Looking for documentation for read_rnd_buffer_size you would find descriptions such as "The read_rnd_buffer_size is used after a sort, when reading rows in sorted order. If you use many queries with ORDER BY, upping this can improve performance" which is cool but it does not really tell you how exactly read_rnd_buffer_size works as well as which layer it corresponds to - SQL or storage engine.
Honestly as it had name very similar to read_buffer_size which is currently only used by MyISAM tables I thought read_rnd_buffer_size is also MyISAM only. But talking to Monty today I learned it is not the case.
read_rnd_buffer can be used for All storage engines not only by MyISAM. It is used for some sorts to optimally read rows after the sort. Here is how it works:
As sort is performed it can be performed having only row pointers together with …
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