Excessive MySQL activity is usually caused by:

  • A long-running process that locks a table, causing other queries to back up
  • A query that is not optimized (e.g. select all from and/or a large or complex query)
  • Large table copies/maintenance during peak hours

The tips and suggestions below are possible solutions for optimizing your MySQL database. While these suggestions are intended to help reduce the amount of resources consumed by database queries, they are not guaranteed to resolve resource usage issues for your website.


As always, it is recommended that you create a backup before making any changes or adjustments to your website.

Optimize MySQL Database with phpMyAdmin

We recommend utilizing the Optimize Table feature in phpMyAdmin to improve the performance of your database. How often you should perform this task in phpMyAdmin depends on the size and usage of the database, though most databases will benefit from undergoing this optimization on a yearly basis.

Additional Optimization Tips

While we are unable to offer direct assistance for the coding required to further optimize a database table, there are a great number of resources available online to assist with database optimization.


Note: You may be able to find information more relevant to your particular optimization needs by utilizing a search engine to query something like [Software Name] MySQL indexes.