Re: ERROR 1153: Got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes

[Bogdan Nicolau]

It depends on what type of variable you setup. It's better to set it as system variable. The way to do it is like this:
set max_allowed_packet=1000*1024*1024;
set net_buffer_length=1000000;

To check if they're set, use:
select @@max_allowed_packet;

Note that the @@ operator works in global scope when setting up a variable, while when fetching a variable, it will retrieve the session one and if it's not found, the global one. The reason for using session vars is that they are set per client, so a mysql restart won't be necessary. They also don't require SUPER privileges.