This [link|http://ilearn.grcc.edu/|website] is currently running MySQL, Apache, Java and some other crud.

DB current size is: 28GB, with 87 tables and 87 indexes.

Some of the indexes are twice the size the data... kinda screwy, but fast. Just gotta give it lots of memory to play with.

Here are my optimized settings for it:

key_buffer=256M
table_cache=2048
join_buffer=80M
record_buffer=4096K
sort_buffer=80M
max_connections=400
tmp_table_size=80M

Now those settings have given my Blackboard machine a reputation as being the fastest one known by Blackboard, and confirmed by many "faculty" that use many many other Blackboard systems across the state and country that it has really nearly ZERO latency when it comes to things generated from the DB. Granted I have cranked up Apache and Java, tremendously...

This machine is ONLY a Dual PentiumIII 550MHz w/2MB on-die Cache and 2GB of Memory and Ultra2 RAID 5 arrays and 100Mbit Enet... but it is indeed fast... and the only Blackboard server running on a Stealthfully installed on a RedHat (appears to be 6.2) 7.0 machine. No Problems seen no data corruption issues as claimed by others, no nothing wrong at all.

I have YET to encounter a problem "myisamchk" or "isamchk" cannot fix. And at that, I have only had to run it once during a Blackboard upgrade that crashed from a bad script, barfed in the middle of a colloum(sp?) insert. I run an analzye twice a month. Seems to keep things in order.

So, I guess you do what you gotta do... take everyones advice and boil out the impurities, decide which things are important... and make a decision.