improve speed of mysql import

Question

I have large database of 22GB. I used to take backup with mysqldump command in a gzip format.

When i extract the gz file it produces the .sql file of 16.2GB

When I try to import the database in my local server, it takes approximately 48hrs to import.Is there a way to increase the speed of the import process?

Also i would like to know if any hardware changes need to be done to improve the performance.

Current System Config

 Processor: 4th Gen i5
 RAM: 8GB

#update

my.cnf is as follows

#
# The MySQL database server configuration file.
#
# You can copy this to one of:
# - "/etc/mysql/my.cnf" to set global options,
# - "~/.my.cnf" to set user-specific options.
# 
# One can use all long options that the program supports.
# Run program with --help to get a list of available options and with
# --print-defaults to see which it would actually understand and use.
#
# For explanations see
# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/server-system-variables.html

# This will be passed to all mysql clients
# It has been reported that passwords should be enclosed with ticks/quotes
# escpecially if they contain "#" chars...
# Remember to edit /etc/mysql/debian.cnf when changing the socket location.
[client]
port        = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

# Here is entries for some specific programs
# The following values assume you have at least 32M ram

# This was formally known as [safe_mysqld]. Both versions are currently parsed.
[mysqld_safe]
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
nice        = 0

[mysqld]
#
# * Basic Settings
#
user        = mysql
pid-file    = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port        = 3306
basedir     = /usr
datadir     = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir      = /tmp
lc-messages-dir = /usr/share/mysql
skip-external-locking
#
# Instead of skip-networking the default is now to listen only on
# localhost which is more compatible and is not less secure.
bind-address        = 127.0.0.1
#
# * Fine Tuning
#
key_buffer      = 16M
max_allowed_packet  = 512M
thread_stack        = 192K
thread_cache_size       = 8
# This replaces the startup script and checks MyISAM tables if needed
# the first time they are touched
myisam-recover         = BACKUP
#max_connections        = 100
#table_cache            = 64
#thread_concurrency     = 10
#
# * Query Cache Configuration
#
query_cache_limit   = 4M
query_cache_size        = 512M
#
# * Logging and Replication
#
# Both location gets rotated by the cronjob.
# Be aware that this log type is a performance killer.
# As of 5.1 you can enable the log at runtime!
#general_log_file        = /var/log/mysql/mysql.log
#general_log             = 1
#
# Error log - should be very few entries.
#
log_error = /var/log/mysql/error.log
#
# Here you can see queries with especially long duration
#log_slow_queries   = /var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log
#long_query_time = 2
#log-queries-not-using-indexes
#
# The following can be used as easy to replay backup logs or for replication.
# note: if you are setting up a replication slave, see README.Debian about
#       other settings you may need to change.
#server-id      = 1
#log_bin            = /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
expire_logs_days    = 10
max_binlog_size         = 100M
#binlog_do_db       = include_database_name
#binlog_ignore_db   = include_database_name
#
# * InnoDB
#
# InnoDB is enabled by default with a 10MB datafile in /var/lib/mysql/.
# Read the manual for more InnoDB related options. There are many!
#
# * Security Features
#
# Read the manual, too, if you want chroot!
# chroot = /var/lib/mysql/
#
# For generating SSL certificates I recommend the OpenSSL GUI "tinyca".
#
# ssl-ca=/etc/mysql/cacert.pem
# ssl-cert=/etc/mysql/server-cert.pem
# ssl-key=/etc/mysql/server-key.pem



[mysqldump]
quick
quote-names
max_allowed_packet  = 512M

[mysql]
#no-auto-rehash # faster start of mysql but no tab completition

[isamchk]
key_buffer      = 512M

#
# * IMPORTANT: Additional settings that can override those from this file!
#   The files must end with '.cnf', otherwise they'll be ignored.
#
!includedir /etc/mysql/conf.d/

It is being uploading for 3 days and right now 9.9 GB has been imported. The Database has both MyISAM and InnoDB tables. What can i do to improve the import performance?

I have tried exporting each table separately in gz format with mysqldump and importing each table through PHP script executing the following code

$dir="./";
$files = scandir($dir, 1);
array_pop($files);
array_pop($files);
$tablecount=0;
foreach($files as $file){
    $tablecount++;
    echo $tablecount."     ";

    echo $file."\n";
    $command="gunzip < ".$file." | mysql -u root -pubuntu cms";

    echo exec($command);
}

Answer 1

There are a lot of parameters that are missing, to fully understand the reason for the problem. such as:

1. MySQL version
2. Disk type and speed
3. Free memory on the server before you start MySQL server
4. iostat output before and at the time of the mysqldump.
5. What are the parameters that you use to create the dump file in the first place.

and many more.

So I'll try to guess that your problem is in the disks because I have 150 instances of MySQL that I manage with 3TB of data on one of them, and usually the disk is the problem

Now to the solution:

First of all - your MySQL is not configured for best performance.

You can read about the most important settings to configure at Percona blog post: http://www.percona.com/blog/2014/01/28/10-mysql-settings-to-tune-after-installation/

Especially check the parameters:

innodb_buffer_pool_size 
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit
innodb_flush_method

If your problem is the disk - reading the file from the same drive - is making the problem worse.

And if your MySQL server starting to swap because it does not have enough RAM available - your problem becomes even bigger.

You need to run diagnostics on your machine before and at the time of the restore procedure to figure that out.

Furthermore, I can suggest you to use another technic to perform the rebuild task, which works faster than mysqldump.

It is Percona Xtrabackup - http://www.percona.com/doc/percona-xtrabackup/2.2/

You will need to create the backup with it, and restore from it, or rebuild from running server directly with streaming option.

Also, MySQL version starting from 5.5 - InnoDB performs faster than MyISAM. Consider changing all your tables to it.