADDED','FAV_IMG_REMOVE','FAV_IMG_REMOVED','FOLLOW','FOLLOWED','UNFOLLOW','UNFOLLOWED','COM_POSTED','COM_POST','COM_VOTE','COM_VOTED','IMG_VOTED','IMG_UPLOAD','LIST_CREATE','LIST_DELETE','LIST_ADMINDELETE','LIST_VOTE','LIST_VOTED','IMG_UPD','IMG_RESTORE','IMG_UPD_LIC','IMG_UPD_MOD','IMG_UPD_MODERATED','IMG_VOTE','IMG_VOTED','TAG_FAV_ADD','CLASS_DOWN','CLASS_UP','IMG_DELETE','IMG_ADMINDELETE','IMG_ADMINDELETEFAV','SET_PASSWORD','IMG_RESTORED','IMG_VIEW','FORUM_CREATE','FORUM_DELETE','FORUM_ADMINDELETE','FORUM_REPLY','FORUM_DELETEREPLY','FORUM_ADMINDELETEREPLY','FORUM_SUBSCRIBE','FORUM_UNSUBSCRIBE','TAG_INFO_EDITED','JOIN') NOT NULL,
  `event_type` enum('follow','tag','image','class','list','forum','user') NOT NULL,
  `active` bit(1) NOT NULL,
  `delete` bit(1) NOT NULL default '\0',
  `object_id` int(11) default NULL,
  `object_cache` varchar(1024) default NULL,
  `karma_delta` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `gold_delta` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `newkarma` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `newgold` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `mail_processed` bit(1) NOT NULL default '\0',
  `date_created` timestamp NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`),
  KEY `user_id` (`user_id`),
  KEY `user_sec_id` (`user_sec_id`),
  KEY `image_id` (`object_id`),
  CONSTRAINT `user_id` FOREIGN KEY (`user_id`) REFERENCES `user` (`id`) ON DELETE SET NULL,
  CONSTRAINT `user_sec_id` FOREIGN KEY (`user_sec_id`) REFERENCES `user` (`id`) ON DELETE SET NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
Solution

    • First, you are probably missing a composite index on (event_type, object_id). On second reading, disregard this. You may need such an index for other queries but not for this one (because of the ORDER BY ... LIMIT).

    • Second, you don't have an index on date_created and you ORDER BY this column. Add an index on this. Taking the WHERE conditions in mind too, the best index may be the (delete, date_created) or the (event, date_created) or (probably best) the: (event, delete, date_created).

    • Third, try to rewrite it like this:

    LIMIT first, then JOIN (corrected):

    SELECT karmalog.*, image.title as img_title, image.date_uploaded, imagefile.file_name as img_filename, imagefile.width as img_width, imagefile.height as img_height, imagefile.transferred as img_transferred, u1.uname as usr_name1, u2.uname as usr_name2, u1.avat_url as usr_avaturl1, u2.avat_url as usr_avaturl2, class.title as class_title,forum.id as f_id, forum.name as f_name, forum.icon, forumtopic.id as ft_id, forumtopic.subject
FROM 
    ( SELECT *
      FROM karmalog
      WHERE karmalog.event IN ('EDIT_PROFILE','FAV_IMG_ADD','FOLLOW','COM_POST','IMG_UPLOAD','IMG_VOTE','LIST_VOTE','JOIN','CLASS_UP','CLASS_DOWN','LIST_CREATE','FORUM_REPLY','FORUM_CREATE','FORUM_SUBSCRIBE')
        AND karmalog.delete=0
      ORDER BY karmalog.date_created DESC, karmalog.id DESC 
      LIMIT 0,13  
    ) AS karmalog 
LEFT JOIN image on karmalog.event_type = 'image' and karmalog.object_id = image.id 
LEFT JOIN imagefile on karmalog.object_id = imagefile.image_id and imagefile.type = 'smallthumb'
LEFT JOIN class on karmalog.event_type = 'class' and karmalog.object_id = class.num
LEFT JOIN user as u1 on karmalog.user_id = u1.id
LEFT JOIN user as u2 on karmalog.user_sec_id = u2.id
LEFT JOIN forumtopic on karmalog.object_id = forumtopic.id and karmalog.event IN ('FORUM_REPLY','FORUM_CREATE')
LEFT JOIN forum on forumtopic.forum_id = forum.id
ORDER BY karmalog.date_created DESC, karmalog.id DESC