Enable the query cache in MySQL to improve performance

If you want to get optimized and speedy response from your MySQL server then you need to add following two configurations directive to your MySQL server:

query_cache_size=SIZE
The amount of memory (SIZE) allocated for caching query results. The default value is 0, which disables the query cache.

query_cache_type=OPTION
Set the query cache type. Possible options are as follows:
0 : Don't cache results in or retrieve results from the query cache.
1 : Cache all query results except for those that begin with SELECT S_NO_CACHE.
2 : Cache results only for queries that begin with SELECT SQL_CACHE

Howto enable caching in MySQL

You can setup caching as follows:
$ mysql -u root –p
Output:

Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 16 to server version: 4.1.15-Debian_1-log
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql>

Now setup cache size 16Mb:

mysql> SET GLOBAL query_cache_size = 16777216;

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'query_cache_size'; 

Output:

 +------------------+----------+
| Variable_name    | Value    |
+------------------+----------+
| query_cache_size | 16777216 |
+------------------+----------+

You can setup them in /etc/my.cnf (Red Hat) or /etc/mysql/my.cnf (Debian) file:
# vi /etc/my.cnf
Append config directives as follows:

query_cache_size = 268435456
query_cache_type=1
query_cache_limit=1048576

In above example the maximum size of individual query results that can be cached set to 1048576 using query_cache_limit system variable. Memory size in Kb.