Please help - what to change for max performance?

[Jog]

Hi,

As part of a website I'm creating I'm working with a large database (10GB in size) and have to do lots of processing/calculations on the records - very often updating all the records or copying them into a new table. I create php scripts to do all the database processing, which I run just via my browser. I've installed Xampp with the default settings it came with, not really knowing much about changing its settings.

I know a little bit about databases - e.g. primary keys, adding unique/index fields, and how to "normalize" the table. However my scripts have been taking a long time to run - often 2 or 3 days of continous running - and often I need to change the script and re-run things. Months seem to be passing by!

I'm using a laptop with a fast dual core processor and have recently upgraded a couple of things.

I've bought a 120GB SSD Drive - and while I've just installed it, early indications are that this is going to make a huge saving in time compared to my hdd (5400rpm). I've also switched to 8GB Ram (from 4GB) and switched to Windows 7 64-bit so that the extra RAM can be used (I was using Vista 32bit). Obviously if I had the budget I would have preferred something like a fast quad-core desktop.

Working on the databases is the sole use of the laptop and my only concern just now.

However while I can do php and design, I don't know much about optimising Xampp or my system to get the max performance out of it (though I read up on how to change the max_execution_time).

I would be enormously grateful if anyone can suggest ways to maximise Xampp / Apache / PHP / MySql performance - e.g. what settings I should change to ensure the processor spends most of its energy on the scripts, uses all of the RAM available (e.g. to store/cache tables in memory), etc.

[Sharley]

Look in C:\xampp\mysql and you will find several my_*.ini files that can be renamed and copied into the bin folder replacing the my.ini already in there, which by the way is a copy of the my_small.ini file for low system PCs.

If you find the right one for your higher PC system components then this may go some way to improving the performance of MySQL.

[Jog]

Thanks Sharley - I didn't know alternative files existed. I will have a look at them, thanks.

[JonB]

I can suggest a simple change that will affect one aspect of what you are doing -

turn on eAccelerator - it starts PHP byte-code caching. It won't help with the MySQL optimization, but it will speed-up considerably every PHP page-load you have. This is not speculation, I have done some benchmark testing; 30-40% improvement in pageload time speed without making any other changes. My testing was done with XAMPP 1.7.3 on Windows and a WordPress 3.2 CMS with no WP cache enhancement.

Its in the php.ini file.

Code: Select all

;zend_extension = "C:\xampp\php\ext\php_eaccelerator.dll"

uncomment that line, and restart XAMPP, eAccelerator will do all the work, including creating the temp folders for the cache.

Good Luck

[Jog]

Hi JonB,

I tried that thanks but it didn't work - the file doesn't exist in that location and a search turned up blank.

Is this something that you need to download and install seperately?

Thanks

[Sharley]

the file doesn't exist in that location and a search turned up blank.

Which version of XAMPP have you installed?
Version can be seen at the top of the \xampp\readme_en.txt file.

What location have you installed XAMPP?
Can be seen using Windows Explorer.

Your answers will tell us perhaps why you can't find the php_eaccelerator.dll file which, in a default installation, is in C:\xampp\php\ext folder - but alas in 1.7.4 version the file appears to be missing (1.7.3 was the last version it is included - 1.7.5 beta (VC9) also is missing this dll).

I found a php_eaccelerator.dll for 1.7.4 version's PHP 5.3.5 (VC6 X86 32bit):
(which also contains in the index other useful files like the php_apc.dll extension)
http://tanguy.tk/php/535_vc6/

Direct download link:
php_eaccelerator.535ts.vc6_x86.zip

These and other dlls can be found in this Apache Lounge Forum page 2 topic

Alternatively you may want to download and use version 1.7.3 from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP Windows
which has the eAccelerator.dll included.

The 1.7.5 beta versions are compiled with VC9 so the eAccelerator dll version is different again but I see this is also available from the above Apache Lounge Forum link and both are eAccelerator dlls are reported to be in a good working condition
Or you may download the VC9 compiled version direct from this file index link here:
http://tanguy.tk/php/536_vc9


The [eAccelerator] entries in the \xampp\php\php.ini file are way down near the end of the file at about line 1915 in XAMPP version 1.7.4.

Best wishes.