This is my experience tuning a MySQL server running on Rimuhosting for Drupal.
First I installed a tuning script in /root
wget http://day32.com/MySQL/tuning-primer.sh
chmod 700 tuning-primer.sh
yum install bc
cp /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf.$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
./tuning-primer.sh
Now add the following values under [mysqld]:
table_cache = 512
query_cache_size = 32M
query_cache_type = 1
max_heap_table_size = 32M
tmp_table_size = 64M
max_connections = 250
Here is some info: http://drupal.org/node/85768
and some more: http://www.databasejournal.com/features/php/article.php/10898_3110171_1/...
Apache tuning:
rimu advise: increase the MaxClients settings (typically by about 1 extra max client per 10MB added)
first: cp /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf.$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
Apc tuning
cp /etc/php.d/apc.ini /etc/php.d/apc.ini.$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
-apc.shm_size = "72" #increase size from 36 to 72
-set apc.stat = 0 #lock code in cache and stop checking for changes
Here is an article: 10 essential MySQL tools for admins
http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-management/10-essential-mysql-tools-admi...