asked on

ip2location causes 2-3 second slow queries

I use an ip2location geolocation database from ip2location.com on a heavily used server.

I enabled the slow query log to track performance and it is taking 2-3 seconds to finish a query.
I ran an explain on a particular query an it shows that is has to scan all 3 million+ rows.
The query appears to not be optimized for speed.
I am using the example sql query as recommended on their website.

SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE 3413882404 <= ipTO AND 3413882404>=ipFROM

Does anyone know how to speed this up dramatically?

We have a powerful server and even though the queries take a long time to execute, our server resources still appear to be at minimal usage.

Dell Poweredge 2950 rack
64-bit CentOS 5
2 x quad core xeon E5335 @ 2.00GHz
4 x SAS hard drive's - raid 10
4GB ram

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `ip2location` (
  `ipFROM` int(10) unsigned zerofill NOT NULL default '0000000000',
  `ipTO` int(10) unsigned zerofill NOT NULL default '0000000000',
  `countrySHORT` char(2) NOT NULL default '',
  `countryLONG` varchar(64) NOT NULL default '',
  `ipREGION` varchar(128) NOT NULL default '',
  `ipCITY` varchar(128) NOT NULL default '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ipFROM`,`ipTO`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
 
 
Example record:
 
ipFROM 	     ipTO         countrySHORT  countryLONG     ipREGION        ipCITY
0050331648   0050331903   US            UNITED STATES   MASSACHUSETTS   BEVERLY
 
 
 
 
Here is basically how it is implemented on the site using PHP:
 
<?php
 
function Dot2LongIP ($IPaddr) 
{
	if ($IPaddr == "0.0.0.0") 
	{
		return 0;
	} 
	else 
	{
		$ips = split ("\.", "$IPaddr");
		return ($ips[3] + $ips[2] * 256 + $ips[1] * 256 * 256 + $ips[0] * 256 * 256 * 256);
	}
}
 
//Convert the ip to a number
$Longip = Dot2LongIP('203.123.182.36');
 
// Execute SQL query (recommended query from ip2location.com)
echo "SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE $Longip <= ipTO AND $Longip>=ipFROM";
 
 
?>

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shanikawm

Didn't you create an index for the table 'ip2location'?

ray-solomon

ASKER

There is a single shared index:

ipFROM, ipTO

BTW, I was going to edit the post.
I have to taken another look at the CPU/Memory/MySQL usage, and it went from about 5% usage to 14% usage in just a couple of hours.

shanikawm

Try this

SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE ipTO >= 3413882404 AND ipFROM <= 3413882404 LIMIT 1

ray-solomon

ASKER

The LIMIT helped a little and had to scan 2271177 rows instead of 3037152 rows.

But it still took a long time. about 7 seconds

ray-solomon

ASKER

What would happen if I change the storage engine from MyISAM to Memory?

The space used for that table is 125.9 MB

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

shanikawm

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shanikawm

If above link not available try google cached page of the same.

http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:lvz61mmHSX8J:forums.mysql.com/read.php%3F24,72255,72255+ip2location+database+query+slow&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2

ray-solomon

ASKER

I followed the explanation on that page and experimented myself and came up with great results from the mysql forum.
I played around with the indexes and found that one index was needed (ipTO).

The query that ip2location recommended. (DO NOT USE):
SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE 3413882404 <= ipTO AND 3413882404>=ipFROM

This query will pull a result in about 0.0003 to 1 second (only use ipTO for an index)
SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE ipTO >= 3413882404 AND ipFROM <= 3413882404 LIMIT 1

Below is the fastest query:

This query will pull a result in about ~ 0.0001 seconds (only use ipTO for an index)
SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE 3413882404 <= ipTO LIMIT 1

Just FYI, I have query caching enabled, since I cannot turn it off, I used different IP's instead which makes it a different query than what is in the cache.

I am going to restart mysql and watch the server resources. It already jumped to almost 18% before now.

Here are the three corresponding code examples that I used.
 
//echo "SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE $Longip <= ipTO AND $Longip>=ipFROM";
//echo "SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE ipTO >= $Longip AND ipFROM <= $Longip LIMIT 1";
//echo "SELECT * FROM ip2location WHERE $Longip <= ipTO LIMIT 1";

Open in new window

shanikawm

OK.

FYI, I think you can use query like follow to avoid the cache,

SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE FROM ip2location WHERE 3413882404 <= ipTO LIMIT 1.

ray-solomon

ASKER

Thanks for that, yes, I used that query, but I had to modify it.
You missed the column names to select from.
:)

I am selecting all columns in my situation. It returns the result in 0.0002 seconds.
SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE * FROM ip2location WHERE 3413882404 <= ipTO LIMIT 1

shanikawm

Yes you are correct. :-). Hope you all problems are solved now.

ray-solomon

ASKER

Yes, Thank you much. I hope this post will be very helpful to others.
There must be a lot of people using ip2location databases.

ray-solomon

ASKER

Helpful links:
http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?24,72255,72255
http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?24,8775,48963#msg-48963