# MySQL Big Data Management If you try to insert big data chunks to the MySQL server, you might run into the following error message: ``` Server has gone away ``` It may be caused by too small a value in the `max_allowed_packet` option in the MySQL server. The issue is especially prevalent on older versions of the MariaDB server. The default value for the `max_allowed_packet` option differs depending on the MariaDB version: - `16777216` (16M) >= MariaDB 10.2.4 - `4194304` (4M) >= MariaDB 10.1.7 - `1048576` (1M) < MariaDB 10.1.7 ## Check the Current max_allowed_packet Value To check the current value for the `max_allowed_packet` use the following command: ```shell echo "SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'max_allowed_packet'" | mysql ``` The returned value specifies the maximum size of the package that the MySQL server can receive. ``` Variable_name Value max_allowed_packet 1048576 ``` If the size of data sent to the MySQL server is bigger than the `max_allowed_packet`, then the server throws an error and closes the connection. ## Increasing the New max_allowed_packet Value To increase the `max_allowed_packet` value, add the following lines to the MySQL server configuration file (the configuration file by default is located in the `/etc/my.cnf` path). ```ini [mysqld] max_allowed_packet=16M ``` Then restart MySQL server. ```shell systemctl restart mysql ```