mysql optimization question

[deras]

i notice most people here have very large my.cnf. i am got a server and am configuring it and my my.cnf file has like 8 lines, is that normal? and does configuring my.cnf really improve performance? how much?

[Odysseus]

The size of my.cnf hepends on what options you want to use. The standard distribution provide some ready-to-run versions of the file which contain many lines as comments.

If you don't specify a value/variable, MySQL will take a default value.

Configuring my.cnf is vital on servers which have much work to do. There is a diference between 5 seconds or 120 seconds of connection timeout if you already encounter session limiting problems. :)
Also, the MySQL 4 query cache is disabled by default. If you want to use it, you have to activate it in my.cnf.

You see, it actually does matter!


However, if a server already runs smoothly and offers all the services the admin wants, there is no need to change your configuration. You cannot put the whole thing in general. :)