The defaults on various distributions of Linux vary considerably. MySQL recommends that you use NOOP or a deadline I/O scheduler with native asynchronous I/O (AIO) on Linux. In general, NetApp customers and internal testing show better results with NoOps.

MySQL's InnoDB storage engine uses the asynchronous I/O subsystem (native AIO) on Linux to perform read-ahead and write requests for data file pages. This behavior is controlled by the innodb_use_native_aio configuration option, which is enabled by default. With native AIO, the type of I/O scheduler has greater influence on I/O performance. Conduct benchmarks to determine which I/O scheduler provides the best results for your workload and environment.

See the relevant Linux and MySQL documentation for instructions on configuring the I/O scheduler.