Fill database tables with a large amount of test data

Question

I need to load a table with a large amount of test data. This is to be used for testing performance and scaling.

How can I easily create 100,000 rows of random/junk

Answer 1

You could also use a stored procedure. Consider the following table as an example:

CREATE TABLE your_table (id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, val int);

Then you could add a stored procedure like this:

DELIMITER $$
CREATE PROCEDURE prepare_data()
BEGIN
  DECLARE i INT DEFAULT 100;

  WHILE i < 100000 DO
    INSERT INTO your_table (val) VALUES (i);
    SET i = i + 1;
  END WHILE;
END$$
DELIMITER ;

When you call it, you'll have 100k records:

CALL prepare_data();