in reply to DBI or mysqlimport?

I am doing something similar. I pull from an Oracle database (without foreign keys) and am validating, adding keys, then loading into a MySQL database. This is for an online reporting app. The fastest solution I've found is something along the lines of:
  1. Dump each Oracle table into a tab-delim file. I do some validation here to limit the rows dumped. (This is actually the slowest part. Go figure.)
  2. Load each file into a MySQL table using LOAD FILE. I usually load about 25k rows/second.
  3. Create my foreign keys using UPDATE.
  4. Get rid of the bogus rows using DELETE.
  5. Issue OPTIMIZE TABLE to compact it (I'm using MyISAM).
  6. Add my indices.

Before anyone says anything, I know MyISAM doesn't have FK's per se. I don't ever modify this database outside the above data load.

I load about 10M rows in under 40 minutes this way, including all the FK relationships and indexing.

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We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Then there are Damian modules.... *sigh* ... that's not about being less-lazy -- that's about being on some really good drugs -- you know, there is no spoon. - flyingmoose

I shouldn't have to say this, but any code, unless otherwise stated, is untested