MySQL – Locks During CREATE TABLE AS SELECT

ctaslockingMySQL

I am running the following (dummy) query

CREATE TABLE large_temp_table AS 
    SELECT a.*, b.*, c.* 
    FROM a
    LEFT JOIN b ON a.foo = b.foo
    LEFT JOIN c ON a.bar = c.bar

Suppose the query takes 10 minutes to run. Trying to update values in tables a, b or c while it is running will wait for the above query to finish first. I want to avoid this lock (data consistency is not of interest). How can I achieve that?

Using: MySQL 5.1.41 and InnoDB Tables

p.s. SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED; yields no change in behavior

Update
While the query is being executed, the output of SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS is the following (I have made a very slow query here in purpose)

=====================================
120323 15:26:29 INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
=====================================
Per second averages calculated from the last 8 seconds
----------
SEMAPHORES
----------
OS WAIT ARRAY INFO: reservation count 1470, signal count 1468
Mutex spin waits 0, rounds 7525, OS waits 112
RW-shared spins 803, OS waits 364; RW-excl spins 1300, OS waits 959
------------
TRANSACTIONS
------------
Trx id counter 0 3145870
Purge done for trx's n:o < 0 3141943 undo n:o < 0 0
History list length 22
LIST OF TRANSACTIONS FOR EACH SESSION:
---TRANSACTION 0 0, not started, OS thread id 2958192640
MySQL thread id 7942, query id 69073 localhost root
SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS
---TRANSACTION 0 3145869, ACTIVE 20 sec, OS thread id 2955325440, thread declared inside InnoDB 343
mysql tables in use 1, locked 1
6 lock struct(s), heap size 1024, 162 row lock(s)
MySQL thread id 7935, query id 69037 localhost root Copying to tmp table
CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS
                       SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                           a.*
                       FROM
                           crm_companies AS a
                       LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number
                       ORDER BY a.country, a.name1
--------
FILE I/O
--------
I/O thread 0 state: waiting for i/o request (insert buffer thread)
I/O thread 1 state: waiting for i/o request (log thread)
I/O thread 2 state: waiting for i/o request (read thread)
I/O thread 3 state: waiting for i/o request (write thread)
Pending normal aio reads: 0, aio writes: 0,
ibuf aio reads: 0, log i/o's: 0, sync i/o's: 0
Pending flushes (fsync) log: 0; buffer pool: 0
27579 OS file reads, 613 OS file writes, 392 OS fsyncs
0.00 reads/s, 0 avg bytes/read, 0.00 writes/s, 0.00 fsyncs/s
-------------------------------------
INSERT BUFFER AND ADAPTIVE HASH INDEX
-------------------------------------
Ibuf: size 1, free list len 5, seg size 7,
0 inserts, 0 merged recs, 0 merges
Hash table size 34679, node heap has 9 buffer(s)
0.00 hash searches/s, 0.00 non-hash searches/s
---
LOG
---
Log sequence number 1 2030837110
Log flushed up to   1 2030837110
Last checkpoint at  1 2030837110
0 pending log writes, 0 pending chkp writes
231 log i/o's done, 0.00 log i/o's/second
----------------------
BUFFER POOL AND MEMORY
----------------------
Total memory allocated 21060366; in additional pool allocated 1048576
Dictionary memory allocated 2897304
Buffer pool size   512
Free buffers       0
Database pages     503
Modified db pages  0
Pending reads 0
Pending writes: LRU 0, flush list 0, single page 0
Pages read 36022, created 166, written 504
0.00 reads/s, 0.00 creates/s, 0.00 writes/s
Buffer pool hit rate 1000 / 1000
--------------
ROW OPERATIONS
--------------
1 queries inside InnoDB, 0 queries in queue
1 read views open inside InnoDB
Main thread id 2957578240, state: waiting for server activity
Number of rows inserted 2022, updated 7, deleted 13, read 528536
0.00 inserts/s, 0.00 updates/s, 0.00 deletes/s, 8.00 reads/s
----------------------------
END OF INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
============================

Update 2

When trying to update either b,c or d while the query is running INNODB STATUS is the following:

=====================================
120323 16:12:58 INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
=====================================
Per second averages calculated from the last 27 seconds
----------
SEMAPHORES
----------
OS WAIT ARRAY INFO: reservation count 2959, signal count 2957
Mutex spin waits 0, rounds 27587, OS waits 426
RW-shared spins 1321, OS waits 516; RW-excl spins 2578, OS waits 1855
------------
TRANSACTIONS
------------
Trx id counter 0 3145998
Purge done for trx's n:o < 0 3145994 undo n:o < 0 0
History list length 0
LIST OF TRANSACTIONS FOR EACH SESSION:
---TRANSACTION 0 0, not started, OS thread id 2958602240
MySQL thread id 7990, query id 69621 localhost root
SHOW INNODB STATUS
---TRANSACTION 0 3145997, ACTIVE 35 sec, OS thread id 2955325440, thread declared inside InnoDB 227
mysql tables in use 1, locked 0
MySQL thread id 7984, query id 69594 localhost root Copying to tmp table
CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS
                       SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                           a.*
                       FROM
                           crm_companies AS a
                       LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number
                       ORDER BY a.country, a.name1
Trx read view will not see trx with id >= 0 3145998, sees < 0 3145998
--------
FILE I/O
--------
I/O thread 0 state: waiting for i/o request (insert buffer thread)
I/O thread 1 state: waiting for i/o request (log thread)
I/O thread 2 state: waiting for i/o request (read thread)
I/O thread 3 state: waiting for i/o request (write thread)
Pending normal aio reads: 0, aio writes: 0,
ibuf aio reads: 0, log i/o's: 0, sync i/o's: 0
Pending flushes (fsync) log: 0; buffer pool: 0
54447 OS file reads, 1335 OS file writes, 509 OS fsyncs
0.00 reads/s, 0 avg bytes/read, 0.00 writes/s, 0.00 fsyncs/s
-------------------------------------
INSERT BUFFER AND ADAPTIVE HASH INDEX
-------------------------------------
Ibuf: size 1, free list len 5, seg size 7,
584 inserts, 584 merged recs, 4 merges
Hash table size 34679, node heap has 1 buffer(s)
0.00 hash searches/s, 0.00 non-hash searches/s
---
LOG
---
Log sequence number 1 2060137545
Log flushed up to   1 2060137545
Last checkpoint at  1 2060137545
0 pending log writes, 0 pending chkp writes
338 log i/o's done, 0.00 log i/o's/second
----------------------
BUFFER POOL AND MEMORY
----------------------
Total memory allocated 20799534; in additional pool allocated 1047808
Dictionary memory allocated 2897304
Buffer pool size   512
Free buffers       0
Database pages     511
Modified db pages  0
Pending reads 0
Pending writes: LRU 0, flush list 0, single page 0
Pages read 70769, created 661, written 3156
0.00 reads/s, 0.00 creates/s, 0.00 writes/s
Buffer pool hit rate 1000 / 1000
--------------
ROW OPERATIONS
--------------
1 queries inside InnoDB, 0 queries in queue
2 read views open inside InnoDB
Main thread id 2957578240, state: waiting for server activity
Number of rows inserted 2022, updated 66643, deleted 13, read 626517
0.00 inserts/s, 0.00 updates/s, 0.00 deletes/s, 7.59 reads/s
----------------------------
END OF INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
============================

And there is the actual open process list

Process List

Best Answer

I see this query in your SHOW INNODB STATUS\G

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS 
                   SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE 
                       a.* 
                   FROM 
                       crm_companies AS a 
                   LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid 
                   LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id 
                   LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id 
                   LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number 
                   ORDER BY a.country, a.name1

This query gives me the creeps because it combines three things you may not have thought of:

  • InnoDB is involved based on your initial premise : Using: MySQL 5.1.41 and InnoDB Tables
  • MyISAM is also involved. Why is MyISAM involved? ALL INTERNAL TEMP TABLES ARE MyISAM !!! The resulting join is a MyISAM table that must be converted into InnoDB when the temp table has been populated. What is the default lock level for MyISAM tables? Table Level Locking.
  • DDL is involved since a newly created table must be brought into existence. That new table would not be manifested until the temp table is populated, converted to InnoDB, and finally renamed 1_temp_foo.

There is another side effect worth noting. When you do

CREATE TABLE tblname AS SELECT ...

The resulting table has no indexes.

I have something you might find helpful to bypass the locking issue. It involves making the table first as a separate query, then populating it. There are two options for making your temp table:

OPTION #1 : Try creating the table with the same layout

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo LIKE crm_companies;

This will create the table 1_temp_foo to have the exact same indexes and storage engine as the original table crm_companies.

OPTION #2 : Try creating the table with the same storage engine only, but no indexes.

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo SELECT * FROM crm_companies WHERE 1=2;
ALTER TABLE 1_temp_foo ENGINE=InnoDB;

After creating the table (whichever way you choose), you can now populate the table like this:

INSERT INTO 1_temp_foo
SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE a.*                   
FROM                   
    crm_companies AS a                   
    LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid                   
    LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id                   
    LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id                   
    LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number                   
    ORDER BY a.country, a.name
;

Now, this query should produced row-level locks for the sake of having data available for repeatable reads. In other words, this is a transactional query.

CAVEAT

OPTION #2 has advantages over OPTION #1

  • Advantage #1 : If crm_companies has any foreign key constraints, OPTION #1 is not really possible. You would have to choose OPTION #2 for the sake of simplicity.
  • Advantage #2 : Since OPTION #2 creates a table with no user-defined indexes, the table should load faster than if the table were made via OPTION #1.
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