sql query joins multiple tables - too slow (8 tables)

i'm trying to join 8 tables into one in order to create index used by other application, my query is like : (my mysql skill's very amateur)

SELECT t1_id, t2_name, t3_name, t4_name, t5_name, 
       t6_name, t7_name, t8_name, t9_name 
FROM t1 
  LEFT JOIN t2 ON (t1_id = t2_id) 
  LEFT JOIN t3 ON (t3_id = t1_id) 
  LEFT JOIN t4 ON (t4_id = t1_id)
  LEFT JOIN t5 ON (t5_id = t1_id)
  LEFT JOIN t6 ON (t6_id = t1_id) 
  LEFT JOIN t7 ON (t7_id = t1_id)
  LEFT JOIN t8 ON (t8_id = t1_id)
  LEFT JOIN t9 ON (t9_id = t1_id)

i can't even see the query results when i executing it, any ways to speed it up? :) any kinds of help is appreciated, but it's better be only one query (outside application rules)

thanks in advance

Solution 1:

I had a similar problem with several lookup tables joining to a large table with all id fields indexed. To monitor the effect of the joins on query time execution, I ran my query several times (limiting to first 100 rows), adding a Join to an additional table each time. After joining 12 tables, there was no significant change in query execution time. By the time I had joined the 13th table the execution time jumped to a 1 second; 14th table 4 seconds, 15th table 20 s, 16th 90 seconds.

Keijro's suggestion to use a correlated subqueries instead of joins e.g.

SELECT t1_id, 
        (select t2_name from t2 where t1_id = t2_id), 
        (select t3_name from t3 where t1_id = t3_id), 
        (select t4_name from t4 where t1_id = t4_id), 
        (select t5_name from t5 where t1_id = t5_id), 
        (select t6_name from t6 where t1_id = t6_id), 
        (select t7_name from t7 where t1_id = t7_id), 
        (select t8_name from t8 where t1_id = t8_id), 
        (select t9_name from t9 where t1_id = t9_id)  FROM t1

improved query performance dramatically. In fact the subqueries did not seem to lengthen the time to execute the query (the query was almost instanteous).

I am a little suprised as I thought correlated subqueries perform worse than joins.

Solution 2:

Depending on how much data is in the tables, you may need to place indexes on the columns that are being joined against. Often slow querying speed comes down to lack of an index in the right place.

Also:

LEFT JOINs are slower than INNER JOINs (though this is dependent on what you're doing exactly) - can you accomplish what you're looking for with inner joins?