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Data Transmission Service:Synchronize data between PolarDB for MySQL clusters

Last Updated:Nov 22, 2023

This topic describes how to synchronize data between PolarDB for MySQL clusters by using Data Transmission Service (DTS).

Prerequisites

  • The source and destination PolarDB for MySQL clusters are created. For more information, see Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster and Purchase a subscription cluster.

  • The available storage space of the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster is larger than the total size of the data in the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster.

Limits

Note
  • During schema synchronization, DTS synchronizes foreign keys from the source database to the destination database.

  • During full data synchronization and incremental data synchronization, DTS temporarily disables the constraint check and cascade operations on foreign keys at the session level. If you perform the cascade update and delete operations on the source database during data synchronization, data inconsistency may occur.

Category

Description

Limits on the source database

  • The tables to be synchronized must have PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraints, and all fields must be unique. Otherwise, the destination may contain duplicate data records.

  • If you select tables as the objects to be synchronized and you need to edit the tables, such as renaming tables or columns, in the destination database, you can synchronize up to 1,000 tables in a single data synchronization task. If you run a task to synchronize more than 1,000 tables, a request error occurs. In this case, we recommend that you configure multiple tasks to synchronize the tables or configure a task to synchronize the entire database.

  • If you need to synchronize incremental data, the binary logging feature must be enabled and the loose_polar_log_bin parameter must be set to on. Otherwise, error messages are returned during precheck and the data synchronization task cannot be started. For more information about how to enable the binary logging feature and set the loose_polar_log_bin parameter, see Enable binary logging and Modify parameters.

    Note
    • If you enable the binary logging feature for a PolarDB for MySQL cluster, you are charged for the storage space that is occupied by binary logs.

    • For an incremental data synchronization task, the binary logs of the source database are retained for at least 24 hours. For a full and incremental data synchronization task, the binary logs of the source database are retained for at least seven days. Otherwise, DTS may fail to obtain the binary logs and the task may fail. In exceptional circumstances, data inconsistency or loss may occur. After full data synchronization is complete, you can set the retention period to more than 24 hours. Make sure that you set the retention period of binary logs based on the preceding requirements. Otherwise, the SLA of DTS does not guarantee service reliability or performance.

Other limits

  • Read-only nodes of the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster cannot be synchronized.

  • Before you synchronize data, evaluate the impact of data synchronization on the performance of the source and destination databases. We recommend that you synchronize data during off-peak hours. During initial full data synchronization, DTS uses the read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the loads on the database servers.

  • During initial full data synchronization, concurrent INSERT operations cause fragmentation in the tables of the destination database. After full data synchronization is complete, the tablespace of the destination database is larger than that of the source database.

  • We recommend that you do not use tools such as pt-online-schema-change to perform DDL operations on source tables during data synchronization. Otherwise, data synchronization may fail.

  • If you use only DTS to write data to the destination database, you can use Data Management (DMS) to perform online DDL operations on source tables during data synchronization. For more information, see Perform lock-free operations.

  • During data synchronization, we recommend that you use only DTS to write data to the destination database. This prevents data inconsistency between the source and destination databases. If you use tools other than DTS to write data to the destination database, data loss may occur in the destination database when you use DMS to perform online DDL operations.

Usage notes

If you want to configure two-way data synchronization between PolarDB for MySQL clusters, take note of the following limits:

  • DTS supports two-way data synchronization only between two PolarDB for MySQL clusters. DTS does not support two-way data synchronization among more than two PolarDB for MySQL clusters.

  • Limits on DDL synchronization direction: To ensure data consistency and the stability of two-way data synchronization, you can synchronize DDL operations only in the forward direction.

  • When DTS runs a two-way data synchronization task, DTS creates a database named dts in the destination database to prevent circular synchronization. When the task is running, do not modify the dts database.

  • If the source or the destination instance is located in a region outside the Chinese mainland, two-way data synchronization is supported only between instances located within the same region. For example, two-way data synchronization is supported between instances within the Japan (Tokyo) region. Two-way data synchronization between an instance in the Japan (Tokyo) region and another instance in the Germany (Frankfurt) region is not supported.

  • If a table is synchronized in both the forward and reverse synchronization and both the full data and incremental data of the table are synchronized in the forward synchronization, DTS synchronizes only the incremental data of the table in the reverse synchronization.

  • DTS executes the CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `test` statement in the source database as scheduled to move forward the binary log file position.

Billing

Synchronization typeTask configuration fee
Schema synchronization and full data synchronizationFree of charge.
Incremental data synchronizationCharged. For more information, see Billing overview.

Supported synchronization topologies

  • One-way one-to-one synchronization
  • One-way one-to-many synchronization
  • One-way cascade synchronization
  • Two-way cascade synchronization
  • One-way many-to-one synchronization
  • Two-way one-to-one synchronization

For more information about the synchronization topologies that are supported by DTS, see Synchronization topologies.

SQL operations that can be synchronized

Operation type

SQL statement

DML

INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE

DDL

  • ALTER TABLE and ALTER VIEW

  • CREATE FUNCTION, CREATE INDEX, CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE TABLE, and CREATE VIEW

  • DROP INDEX and DROP TABLE

  • RENAME TABLE

  • TRUNCATE TABLE

Procedure

  1. Go to the Data Synchronization Tasks page.
    1. Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console.
    2. In the top navigation bar, click DTS.
    3. In the left-side navigation pane, choose DTS (DTS) > Data Synchronization.
    Note
  2. From the drop-down list to the right of Data Synchronization Tasks, select the region in which the data synchronization instance resides.
    Note If you use the new DTS console, you must select the region in which the data synchronization instance resides in the top navigation bar.
  3. Click Create Task. On the Create Task wizard page, configure the source and destination databases.

    Warning

    After you configure the source and destination databases, we recommend that you read the limits that are displayed in the upper part of the page. Otherwise, the task may fail or data inconsistency may occur.

    Section

    Parameter

    Description

    N/A

    Task Name

    The name of the task. DTS automatically assigns a name to the task. We recommend that you specify a descriptive name that makes it easy to identify the task. You do not need to specify a unique task name.

    Source Database

    Select an existing DMS database instance

    The database instance that you want to use. You can choose whether to select an existing instance based on your business requirements.

    • If you select an existing instance, DTS automatically populates the parameters for the database.

    • If you do not select an existing instance, you must manually configure parameters for the database.

    Database Type

    The type of the source database. Select PolarDB for MySQL.

    Access Method

    The access method of the source database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.

    Instance Region

    The region in which the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster resides.

    Replicate Data Across Alibaba Cloud Accounts

    Specifies whether to synchronize data across Alibaba Cloud accounts. In this example, No is selected.

    PolarDB Cluster ID

    The ID of the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster.

    Note

    The source and destination PolarDB for MySQL clusters can be the same or different. You can use DTS to synchronize data between two PolarDB for MySQL clusters or within a PolarDB for MySQL cluster.

    Database Account

    The database account of the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster. The account must have the read permissions on the objects to be synchronized.

    Database Password

    The password of the database account.

    Encryption

    Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the source PolarDB for MySQL cluster. You can set this parameter based on your business requirements. For more information about the SSL encryption feature, see Configure SSL encryption.

    Destination Database

    Select an existing DMS database instance

    The database instance that you want to use. You can choose whether to select an existing instance based on your business requirements.

    • If you select an existing instance, DTS automatically populates the parameters for the database.

    • If you do not select an existing instance, you must manually configure parameters for the database.

    Database Type

    The type of the destination database. Select PolarDB for MySQL.

    Access Method

    The access method of the destination database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.

    Instance Region

    The region in which the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster resides.

    PolarDB Cluster ID

    The ID of the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster.

    Database Account

    The database account of the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster. The account must have the read permissions on the destination database.

    Important

    We recommend that you use a privileged account.

    Database Password

    The password of the database account.

    Encryption

    Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster. You can set this parameter based on your business requirements. For more information about the SSL encryption feature, see Configure SSL encryption.

  4. In the lower part of the page, click Test Connectivity and Proceed.

    If the source or destination database is an Alibaba Cloud database instance, such as an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL or ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the instance. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database hosted on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security group rules of the ECS instance, and you must ensure that the ECS instance can access the database. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database that is deployed in a data center or provided by a third-party cloud service provider, you must manually add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the database to allow DTS to access the database. For more information, see Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security settings of on-premises databases.

    Warning

    If the CIDR blocks of DTS servers are automatically or manually added to the whitelist of the database or instance, or to the ECS security group rules, security risks may arise. Therefore, before you use DTS to synchronize data, you must understand and acknowledge the potential risks and take preventive measures, including but not limited to the following measures: enhancing the security of your username and password, limiting the ports that are exposed, authenticating API calls, regularly checking the whitelist or ECS security group rules and forbidding unauthorized CIDR blocks, or connecting the database to DTS by using Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway.

  5. Configure the objects to be synchronized and advanced settings.

    Parameter

    Description

    Synchronization Types

    By default, Incremental Data Synchronization is selected. You must also select Schema Synchronization and Full Data Synchronization. After the precheck is complete, DTS synchronizes the historical data of selected objects from the source instance to the destination instance. The historical data is the basis for subsequent incremental synchronization.

    Method to Migrate Triggers in Source Database

    The method used to synchronize triggers from the source database. You can select a synchronization method based on your business requirements. If no triggers are to be synchronized, you do not need to set this parameter. For more information, see Synchronize or migrate triggers from the source database.

    Note

    This parameter is displayed only if you select Schema Synchronization as a Synchronization Types.

    Synchronization Topology

    The synchronization topology of the data synchronization task. In this example, One-way Synchronization is selected.

    Processing Mode of Conflicting Tables

    • Precheck and Report Errors: checks whether the destination database contains tables that have the same names as tables in the source database. If the source and destination databases do not contain tables that have identical table names, the precheck is passed. Otherwise, an error is returned during the precheck and the data synchronization task cannot be started.

      Note

      You can use the object name mapping feature to rename the tables that are synchronized to the destination database. You can use this feature if the source and destination databases contain identical table names and the tables in the destination database cannot be deleted or renamed. For more information, see Map object names.

    • Ignore Errors and Proceed: skips the precheck for identical table names in the source and destination databases.

      Warning

      If you select Ignore Errors and Proceed, data inconsistency may occur, and your business may be exposed to potential risks.

      • If the source and destination databases have the same schemas, and a data record has the same primary key value as an existing data record in the destination database:

        • During full data synchronization, DTS does not synchronize the data record to the destination database. The existing data record in the destination database is retained.

        • During incremental data synchronization, DTS synchronizes the data record to the destination database. The existing data record in the destination database is overwritten.

      • If the source and destination databases have different schemas, data may fail to be initialized, only some columns are synchronized, or the data synchronization task fails. Operate with caution.

    Source Objects

    Select one or more objects from the Source Objects section and click the Rightwards arrow icon to add the objects to the Selected Objects section.

    Note

    You can select columns, tables, or databases as the objects to be synchronized. If you select tables or columns as the objects to be synchronized, DTS does not synchronize other objects such as views, triggers, or stored procedures to the destination database.

    Selected Objects

    • To rename an object that you want to synchronize to the destination instance, right-click the object in the Selected Objects section. For more information, see Map the name of a single object.

    • To rename multiple objects at a time, click Batch Edit in the upper-right corner of the Selected Objects section. For more information, see Map multiple object names at a time.

    Note
    • To select the SQL operations performed on a specific database or table, right-click an object in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, select the SQL operations that you want to synchronize. For more information, see the SQL operations that can be synchronized section of this topic.

    • To specify WHERE conditions to filter data, right-click a table in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, specify the conditions. For more information, see Use SQL conditions to filter data.

  6. Click Next: Advanced Settings to configure advanced settings.

    • Data Verification Settings

      For more information about how to use the data verification feature, see Enable data verification.

    • Advanced Settings

      Parameter

      Description

      Select the dedicated cluster used to schedule the task

      By default, DTS schedules tasks to shared clusters. You do not need to configure this parameter. You can purchase a dedicated cluster of specified specifications to run DTS synchronization tasks. For more information, see What is a DTS dedicated cluster.

      Set Alerts

      Specifies whether to configure alerting for the data synchronization task. If the task fails or the synchronization latency exceeds the specified threshold, alert contacts will receive notifications. Valid values:

      Select the engine type of the destination database

      The engine type of the destination PolarDB for MySQL cluster. Valid values:

      • InnoDB: the default storage engine.

      • X-Engine: an online transaction processing (OLTP) database storage engine.

      Copy the temporary table of the Online DDL tool that is generated in the source table to the destination database.

      If you use Data Management (DMS) or the gh-ost tool to perform online DDL operations on the source database, you can specify whether to synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations.

      Important

      You cannot use tools such as pt-online-schema-change to perform online DDL operations on the source database. Otherwise, the DTS task fails.

      • Yes: DTS synchronizes the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations.

        Note

        If online DDL operations generate a large amount of data, the data synchronization task may take an extended period of time to complete.

      • No, Adapt to DMS Online DDL: DTS does not synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations. Only the original DDL operations that are performed by using Data Management (DMS) are synchronized.

        Note

        If you select this option, the tables in the destination database may be locked.

      • No, Adapt to gh-ost: DTS does not synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations. Only the original DDL operations that are performed by using the gh-ost tool are synchronized. You can use the default or custom regular expressions to filter out the shadow tables of the gh-ost tool and tables that are not required.

        Note

        If you select this option, the tables in the destination database may be locked.

      Retry Time for Failed Connections

      The retry time range for failed connections. If the source or destination database fails to be connected after the data synchronization task is started, DTS immediately retries a connection within the time range. Valid values: 10 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 720. We recommend that you set the parameter to a value greater than 30. If DTS reconnects to the source and destination databases within the specified time range, DTS resumes the data synchronization task. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails.

      Note
      • If you set different retry time ranges for multiple DTS tasks that have the same source or destination database, the shortest retry time range that is set takes precedence.

      • When DTS retries a connection, you are charged for the DTS instance. We recommend that you specify the retry time range based on your business requirements. You can also release the DTS instance at your earliest opportunity after the source and destination instances are released.

      The wait time before a retry when other issues occur in the source and destination databases.

      The retry time range for other issues. For example, if the DDL or DML operations fail to be performed after the data synchronization task is started, DTS immediately retries the operations within the time range. Valid values: 1 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 10. We recommend that you set the parameter to a value greater than 10. If the failed operations are successfully performed within the specified time range, DTS resumes the data synchronization task. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails.

      Important

      The value of the The wait time before a retry when other issues occur in the source and destination databases parameter must be smaller than the value of the Retry Time for Failed Connection parameter.

      Enable Throttling for Full Data Migration

      During full data migration, DTS uses the read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the loads of the database servers. You can configure the Queries per second (QPS) to the source database, RPS of Full Data Migration, and BPS of Full Data Migration parameters for full data synchronization tasks to reduce the pressure on the destination database.

      Note

      This parameter can be configured only if Full Data Synchronization is selected as Synchronization Types.

      Enable Throttling for Incremental Data Synchronization

      You can configure the RPS of Incremental Data Migration and BPS of Incremental Data Migration parameters for incremental data synchronization tasks to reduce the pressure on the destination database.

      Environment Tag

      The environment tag that is used to identify the DTS instance. You can select an environment tag based on your business requirements. In this example, no environment tag is selected.

      Configure ETL

      Specifies whether to configure the extract, transform, and load (ETL) feature. For more information, see What is ETL?. Valid values:

      Whether to delete SQL operations on heartbeat tables of forward and reverse tasks

      Specifies whether to write SQL operations on heartbeat tables to the source database while the DTS instance is running.

      • Yes: does not write SQL operations on heartbeat tables. In this case, a latency of the DTS instance may be displayed.

      • No: writes SQL operations on heartbeat tables. In this case, specific features such as physical backup and cloning of the source database may be affected.

  7. Click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck in the lower part of the page.

    You can move the pointer over Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck and click Preview OpenAPI parameters to view the parameter settings of the API operation that is called to configure the instance.

    Note
    • Before you can start the data synchronization task, DTS performs a precheck. You can start the data synchronization task only after the task passes the precheck.

    • If the task fails to pass the precheck, click View Details next to each failed item. After you troubleshoot the issues based on the causes, run a precheck again.

    • If an alert is triggered for an item during the precheck:

      • If an alert item cannot be ignored, click View Details next to the failed item and troubleshoot the issues. Then, run a precheck again.

      • If an alert item can be ignored, click Confirm Alert Details. In the View Details dialog box, click Ignore. In the message that appears, click OK. Then, click Precheck Again to run a precheck again. If you ignore the alert item, data inconsistency may occur, and your business may be exposed to potential risks.

  8. Wait until the success rate becomes 100%. Then, click Next: Purchase Instance.

  9. On the Purchase Instance page, configure the Billing Method and Instance Class parameters for the data synchronization instance. The following table describes the parameters.

    Section

    Parameter

    Description

    New Instance Class

    Billing Method

    • Subscription: You pay for the instance when you create an instance. The subscription billing method is more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method for long-term use.

    • Pay-as-you-go: A pay-as-you-go instance is charged on an hourly basis. The pay-as-you-go billing method is suitable for short-term use. If you no longer require a pay-as-you-go instance, you can release the pay-as-you-go instance to reduce costs.

    Resource Group

    The resource group on which the instance is run. Default value: default resource group. For more information, see What is Resource Management?.

    Instance Class

    DTS provides various synchronization specifications that provide different performance. The synchronization speed varies based on the synchronization specifications that you select. You can select a synchronization specification based on your business scenario. For more information, see Specifications of data synchronization instances.

    Subscription Duration

    If you select the subscription billing method, set the subscription duration and the number of instances that you want to create. The subscription duration can be one to nine months, one year, two years, three years, or five years.

    Note

    This parameter is available only if you select the Subscription billing method.

  10. Read and select the check box to agree to the Data Transmission Service (Pay-as-you-go) Service Terms.

  11. Click Buy and Start to start the data synchronization task. You can view the progress of the task in the task list.