Use native replication instances

Prerequisites

To create a new native replication instance or upgrade an existing instance, your instance must meet the following requirements. You can view the instance details on the Basic Information page.

• Database version: MySQL 5.7 (minor version 20240930 or later) or MySQL 8.0 (minor version 20250531 or later)

• Product series: Basic Edition

• Billing method: subscription, pay-as-you-go

  Note

  To use a Serverless native replication instance, you must first create a pay-as-you-go instance, enable native replication, and then change the billing method to Serverless.

• Supported regions: China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), China (Guangzhou), and China (Chengdu)

  Important

  Native replication for ApsaraDB RDS is currently available only in the regions listed above. Support for other regions will be added in the future. If you require this feature in other regions, please submit a ticket.

Billing

• If you enable native replication when you purchase a new instance, you are charged standard fees for the new instance. Upgrading an existing instance to a native replication instance does not incur additional fees.

• During the full data import to your ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, if you choose to upload a backup of your self-managed database to Object Storage Service (OSS) and then download it to RDS, you will incur OSS storage fees while the backup is stored in OSS.

Native Replication Permissions

A privileged account on an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL native replication instance has permissions that are unavailable on standard ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instances.

During maintenance operations such as instance migration or specification changes, the permissions to run native replication commands and modify parameters are temporarily revoked. This does not affect the instance's replication process. The system restores the permissions after the maintenance task is complete.

Notes

ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL native replication instances have the following limitations:

Upgrade to a native replication instance

Step 2: Set up data replication

1. Install Percona XtraBackup on the self-managed database and perform a backup

   1. Install Percona XtraBackup:

      Install on CentOS

      • MySQL 5.7

        wget https://downloads.percona.com/downloads/Percona-XtraBackup-2.4/Percona-XtraBackup-2.4.29/binary/redhat/8/x86_64/percona-xtrabackup-24-2.4.29-1.el8.x86_64.rpm
        yum localinstall percona-xtrabackup-24-2.4.29-1.el8.x86_64.rpm

      • MySQL 8.0

        wget https://downloads.percona.com/downloads/Percona-XtraBackup-8.0/Percona-XtraBackup-8.0.35-31/binary/redhat/8/x86_64/percona-xtrabackup-80-8.0.35-31.1.el8.x86_64.rpm
        yum localinstall percona-xtrabackup-80-8.0.35-31.1.el8.x86_64.rpm

      Install on Ubuntu

      1. Install Percona XtraBackup.

         • MySQL 5.7

           # 1. Download the Percona repository package.
           wget https://repo.percona.com/apt/percona-release_latest.generic_all.deb
           
           # 2. Install the repository package.
           sudo dpkg -i percona-release_latest.generic_all.deb
           
           # 3. Update the package lists.
           sudo apt-get update
           
           # 4. Install Percona XtraBackup.
           sudo apt-get install -y percona-xtrabackup-24

         • MySQL 8.0

           # 1. Download the Percona repository package (if not done in a previous step).
           wget https://repo.percona.com/apt/percona-release_latest.generic_all.deb
           
           # 2. Install the repository package.
           sudo dpkg -i percona-release_latest.generic_all.deb
           
           # 3. Update the package lists.
           sudo apt-get update
           
           # 4. Install Percona XtraBackup.
           sudo apt-get install -y percona-xtrabackup-80

      2. Install qpress. Percona XtraBackup for Ubuntu does not include qpress, so you must install it separately.

         sudo apt-get install -y qpress

   2. Create a backup.

      The following three compression methods are based on the xtrabackup command and are suitable for instances that primarily use the InnoDB engine. If your database contains MyISAM tables, use the innobackupex command.

      Default qpress compression

      xtrabackup --backup \
        --host=127.0.0.1 \
        --port=3306 \
        --user=<your_user> \
        --password=<your_password> \
        --stream=xbstream \
        --compress > ./<your_backup.xb>

      QuickLZ compression

      This method requires Percona XtraBackup 8.0.34-29 or earlier. For more information, see the official Percona XtraBackup documentation.

      xtrabackup --backup \
        --host=127.0.0.1 \
        --port=3306 \
        --user=<your_user> \
        --password=<your_password> \
        --stream=xbstream \
        --compress > ./<your_backup_qp.xb>

      External ZSTD compression

      xtrabackup --backup \
        --host=127.0.0.1 \
        --port=3306 \
        --user=<your_user> \
        --password=<your_password> \
        --stream=xbstream \
        | zstd -q - > ./<your_backup.xb.zstd>

2. Import full data and automatically set up data replication

   Note

   Before you import data, ensure that a network connection exists between your self-managed MySQL database and your ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

   Download from OSS

   1. Upload the self-managed database backup to OSS

      You can use various tools, such as the ossutil tool or OSS SDKs, to upload the backup file. This topic uses ossutil as an example.

      Important

      Make sure that the destination OSS Bucket and the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance are in the same region. Otherwise, RDS will fail to retrieve the backup file from OSS.

      1. Install ossutil.

         yum install -y unzip
         sudo -v ; curl https://gosspublic.alicdn.com/ossutil/install.sh | sudo bash
         ossutil config

      2. Upload the backup data to OSS.

         ossutil -e <your_oss_endpoint> -i <your_accesskey_id> -k <your_accesskey_secret> cp <your_backup_file> oss://<your_bucket_name>/

   2. Import the backup file from OSS to RDS and automatically set up the replication link

      1. Go to the RDS Instances list, select a region, and then click the ID of the destination instance.

      2. In the left navigation bar, click Native Replication.

      3. On the native replication page, click Import Full Data, configure the following parameters, and click Yes.

         Category	Parameter	Description
         Backup Import Configuration (Required)	MySQL Version	The system automatically displays 5.7 or 8.0. No configuration is required.
         	Method	Select Import from OSS.
         	OSS Bucket	Select the OSS bucket where the backup file of the self-managed database is stored. For more information about OSS buckets, see Upload files.
         	OSS File Name	Select the backup file for the self-managed database from the OSS bucket. If the backup file is in a subdirectory of the OSS bucket, you must manually enter the full path name to search for it. The following three backup file formats are supported: An xbstream file generated by Percona XtraBackup. A _qp.xb file generated by using the built-in QuickLZ compression of Percona XtraBackup. An xbstream file compressed by using zstd, with a .xb.zst file extension.
         We recommend that you enable automatic replication setup. The system will automatically set up the data replication link based on the following configurations. If you do not enable automatic replication setup, you must manually set up the replication link after you import the full data.
         Automatic Replication Setup (Optional)	Auto-setup Replication	Turn on this switch to automatically establish a replication relationship from the self-managed MySQL database to the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
         	Source IP	Enter the IP address of the source self-managed database.
         	Source Port	Enter the port number of the source self-managed database.
         	Source Account	Enter the username for the source self-managed database. The user must have the REPLICATION CLIENT and REPLICATION SLAVE privileges.
         	Source Account Password	Enter the password for the source user account.

   Stream backup directly

   1. Install the backup-helper tool on the self-managed database and start the backup transfer process

      # Install the backup-helper tool.
      wget -O backup-helper https://mysql-backup-helper.oss-cn-beijing.aliyuncs.com/v1.0.0-alpha/backup-helper && chmod +x backup-helper
      # Start the backup transfer process. 
      # Make sure that MySQL is running and the corresponding version of Percona XtraBackup is installed.
      ./backup-helper --backup --mode=stream --host=<mysql_ip> --port=<mysql_port> --user=<mysql_user> --password=<mysql_password>

   2. Import data into RDS

      1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console, select a region, and then click the ID of the destination instance.

      2. In the left navigation bar, click Native Replication.

      3. On the native replication page, click Import Full Data, configure the following parameters, and click Yes.

         Category	Parameter	Description
         Backup Import Configuration (Required)	MySQL Version	The system automatically displays 5.7 or 8.0. No configuration is required.
         	Method	Select Import from Stream Backup.
         	Source Backup IP Address	Enter the IP address used for the backup transfer.
         	Source Backup Port	Enter the port used for the backup transfer. The default port is 9999.
         We recommend that you enable automatic replication setup. The system will automatically set up the data replication link based on the following configurations. If you do not enable automatic replication setup, you must manually set up the replication link after you import the full data.
         Automatic Replication Setup (Optional)	Auto-setup Replication	Turn on this switch to automatically establish a replication relationship from the self-managed MySQL database to the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
         	Source IP	Enter the IP address of the source self-managed database.
         	Source Port	Enter the port number of the source self-managed database.
         	Source Account	Enter the username for the source self-managed database. The user must have the REPLICATION CLIENT and REPLICATION SLAVE privileges.
         	Source Account Password	Enter the password for the source user account.

   If you did not select Auto-setup Replication when you imported the full data, or if the automatic replication link encounters an issue and cannot be recovered, you can refer to the following steps to manually establish a data replication link from a self-managed MySQL database to an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

   Manually set up data replication

   1. Create a privileged account for the RDS instance.

   2. Create a replication account and grant permissions in your self-managed database.

      -- Create a replication account 'replica'. In production, we recommend restricting access to specific IP addresses instead of '%'.
      -- Replace 'Test123!' with a strong password.
      CREATE USER 'replica'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'Test123!';
      
      -- Grant the required replication privileges.
      GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE, REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* TO 'replica'@'%';
      
      -- Apply the privilege changes.
      FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   3. Use the privileged account to log on to the RDS instance and manually set up the replication link.

      -- Set up replication.
      CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='<source_ip>', MASTER_PORT=<source_port>, MASTER_USER='<replication_user>', MASTER_PASSWORD='<replication_password>', MASTER_AUTO_POSITION=1;
      
      -- Start replication.
      START SLAVE;
      
      -- Check the replication status.
      SHOW SLAVE STATUS;

3. Check the replication status

   Return to the Native Replication page of the RDS instance details to view the data replication link information. When the replication status is Running, it indicates that the data replication link has been successfully established.

Disable native replication

1. Go to the RDS Instances list, select a region, and then click the ID of the target instance. The instance must be a native replication instance.

2. In the left navigation bar, click Native Replication, and then click Disable.

3. Click Yes.

   Important

   After you click OK, the replication relationship between the self-managed MySQL database and the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL native replication instance terminates. The instance then reverts to a standard ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance and switches from read-only to read/write mode, allowing you to perform write operations.

Related content and API

• To create an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL native replication instance, you can call the CreateDBInstance API operation. Note the following:

  • The basic instance configuration must meet the prerequisites. You can configure other parameters as required.

  • Set the ExternalReplication parameter to ON.

• To set up a native replication link for an existing instance, you can call the ImportUserBackupFile API operation.

Appendix: Network configuration

For more information about network connectivity issues, see Connections and networking.