[drupal-devel] Re: Database analysis of CivicSpace/Drupal

[Kieran Lal]

I have had a long conversation with Dan off line.

My point wasn't to start adding indexes.  My point was to ask whether 
the database schema was well designed for our application.  I think 
matching indexes to joins is a good start.   I hope I was pretty clear 
that I wanted this method to be repeated for Drupal core, and many 
other instances of Drupal with various modules installed.    Starting 
with a good db schema design is just a start.    If we could actually 
document why all the indices are there that would be a big step forward 
in helping people understand the db layer.  With 182 indices I doubt 
anyone knows why each of those indices are there.

I know that the Drupal community has been responsive to database 
performance issues in the past and I am confident that it will tackle 
slow page execution problems as they arise.  I am looking for a more 
thorough analysis of actual runtime on which to make recommended 
changes.  For example, I'd like to know what the slowest 5% page 
execution times are.   I think having tools to know this is important 
for a good design of the database, regardless of whether it is a 
'problem' or not.  At this point, I am just asking questions and 
sharing what I am learning.

I'll put together a table schema for devel.module and batch update code 
next week.

Cheers,
Kieran