SQL Query taking too long - php

Question

I am trying to optimize the SQL query listed below.
It is basically a search engine code that retrieves products based on the products name. It also checks products model number and whether or not it is enabled.
This executes in about 1.6 seconds when I run it directly through the phpMyAdmin tool but takes about 3 seconds in total to load in conjunction with the PHP file it is placed in.
I need to add a category search functionality and now that is crashing the MySQL server, HELP!
Justin
SELECT DISTINCT
p.products_id,
p.products_image,
p.products_price,
s.specials_new_products_price,
p.products_weight,
p.products_unit_quantity,
pd.products_name,
pd.products_img_alt,
pd.products_affiliate_url
FROM
products AS p
LEFT JOIN
vendors v
ON
v.vendors_id = p.vendors_id
LEFT JOIN
specials AS s
ON
s.products_id = p.products_id
AND
s.status = 1,
categories AS c,
products_description AS pd,
products_to_categories AS p2c
WHERE
(
(
pd.products_name LIKE '%cleaning%'
AND
pd.products_name LIKE '%supplies%'
)
OR
(
p.products_model LIKE '%cleaning%'
AND
p.products_model LIKE '%supplies%'
)
OR
p.products_id = 'cleaning supplies'
OR
v.vendors_prefix = 'cleaning supplies'
OR
CONCAT (CAST (v.vendors_prefix AS CHAR), '-', CAST (p.products_id AS CHAR)) = 'cleaning supplies'
)
AND
p.products_status = '1'
AND
c.categories_status = '1'
AND
p.products_id = pd.products_id
AND
p2c.products_id = pd.products_id
AND
p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id
ORDER BY
pd.products_name

Answer 1

left join specials as s on s.products_id = p.products_id and s.status = 1,
there you've a full table scan. That kind of data (tinyint, true/false) are not good handled by InnoDB. In Oracle you have something like a bitmap index, that is good for low selectivity indexes. You could use a subquery, in your where, something like this:
...
where
p.product_id IN (SELECT S.status FROM specials s WHERE s.status = 1)
AND
(
( pd.products_name like '%cleaning%' and pd.products_name like '%supplies%' ) or
...
Then, you pray for the query cache to cache the results from that subquery.
POST YOUR EXPLAIN!

Answer 2

select p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_price,
p.products_weight, p.products_unit_quantity,
s.specials_new_products_price,
pd.products_name, pd.products_img_alt, pd.products_affiliate_url
from products as p
left join vendors v ON v.vendors_id = p.vendors_id
left join specials as s on s.products_id = p.products_id,
left join products_description as pd on pd.products_id = p.products_id
left join products_to_categories as p2c on p2c.products_id = p.products_id
left join categories as c on c.categories_id = p2c.categories_id
where
(
( pd.products_name like '%cleaning%' and pd.products_name like '%supplies%' ) or
( p.products_model like '%cleaning%' and p.products_model like '%supplies%' ) or
p.products_id = 'cleaning supplies' or
v.vendors_prefix = 'cleaning supplies' or
CONCAT( CAST(v.vendors_prefix as char), '-', CAST(p.products_id as char) ) = 'cleaning supplies'
)
and p.products_status = '1'
and s.status = 1
and c.categories_status = '1'
group by p.products_id
order by pd.products_name
Make sure you have the following indexes set:
create index prod_prodid_status on products(products_id, products_status);
create index vendors_vendorid on vendors(vendors_id);
create index specials_prodid_status on vendors(products_id, `status`);
create index prod_desc_prodid_prodname on products_description(products_id, products_name);
create index prod_cat_prodid_catid on products_to_categories(products_id, categories_id);
create index categories_catid_status on categories(categories_id, categories_status);
And i hope all the fields with "id" in their name are integers