You can optimize how InnoDB allocates space to file-per-table and general tablespaces on Linux. By default, when additional space is required, InnoDB allocates pages to the tablespace and physically writes NULLs to those pages. This behavior can affect performance if new pages are allocated frequently. You can disable innodb_extend_and_initialize on Linux systems to avoid physically writing NULLs to newly allocated tablespace pages. When innodb_extend_and_initialize is disabled, space is allocated to tablespace files using posix_fallocate() calls, which reserve space without physically writing NULLs.

When pages are allocated using posix_fallocate() calls, the extension size is small by default and pages are often allocated only a few at a time, which can cause fragmentation and increase random I/O. To avoid this issue, increase the tablespace extension size when enabling posix_fallocate() calls. Tablespace extension size can be increased up to 4GB using the AUTOEXTEND_SIZE option. For more information, see Section 17.6.3.9, “Tablespace AUTOEXTEND_SIZE Configuration”.

InnoDB writes a redo log record before allocating a new tablespace page. If a page allocation operation is interrupted, the operation is replayed from the redo log record during recovery. (A page allocation operation replayed from a redo log record physically writes NULLs to the newly allocated page.) A redo log record is written before allocating a page regardless of the innodb_extend_and_initialize setting.

On non-Linux systems and Windows, InnoDB allocates new pages to the tablespace and physically writes NULLs to those pages, which is the default behavior. Attempting to disable innodb_extend_and_initialize on those systems returns the following error:

Changing innodb_extend_and_initialize not supported on this platform. Falling back to the default.