Speeding up select where column condition exists in another table without duplicates - mysql

Question

If I have the following two tables:
Table "a" with 2 columns: id (int) [Primary Index], column1 [Indexed]
Table "b" with 3 columns: id_table_a (int),condition1 (int),condition2 (int) [all columns as Primary Index]
I can run the following query to select rows from Table a where Table b condition1 is 1
SELECT a.id FROM a WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM b WHERE b.id_table_a=a.id && condition1=1 LIMIT 1) ORDER BY a.column1 LIMIT 50
With a couple hundred million rows in both tables this query is very slow. If I do:
SELECT a.id FROM a INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a && b.condition1=1 ORDER BY a.column1 LIMIT 50
It is pretty much instant but if there are multiple matching rows in table b that match id_table_a then duplicates are returned. If I do a SELECT DISTINCT or GROUP BY a.id to remove duplicates the query becomes extremely slow.
Here is an SQLFiddle showing the example queries: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!9/35eb9e/10
Is there a way to make a join without duplicates fast in this case?
*Edited to show that INNER instead of LEFT join didn't make much of a difference
*Edited to show moving condition to join did not make much of a difference
*Edited to add LIMIT
*Edited to add ORDER BY

Answer 1

You can try with inner join and distinct
SELECT distinct a.id
FROM a INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a AND b.condition1=1
but using distinct on select * be sure you don't distinct id that return wrong result in this case use
SELECT distinct col1, col2, col3 ....
FROM a INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a AND b.condition1=1
You could also add a composite index with use also condtition1 eg: key(id, condition1)
if you can you could also perform a
ANALYZE TABLE table_name;
on both the table ..
and another technique is try to reverting the lead table
SELECT distinct a.id
FROM b INNER JOIN a ON a.id=b.id_table_a AND b.condition1=1
Using the most selective table for lead the query
Using this seem different the use of index http://sqlfiddle.com/#!9/35eb9e/15 (the last add a using where)
# USING DISTINCT TO REMOVE DUPLICATES without col and order
EXPLAIN
SELECT DISTINCT a.id
FROM a
INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a AND b.condition1=1
;

Answer 2

It looks like I found the answer.
SELECT a.id FROM a
INNER JOIN b ON
b.id_table_a=a.id &&
b.condition1=1 &&
b.condition2=(select b.condition2 from b WHERE b.id_table_a=a.id && b.condition1=1 LIMIT 1)
ORDER BY a.column1
LIMIT 5;
I don't know if there is a flaw in this or not, please let me know if so. If anyone has a way to compress this somehow I will gladly accept your answer.

Answer 3

SELECT id FROM a INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a AND b.condition1=1
Take the condition into the ON clause of the join, that way the index of table b can get used to filter. Also use INNER JOIN over LEFT JOIN
Then you should have less results which have to be grouped.

Answer 4

Wrap the fast version in a query that handles de-duping and limit:
SELECT DISTINCT * FROM (
SELECT a.id
FROM a
JOIN b ON a.id = b.id_table_a && b.condition1 = 1
) x
ORDER BY column1
LIMIT 50
We know the inner query is fast. The de-duping and ordering has to happen somewhere. This way it happens on the smallest rowset possible.
See SQLFiddle.
Option 2:
Try the following:
Create indexes as follows:
create index a_id_column1 on a(id, column1)
create index b_id_table_a_condition1 on b(a_table_a, condition1)
These are covering indexes - ones that contain all the columns you need for the query, which in turn means that index-only access to data can achieve the result.
Then try this:
SELECT * FROM (
SELECT a.id, MIN(a.column1) column1
FROM a
JOIN b ON a.id = b.id_table_a
AND b.condition1 = 1
GROUP BY a.id) x
ORDER BY column1
LIMIT 50

Answer 5

Use your fast query in a subselect and remove the duplicates in the outer select:
SELECT DISTINCT sub.id
FROM (
SELECT a.id
FROM a
INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a && b.condition1=1
WHERE b.id_table_a > :offset
ORDER BY a.column1
LIMIT 50
) sub
Because of removing duplicates you might get less than 50 rows. Just repeat the query until you get anough rows. Start with :offset = 0. Use the last ID from last result as :offset in the following queries.
If you know your statistics, you can also use two limits. The limit in the inner query should be high enough to return 50 distinct rows with a probability which is high enough for you.
SELECT DISTINCT sub.id
FROM (
SELECT a.id
FROM a
INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id_table_a && b.condition1=1
ORDER BY a.column1
LIMIT 1000
) sub
LIMIT 50
For example: If you have an average of 10 duplicates per ID, LIMIT 1000 in the inner query will return an average of 100 distinct rows. Its very unlikely that you get less than 50 rows.
If the condition2 column is a boolean, you know that you can have a maximum of two duplicates. In this case LIMIT 100 in the inner query would be enough.