Mysql: How to disable index in innodb

I'm trying to speed up bulk insert in an InnoDB table by temporary disabling its indexes:

ALTER TABLE mytable DISABLE KEYS;

But it gives a warning:

+-------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Level | Code | Message                                                     |
+-------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Note  | 1031 | Table storage engine for 'mytable' doesn't have this option |
+-------+------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

How can we disable the indexes?

What alternatives are there to avoid using the index when doing bulk inserts?

How can we speed up the process?

 Answers

Have you tried the following?

    SET autocommit=0; 
    SET unique_checks=0; 
    SET foreign_key_checks=0;

From the MySQL References https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/optimizing-innodb-bulk-data-loading.html

See Section "Bulk Data Loading Tips"

---

to reduce the costs for re-calculating the indexes you should insert the data either using DATA INFILE or using Mysql Multi Row Inserts, like

INSERT INTO tbl_name (a,b,c) VALUES(1,2,3),(4,5,6),(7,8,9);

-> so inserting several rows with one statement.

How many rows one can insert with one statement depends on the max_allowed_packet mysql setting.