Re: Larger than expected tmp files querying InnoDB format database

[Rick James]

Swapping is about the worst thing that can happen in MySQL. It is better to tune RAM-related settings (VARIABLES) smaller to avoid swapping. Yes, throwing more RAM is an alternative.

I dislike having the tmpdir being separate from the rest of the data -- it just leads to spuriously running out of disk space. (Note: this is distinct from RAM.)

> This client is paying for a 1GB slice of RAM.

MySQL will run in 1GB of RAM. But it will be more I/O bound, hence slower. And, one needs to severely tune the VARIABLES to avoid swapping, which would be even worse.

These days, 4GB is a about as small as MySQL systems get. Some have more than 128GB.