How do you implement a parallel algorithm for a software which
needs to be streamed to tapes?
How do you ensure that you have the capability to be able to tune
the level of parallelism for varying input and output devices and
varying levels of load?
These were some of the questions that we needed to answer when we
were trying to implement multi-threading capability for MySQL
Enterprise Backup (MEB).
The trivial way of achieving parallelism is by having the
multiple threads pick up the different files (in a file per
table) scenario. But this did not seem adequate because:
a) The sizes of these files (corresponding to the tables) could
be different and then one large file would limit the level of
parallelism since it would be processed by a single thread.
b) If you have to stream the backup how do you reconcile these
multiple files being streamed by separate threads? Large backups
are streamed directly to tape so it is …
The MySQL Enterprise Backup 3.8.1 release's main goal was support MySQL 5.6 server. But also beyond that primary goal MEB team added some valuable new options and features to ensure you'll get most from the new features in 5.6 as well. At a glance, here are some of the highlights,
MEB copy of InnoDB undo log tablespaces
MySQL 5.6 introduces a new feature to store undo logs in separate files called as undo tablespaces for improved performance. These undo tablespaces are logically part of system tablespace. All the commands associated with MEB - "backup", "apply-log" and "copy-back" now take care of the undo tablespaces in the same way as they process the system tablespace. MEB now supports innodb_undo_directory[logs][tablespace] option variables. When backup is executed, undo datafiles (up to number specified by innodb_undo_tablespaces) are stored in same directory as the datafiles of system tablespace. During …
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It was a great experience to attend the MySQL Connect Conference for the first time ever.
Personally I was very much enthralled to present about "How to make MySQL Backups" besides attending
different sessions to absorb more knowledge about the technical
prospects of MySQL. One of the agenda items in my presentation
was "MySQL Enterprise Backup" functionality and
features. There were total of 40 attendees in the session, who
were very much interested about the MySQL Enterprise Backup
product and gave positive feedback as well as areas of
improvements on our product. Some of our features brought lot of
excitement and smile amongst our customers including,
…
Introduction
In MySQL Enterprise Backup v3.7.0 (MEB 3.7.0) a new option '–incremental-base' was introduced. Using this option a user can take in incremental backup without specifying the '–start-lsn' option. Description of this option can be found here. Instead of '–start-lsn' the user can provide the location …
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Since version 3.6 MEB supports backups to tape through the SBT
interface.
The officially supported tool for such backups to tape is Oracle
Secure Backup (OSB).
But there are a lot of other Storage Managers. MEB allows to use
them through the SBT interface. Since version 3.7 it also has
option --sbt-environment which allows to pass
environment variables, not needed by OSB, to third-party
managers. At the same time MEB can not guarantee it would work
with all of them.
This month we were contacted by a customer who wanted to use IBM
Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) with MEB. We could only say them
same thing I wrote in previous paragraph: this solution is
supposed to work, but you have to be pioneers of this technology.
And they agreed.
They agreed to be the pioneers and so the story begins.MEB requires following options to be specified by those who want to connect it to …
[Read more]The latest release of MySQL Enterprise Backup (MEB 3.7.0) introduces a new method for performing incremental hot backups - the redo-log-only incremental backup. This new method of incremental backups allows for highly compact and fast incremental backups and MEB users now have the choice between data-file based incremental backups and the redo-log-only incremental backups.
In data-file based incremental backups (performed using the '--incremental' option) MEB scans all InnoDB datafiles but copies to the backup only modified pages. The main benefit of this is …
[Read more]The latest release of MySQL Enterprise Backup (MEB 3.7.0) introduces a new method for performing incremental hot backups - the redo-log-only incremental backup. This new method of incremental backups allows for highly compact and fast incremental backups and MEB users now have the choice between data-file based incremental backups and the redo-log-only incremental backups.
In data-file based incremental backups (performed using the '--incremental' option) MEB scans all InnoDB datafiles but copies to the backup only modified pages. The main benefit of this is …
[Read more]In its latest release MySQL Enterprise Backup (MEB 3.7.0) rolled out a new feature called 'incremental-base' which can save a lot of time and effort of the users when taking incremental backups. Let us understand this new feature and how it can be helpful:
[Read more]In its latest release MySQL Enterprise Backup (MEB 3.7.0) rolled out a new feature called 'incremental-base' which can save a lot of time and effort of the users when taking incremental backups. Let us understand this new feature and how it can be helpful:
[Read more]In California we are always thinking about backups. Living near an earthquake fault line makes this necessary. For me, it is the Hayward Fault (it runs from goal post to goal post in University of Californa Berkeley stadium). We are strongly advised to have backup systems for water, food, and medical emergencies. It’s necessary to monitor your food and water emergency …
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