Showing posts with label usability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usability. Show all posts

Sunday, June 30, 2019

From an empty box to MySQL custom replication in 3 minutes

Starting with version 1.32.0, dbdeployer has the ability of downloading a selection of MySQL tarballs from several sources.

This means that, when working in an empty box, you can populate it with database servers using

dbdeployer.

The “empty box” mentioned in the title is not really empty. It’s a Linux (or MacOS) host that is able to run a MySQL server. As such, it needs to have at least the prerequisites to run MySQL server (such as the libnuma and libaio packages), and a bash shell to run the scripts created by dbdeployer.

To try the thrill of an empty box that quickly becomes a working environment, we can use a docker image datacharmer/mysql-sb-base that I have created for this purpose.

$ docker pull datacharmer/mysql-sb-base
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from datacharmer/mysql-sb-base
6b98dfc16071: Pull complete
4001a1209541: Pull complete
6319fc68c576: Pull complete
b24603670dc3: Pull complete
97f170c87c6f: Pull complete
b78c78fcfc94: Pull complete
379084573ce7: Pull complete
0afd193b699a: Pull complete
dfb4eecd399a: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:492c38b8662d393436141de5b3a9ad5b3994a7b095610b43896033fd740523ef
Status: Downloaded newer image for datacharmer/mysql-sb-base:latest

We can start a container from this image, and we won’t need anything else from the host computer.

$ docker run -ti --hostname dbtest datacharmer/mysql-sb-base bash
msandbox@dbtest:~$

The container runs as a regular user. Given that dbdeployer is designed specifically to run without root access (although it can run as root), this is the perfect scenario.

dbdeployer is already installed, but mysql is not.

msandbox@dbtest:~$ dbdeployer --version
dbdeployer version 1.34.0

msandbox@dbtest:~$ mysql
bash: mysql: command not found

Thus, we start getting our software from the locations that dbdeployer knows.

$ dbdeployer downloads list
Available tarballs
                          name                             OS     version   flavor     size   minimal
-------------------------------------------------------- ------- --------- -------- -------- ---------
 tidb-master-linux-amd64.tar.gz                           Linux     3.0.0   tidb      26 MB
 mysql-8.0.16-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.xz               Linux    8.0.16   mysql    461 MB
 mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal.tar.xz                 Linux    8.0.16   mysql     44 MB   Y
 mysql-5.7.26-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.7.26   mysql    645 MB
 mysql-5.6.44-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.6.44   mysql    329 MB
 mysql-5.5.62-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.5.62   mysql    199 MB
 mysql-8.0.15-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.xz               Linux    8.0.15   mysql    376 MB
 mysql-8.0.13-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.xz               Linux    8.0.13   mysql    394 MB
 mysql-5.7.25-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.7.25   mysql    645 MB
 mysql-5.6.43-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.6.43   mysql    329 MB
 mysql-5.5.61-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz               Linux    5.5.61   mysql    199 MB
 mysql-5.1.73-linux-x86_64-glibc23.tar.gz                 Linux    5.1.73   mysql    134 MB
 mysql-5.0.96.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.0.96   mysql    5.5 MB   Y
 mysql-5.1.72.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.1.72   mysql     10 MB   Y
 mysql-5.5.61.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.5.61   mysql    6.6 MB   Y
 mysql-5.5.62.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.5.62   mysql    6.6 MB   Y
 mysql-5.6.43.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.6.43   mysql    9.0 MB   Y
 mysql-5.6.44.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.6.44   mysql    9.1 MB   Y
 mysql-5.7.25.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.7.25   mysql     23 MB   Y
 mysql-5.7.26.tar.xz                                      Linux    5.7.26   mysql     23 MB   Y
 mysql-5.0.96-linux-x86_64-glibc23.tar.gz                 Linux    5.0.96   mysql    127 MB
 mysql-4.1.22.tar.xz                                      Linux    4.1.22   mysql    4.6 MB   Y
 mysql-cluster-gpl-7.6.10-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz   Linux    7.6.10   ndb      916 MB
 mysql-cluster-8.0.16-dmr-linux-glibc2.12-x86_64.tar.gz   Linux    8.0.16   ndb      1.1 GB

The above command shows all the tarballs that are available for the current operating system. You see that in addition to vanilla MySQL, there are also NDB and TiDB packages.

We start by getting the latest MySQL version using the command get-unpack that is available since version 1.33.0. This command downloads the tarball, compares the checksum, and unpacks it into the expected place.

$ dbdeployer downloads get-unpack mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal.tar.xz
Downloading mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal.tar.xz
....  44 MB
File /home/msandbox/mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal.tar.xz downloaded
Checksum matches
Unpacking tarball mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal.tar.xz to $HOME/opt/mysql/8.0.16
.........100.........200.219
Renaming directory /home/msandbox/opt/mysql/mysql-8.0.16-linux-x86_64-minimal to /home/msandbox/opt/mysql/8.0.16

The same operation for 5.7 gives us the second version available.

+ dbdeployer downloads get-unpack mysql-5.7.26.tar.xz
Downloading mysql-5.7.26.tar.xz
..  23 MB
File /home/msandbox/mysql-5.7.26.tar.xz downloaded
Checksum matches
Unpacking tarball mysql-5.7.26.tar.xz to $HOME/opt/mysql/5.7.26
.........99
Renaming directory /home/msandbox/opt/mysql/mysql-5.7.26 to /home/msandbox/opt/mysql/5.7.26

Now there are two versions that can be used for operations.

$ dbdeployer  versions
Basedir: /home/msandbox/opt/mysql
5.7.26  8.0.16

And we are going to deploy one sandbox from each version, because we want to put them in replication.

$ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.26 --master
Creating directory /home/msandbox/sandboxes
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_26
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started

$ dbdeployer deploy single 8.0.16 --master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_8_0_16
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
.. sandbox server started


$ dbdeployer sandboxes --full-info
.------------.--------.---------.---------------.--------.-------.--------.
|    name    |  type  | version |     ports     | flavor | nodes | locked |
+------------+--------+---------+---------------+--------+-------+--------+
| msb_5_7_26 | single | 5.7.26  | [5726 ]       | mysql  |     0 |        |
| msb_8_0_16 | single | 8.0.16  | [8016 18016 ] | mysql  |     0 |        |
'------------'--------'---------'---------------'--------'-------'--------'

This are our active assets. The sandboxes are independent, but each sandbox has the ability of becoming the receiver of replication. In this case we want to replicate from version 5.7 to version 8.0, as it is always recommended to replicate from earlier to later version.

$ ~/sandboxes/msb_8_0_16/replicate_from msb_5_7_26
Connecting to /home/msandbox/sandboxes/msb_5_7_26
--------------
CHANGE MASTER TO master_host="127.0.0.1",
master_port=5726,
master_user="rsandbox",
master_password="rsandbox"
, master_log_file="mysql-bin.000001", master_log_pos=4089
--------------

--------------
start slave
--------------

              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 4089
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 4089
           Retrieved_Gtid_Set:
            Executed_Gtid_Set:
                Auto_Position: 0
                


Replication is active. We can now quickly check that it is working:

$ ~/sandboxes/msb_5_7_26/use -e 'create table test.t1(id int not null primary key, msg1 varchar(50), msg2 varchar(50)) default charset=utf8mb4'

$ ~/home/msandbox/sandboxes/msb_5_7_26/use -e 'insert into test.t1 values (1, @@version, @@server_uuid)'


We create a table in 5.7, taking care of using a character set that agrees with 8.0 defaults (we could also use utf8, but this is the one that presents less potential problems. We fill the table with server specific information (its version and UUID).


Now we can check that the slave is working


$ ~/sandboxes/msb_8_0_16/use -e 'SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G' | grep 'Running\|Master_\|Log_'
                  Master_Host: 127.0.0.1
                  Master_User: rsandbox
                  Master_Port: 5726
              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 4636
               Relay_Log_File: mysql-relay.000002
                Relay_Log_Pos: 868
        Relay_Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 4636
              Relay_Log_Space: 1072
               Until_Log_File:
                Until_Log_Pos: 0
           Master_SSL_Allowed: No
           Master_SSL_CA_File:
           Master_SSL_CA_Path:
              Master_SSL_Cert:
            Master_SSL_Cipher:
               Master_SSL_Key:
Master_SSL_Verify_Server_Cert: No
             Master_Server_Id: 5726
                  Master_UUID: 00005726-0000-0000-0000-000000005726
             Master_Info_File: mysql.slave_master_info
      Slave_SQL_Running_State: Slave has read all relay log; waiting for more updates
           Master_Retry_Count: 86400
                  Master_Bind:
               Master_SSL_Crl:
           Master_SSL_Crlpath:
           Master_TLS_Version:
       Master_public_key_path:

And finally we retrieve from the 8.0 slave the data that was created in 5.7

$ ~/sandboxes/msb_8_0_16/use -e 'show tables from test'
+----------------+
| Tables_in_test |
+----------------+
| t1             |
+----------------+

$  ~/sandboxes/msb_8_0_16/use -e 'select * from test.t1'
+----+------------+--------------------------------------+
| id | msg1       | msg2                                 |
+----+------------+--------------------------------------+
|  1 | 5.7.26-log | 00005726-0000-0000-0000-000000005726 |
+----+------------+--------------------------------------+

QED.

Tuesday, April 02, 2019

dbdeployer cookbook - Advanced techniques

In the previous post about the dbdeployer recipes we saw the basics of using the cookbook command and the simpler tutorials that the recipes offer.

Here we will see some more advanced techniques, and more demanding examples.


We saw that the recipe for a single deployment would get a NOTFOUND when no versions were available, or the highest MySQL version when one was found.

$ dbdeployer cookbook  show single | grep version=
version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=8.0.16

But what if we want the latest Percona Server or MariaDB for this recipe? One solution would be to run the script with an argument, but we can ask dbdeployer to find the most recent version for a given flavor and use it in our recipe:

$ dbdeployer cookbook  show single --flavor=percona | grep version=
version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=ps8.0.15

$ dbdeployer cookbook  show single --flavor=pxc | grep version=
version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=pxc5.7.25

$ dbdeployer cookbook  show single --flavor=mariadb | grep version=
version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=ma10.4.3

This works for all the recipes that don’t require a given flavor. When one is indicated (see dbdeployer cookbook list) you can override it using --flavor, but do that at your own risk. Running the ndb recipe using pxc flavor won’t produce anything usable.


Replication between sandboxes

When I proposed dbdeployer support for NDB, the immediate reaction was that this was good to test cluster-to-cluster replication. Although I did plenty of such topologies in one of my previous jobs, I had limited experience replicating between single or composite sandboxes. Thus, I started thinking about how to do it. In the old MySQL-Sandbox, I had an option --slaveof that allowed a single sandbox to replicate from an existing one. I did not implement the same thing in dbdeployer, because that solution looked limited, and only useful in a few scenarios.

I wanted something more dynamic, and initially I thought of creating a grandiose scheme, involving custom templates and user-defined fillers. While I may end up doing that some day, I quickly realized that it was overkill for this purpose, and that the sandboxes had already all the information needed to replicate from and to every other sandbox. I just had to expose the data in such a way that it can be used to plug one sandbox to the other.

Now every sandbox has a script named replicate_from, and a companion script called metadata. Using a combination of the two (in fact, replicate_from on the would-be replica calls metadata from the donor) we can quickly define the replication command needed for most situations.


Replication between single sandboxes

Before we tackle the most complex one, let’s demonstrate that the system works with a simple case.

There is a recipe named replication_between_single that creates a file named, aptly, ./recipes/replication-between-single.sh.

If you run it, you will see something similar to the following:

$ ./recipes/replication-between-single.sh  5.7.25
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25 --master --gtid --sandbox-directory=msb_5_7_25_1 --port-as-server-id
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_1
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25 --master --gtid --sandbox-directory=msb_5_7_25_2 --port-as-server-id
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_2
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0
+ dbdeployer sandboxes --full-info
.--------------.--------.---------.---------------.--------.-------.--------.
|     name     |  type  | version |     ports     | flavor | nodes | locked |
+--------------+--------+---------+---------------+--------+-------+--------+
| msb_5_7_25_1 | single | 5.7.25  | [5725 ]       | mysql  |     0 |        |
| msb_5_7_25_2 | single | 5.7.25  | [5726 ]       | mysql  |     0 |        |
'--------------'--------'---------'---------------'--------'-------'--------'
0
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_1/replicate_from msb_5_7_25_2
Connecting to $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_2
--------------
CHANGE MASTER TO master_host="127.0.0.1",
master_port=5726,
master_user="rsandbox",
master_password="rsandbox"
, master_log_file="mysql-bin.000001", master_log_pos=4089
--------------

--------------
start slave
--------------

              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 4089
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 4089
           Retrieved_Gtid_Set:
            Executed_Gtid_Set: 00005725-0000-0000-0000-000000005725:1-16
                Auto_Position: 0
0
# Inserting data in msb_5_7_25_2
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_2/use -e 'create table if not exists test.t1 (id int not null primary key, server_id int )'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_2/use -e 'insert into test.t1 values (1, @@server_id)'
# Retrieving data from msb_5_7_25_1
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_1/use -e 'select *, @@port from test.t1'
+----+-----------+--------+
| id | server_id | @@port |
+----+-----------+--------+
|  1 |      5726 |   5725 |
+----+-----------+--------+

The script deploys two sandboxes of the chosen version, using different directory names (dbdeployer takes care of choosing a free port) and then starts replication between the two using $SANDBOX1/replicate_from $SANDBOX2. Then a quick test shows that the data created in a sandbox can be retrieved in the other.


Replication between group replication clusters

The method used to replicate between two group replications is similar to the one seen for single sandboxes. The script replicate_from on the group top directory delegates the replication task to its first node, which points to the second group.

$ ./recipes/replication-between-groups.sh  5.7.25
+ dbdeployer deploy replication 5.7.25 --topology=group --concurrent --port-as-server-id --sandbox-directory=group_5_7_25_1
[...]
+ dbdeployer deploy replication 5.7.25 --topology=group --concurrent --port-as-server-id --sandbox-directory=group_5_7_25_2
[...]
+ dbdeployer sandboxes --full-info
.----------------.---------------------.---------.----------------------------------------.--------.-------.--------.
|      name      |        type         | version |                 ports                  | flavor | nodes | locked |
+----------------+---------------------+---------+----------------------------------------+--------+-------+--------+
| group_5_7_25_1 | group-multi-primary | 5.7.25  | [20226 20351 20227 20352 20228 20353 ] | mysql  |     3 |        |
| group_5_7_25_2 | group-multi-primary | 5.7.25  | [20229 20354 20230 20355 20231 20356 ] | mysql  |     3 |        |
'----------------'---------------------'---------'----------------------------------------'--------'-------'--------'
0
+ $HOME/sandboxes/group_5_7_25_1/replicate_from group_5_7_25_2
Connecting to $HOME/sandboxes/group_5_7_25_2/node1
--------------
CHANGE MASTER TO master_host="127.0.0.1",
master_port=20229,
master_user="rsandbox",
master_password="rsandbox"
, master_log_file="mysql-bin.000001", master_log_pos=1082
--------------

--------------
start slave
--------------

              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 1082
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 1082
           Retrieved_Gtid_Set:
            Executed_Gtid_Set: 00020225-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee:1-3
                Auto_Position: 0
0
# Inserting data in group_5_7_25_2 node1
+ $HOME/sandboxes/group_5_7_25_2/n1 -e 'create table if not exists test.t1 (id int not null primary key, server_id int )'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/group_5_7_25_2/n1 -e 'insert into test.t1 values (1, @@server_id)'
# Retrieving data from one of group_5_7_25_1 nodes
# At this point, the data was replicated twice
+ $HOME/sandboxes/group_5_7_25_1/n2 -e 'select *, @@port from test.t1'
+----+-----------+--------+
| id | server_id | @@port |
+----+-----------+--------+
|  1 |     20229 |  20227 |
+----+-----------+--------+

The interesting thing about this recipe is that the sandboxes are created using the option --port-as-server-id. While it was used also in the replication between single sandboxes as an excess of caution, in this recipe, and in all the recipes involving compound sandboxes, it is a necessity, as the replication would fail if primary and replica servers have the same server_id.

All the work is done by the replicate_from script, which knows how to check whether the target is a single sandbox or a composite one, and where to find the primary server.

Using a similar method, we can run more recipes on the same tune.


Replication between different things

I won’t reproduce the output of all recipes here. I will just mention what every recipe needs to prepare to ensure a positive outcome.

  • Replication between NDB clusters. Nothing special here, except making sure to use a MySQL Cluster tarball. If you don’t dbdeployer will detect it and refuse the installation. For the rest, it’s like replication between groups.
  • Replication between master/slave. This is a bit trickier, because the replication data comes to a master, and if we want to propagate to its slaves we need to activate log-slave-update. The recipe shows how to do it.
  • Replication between group and master/slave. In addition to the trick mentioned in the previous recipe, we need to make sure that the master/slave deployment is using GTID.
  • Replication between master/slave and group. See the previous one.
  • Replication between group and single (and vice versa). We just need to make sure the single sandbox has GTID enabled.

Replication between different versions

This is a simple recipe that comes from a feature request. All you need to do is make sure that the version on the master is lower than the one on the slaves. The recipe script replication-multi-versions.sh, looks for tarballs of 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0, but you can start it using three versions that you’d like. For example:

./recipes/replication-multi-versions.sh 5.7.23 5.7.24 5.7.25

The first version will be used as the master.


Circular replication

I didn’t want to do this, as I consider ring replication to be weak and difficult to handle. I stated that much in the feature request and in the list of dbdeployer features. But then I saw that with the latest enhancements it was so easy, that I had to at least make a recipe for it. And then you have it. recipes/circular-replication.sh does what it promises, but the burden of maintenance is still on the user’s shoulders. I suggest looking at it, and then forgetting it.


Upgrade from MySQL 5.5 to 8.0 (through 5.6 and 5.7)

This is one of the most advanced recipes. To enjoy it, you need to have expanded tarballs from 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0.

Provided that you do, running this script will do the following:

  1. deploy MySQL 5.5
  2. Create a table upgrade_log and insert some data.
  3. deploy MySQL 5.6
  4. run mysql_upgrade (through dbdeployer)
  5. Add data to the log table
  6. deploy MySQL 5.7
  7. run mysql_upgrade again
  8. add data to the log table
  9. deploy MySQL 8.0
  10. run mysql_upgrade for the last time
  11. Show the data from the table

Here’s a full transcript of the operation. It’s interesting to see how the upgrade procedure has changed from older versions to current ones.


$ ./recipes/upgrade.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Upgrading from 5.5.53 to 5.6.41
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.5.53 --master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
.. sandbox server started
0
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.6.41 --master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53/use -e 'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test.upgrade_log(id int not null auto_increment primary key, server_id int, vers varchar(50), urole varchar(20), ts timestamp)'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''original'\'')'
+ dbdeployer admin upgrade msb_5_5_53 msb_5_6_41
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41
Data directory msb_5_5_53/data moved to msb_5_6_41/data
. sandbox server started
Looking for 'mysql' as: $HOME/opt/mysql/5.6.41/bin/mysql
Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: $HOME/opt/mysql/5.6.41/bin/mysqlcheck
Running 'mysqlcheck' with connection arguments: '--port=5641' '--socket=/var/folders/rz/cn7hvgzd1dl5y23l378dsf_c0000gn/T/mysql_sandbox5641.sock'
Running 'mysqlcheck' with connection arguments: '--port=5641' '--socket=/var/folders/rz/cn7hvgzd1dl5y23l378dsf_c0000gn/T/mysql_sandbox5641.sock'
mysql.columns_priv                                 OK
mysql.db                                           OK
mysql.event                                        OK
mysql.func                                         OK
mysql.general_log                                  OK
mysql.help_category                                OK
mysql.help_keyword                                 OK
mysql.help_relation                                OK
mysql.help_topic                                   OK
mysql.host                                         OK
mysql.ndb_binlog_index                             OK
mysql.plugin                                       OK
mysql.proc                                         OK
mysql.procs_priv                                   OK
mysql.proxies_priv                                 OK
mysql.servers                                      OK
mysql.slow_log                                     OK
mysql.tables_priv                                  OK
mysql.time_zone                                    OK
mysql.time_zone_leap_second                        OK
mysql.time_zone_name                               OK
mysql.time_zone_transition                         OK
mysql.time_zone_transition_type                    OK
mysql.user                                         OK
Running 'mysql_fix_privilege_tables'...
Running 'mysqlcheck' with connection arguments: '--port=5641' '--socket=/var/folders/rz/cn7hvgzd1dl5y23l378dsf_c0000gn/T/mysql_sandbox5641.sock'
Running 'mysqlcheck' with connection arguments: '--port=5641' '--socket=/var/folders/rz/cn7hvgzd1dl5y23l378dsf_c0000gn/T/mysql_sandbox5641.sock'
test.upgrade_log                                   OK
OK

The data directory from msb_5_6_41/data is preserved in msb_5_6_41/data-msb_5_6_41
The data directory from msb_5_5_53/data is now used in msb_5_6_41/data
msb_5_5_53 is not operational and can be deleted
+ dbdeployer delete msb_5_5_53
List of deployed sandboxes:
$HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53
Running $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53/stop
Running rm -rf $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53
Directory $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_5_53 deleted
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''upgraded'\'')'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41/use -e 'SELECT * FROM test.upgrade_log'
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
| id | server_id | vers       | urole    | ts                  |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
|  1 |      5553 | 5.5.53-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:27:38 |
|  2 |      5641 | 5.6.41-log | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:27:46 |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+

# ****************************************************************************
# The upgraded database is now upgrading from 5.6.41 to 5.7.25
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25 --master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41/use -e 'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test.upgrade_log(id int not null auto_increment primary key, server_id int, vers varchar(50), urole varchar(20), ts timestamp)'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''original'\'')'
+ dbdeployer admin upgrade msb_5_6_41 msb_5_7_25
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
Data directory msb_5_6_41/data moved to msb_5_7_25/data
.. sandbox server started
Checking if update is needed.
Checking server version.
Running queries to upgrade MySQL server.
Checking system database.
mysql.columns_priv                                 OK
mysql.db                                           OK
mysql.engine_cost                                  OK
mysql.event                                        OK
mysql.func                                         OK
mysql.general_log                                  OK
mysql.gtid_executed                                OK
mysql.help_category                                OK
mysql.help_keyword                                 OK
mysql.help_relation                                OK
mysql.help_topic                                   OK
mysql.host                                         OK
mysql.innodb_index_stats                           OK
mysql.innodb_table_stats                           OK
mysql.ndb_binlog_index                             OK
mysql.plugin                                       OK
mysql.proc                                         OK
mysql.procs_priv                                   OK
mysql.proxies_priv                                 OK
mysql.server_cost                                  OK
mysql.servers                                      OK
mysql.slave_master_info                            OK
mysql.slave_relay_log_info                         OK
mysql.slave_worker_info                            OK
mysql.slow_log                                     OK
mysql.tables_priv                                  OK
mysql.time_zone                                    OK
mysql.time_zone_leap_second                        OK
mysql.time_zone_name                               OK
mysql.time_zone_transition                         OK
mysql.time_zone_transition_type                    OK
mysql.user                                         OK
Upgrading the sys schema.
Checking databases.
sys.sys_config                                     OK
test.upgrade_log
error    : Table rebuild required. Please do "ALTER TABLE `upgrade_log` FORCE" or dump/reload to fix it!

Repairing tables
`test`.`upgrade_log`
Running  : ALTER TABLE `test`.`upgrade_log` FORCE
status   : OK
Upgrade process completed successfully.
Checking if update is needed.

The data directory from msb_5_7_25/data is preserved in msb_5_7_25/data-msb_5_7_25
The data directory from msb_5_6_41/data is now used in msb_5_7_25/data
msb_5_6_41 is not operational and can be deleted
+ dbdeployer delete msb_5_6_41
List of deployed sandboxes:
$HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41
Running $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41/stop
Running rm -rf $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41
Directory $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_6_41 deleted
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''upgraded'\'')'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25/use -e 'SELECT * FROM test.upgrade_log'
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
| id | server_id | vers       | urole    | ts                  |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
|  1 |      5553 | 5.5.53-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:27:38 |
|  2 |      5641 | 5.6.41-log | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:27:46 |
|  3 |      5641 | 5.6.41-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:27:51 |
|  4 |      5725 | 5.7.25-log | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:28:01 |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+

# ****************************************************************************
# The further upgraded database is now upgrading from 5.7.25 to 8.0.15
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 8.0.15 --master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_8_0_15
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
.. sandbox server started
0
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25/use -e 'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test.upgrade_log(id int not null auto_increment primary key, server_id int, vers varchar(50), urole varchar(20), ts timestamp)'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''original'\'')'
+ dbdeployer admin upgrade msb_5_7_25 msb_8_0_15
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
Attempting normal termination --- kill -15 10357
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_8_0_15
Data directory msb_5_7_25/data moved to msb_8_0_15/data
... sandbox server started
Checking if update is needed.
Checking server version.
Running queries to upgrade MySQL server.
Upgrading system table data.
Checking system database.
mysql.columns_priv                                 OK
mysql.component                                    OK
mysql.db                                           OK
mysql.default_roles                                OK
mysql.engine_cost                                  OK
mysql.func                                         OK
mysql.general_log                                  OK
mysql.global_grants                                OK
mysql.gtid_executed                                OK
mysql.help_category                                OK
mysql.help_keyword                                 OK
mysql.help_relation                                OK
mysql.help_topic                                   OK
mysql.host                                         OK
mysql.innodb_index_stats                           OK
mysql.innodb_table_stats                           OK
mysql.ndb_binlog_index                             OK
mysql.password_history                             OK
mysql.plugin                                       OK
mysql.procs_priv                                   OK
mysql.proxies_priv                                 OK
mysql.role_edges                                   OK
mysql.server_cost                                  OK
mysql.servers                                      OK
mysql.slave_master_info                            OK
mysql.slave_relay_log_info                         OK
mysql.slave_worker_info                            OK
mysql.slow_log                                     OK
mysql.tables_priv                                  OK
mysql.time_zone                                    OK
mysql.time_zone_leap_second                        OK
mysql.time_zone_name                               OK
mysql.time_zone_transition                         OK
mysql.time_zone_transition_type                    OK
mysql.user                                         OK
Found outdated sys schema version 1.5.1.
Upgrading the sys schema.
Checking databases.
sys.sys_config                                     OK
test.upgrade_log                                   OK
Upgrade process completed successfully.
Checking if update is needed.

The data directory from msb_8_0_15/data is preserved in msb_8_0_15/data-msb_8_0_15
The data directory from msb_5_7_25/data is now used in msb_8_0_15/data
msb_5_7_25 is not operational and can be deleted
+ dbdeployer delete msb_5_7_25
List of deployed sandboxes:
$HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
Running $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25/stop
Running rm -rf $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
Directory $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25 deleted
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_8_0_15/use -e 'INSERT INTO test.upgrade_log (server_id, vers, urole) VALUES (@@server_id, @@version, '\''upgraded'\'')'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/msb_8_0_15/use -e 'SELECT * FROM test.upgrade_log'
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
| id | server_id | vers       | urole    | ts                  |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+
|  1 |      5553 | 5.5.53-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:27:38 |
|  2 |      5641 | 5.6.41-log | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:27:46 |
|  3 |      5641 | 5.6.41-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:27:51 |
|  4 |      5725 | 5.7.25-log | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:28:01 |
|  5 |      5725 | 5.7.25-log | original | 2019-04-01 20:28:07 |
|  6 |      8015 | 8.0.15     | upgraded | 2019-04-01 20:28:20 |
+----+-----------+------------+----------+---------------------+

What else can we do?

The replication recipes seen so far use the same principles. The method used in these recipes doesn’t work for all-masters and fan-in replication, because mixing named channels and nameless ones is not allowed. Also, there are things that don’t respond to replication commands at all, like TiDB. But it should be easy to enhance the current scripts (or to add some more specialized ones) that will include also these exceptions. Given the recent wave of collaboration, I expect it will happen relatively soon.

Friday, March 29, 2019

dbdeployer cookbook - usability by example

When I designed dbdeployer, I wanted to eliminate most of the issues that the old MySQL-Sandbox had:

  • dependencies during installation
  • mistaken tarballs
  • clarity of syntax
  • features (un)awareness.


Dependencies during installation did go away right from the start, as the dbdeployer executable is ready to be used without additional components. The only dependency is to have a host that can run MySQL. There is little dbdeployer can do about detecting whether or not your system can run MySQL. It depends on which version and flavor of MySQL you are running. It should not be a big deal as I assume that anyone in need of dbdeployer has already the necessary knowledge about MySQL prerequisites. This is not always the case, but the issue goes beyond dbdeployer’s scope.


Mistaken tarballs are a common problem for users who have never seen a binaries tarball. Here dbdeployer can help, up to a point, to guide the user. It recognizes most cases where you are trying to use a source tarball or the wrong operating system tarball. It still does not recognize when you try to run a sandbox for a Linux 64bits out of a 32bit tarball, but to be honest I haven’t tried to solve this problem yet. There are still cases where users are a great risk of picking the wrong tarball (Percona Server download page is a minefield and the one for MariaDB is not picnic either) but I feel that I have given dbdeployer users a big help on this count.


Clarity of syntax is probably the biggest issue with the previous tool. It’s a consequence of the tool being developed over several years, slowly adapting to changing circumstances. I made dbdeployer clearer from the beginning, when I decided to avoid piling up many actions as the consequence of the same command. In dbdeployer, you need to unpack the tarball explicitly before running a deployment, and this gives dbdeployer users the visibility on the architecture that eluded many MySQL-Sandbox users. The architecture of dbdeployer is such that adding new features, commands, and options is easy and fits within an easily detectable paradigm. Thus, the operations are easier to spot and use.


Features awareness is still a problem. There is a lengthy description of everything dbdeployer can do, but, as often happens with even the best tools, users don’t read manuals.

The biggest obstacle about reading manuals is that dbdeployer executable is installed without any need to take the README file along. If you need it, you should go online and read it, and given that dbdeployer is built to be used mostly without internet connection, there are cases when you want to know how to do something, but you can’t get the manual right away.

There is the tool integrated help (dbdeployer [command] -h), which gives you a lot of information, but this tells you how to do something that you know already exists, not what you can do in general.

To help on this count, I added a collection of samples (the cookbook) that were initially released in a directory of the GitHub project, but then the sample scripts suffered of the same invisibility that plagues the README file. There is one more problem: when you tried using the generic cookbook scripts (now removed) you had to use the same environment as I did when defining them, or they would fail.

The current solution is to include cookbook files right within the tool, using templates (same as for regular sandbox scripts) with the double advantage that the scripts are available anywhere the dbdeployer executable is, and the scripts are adapted to the environment, since dbdeployer knows how to search for available binaries and can suggest the best parameters for the scripts.


Introducing dbdeployer cookbook

The command dbdeployer cookbook (with aliases recipes or samples) has three subcommands:

  • list displays a list of available samples.
  • show displays the contents of a recipe.
  • create (with alias make) will build the recipe script.

We should try the list first:

$ dbdeployer cookbook list
.----------------------------------.-------------------------------------.--------------------------------------------------------------------.--------.
|              recipe              |             script name             |                            description                             | needed |
|                                  |                                     |                                                                    | flavor |
+----------------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| all-masters                      | all-masters-deployment.sh           | Creation of an all-masters replication sandbox                     | mysql  |
| delete                           | delete-sandboxes.sh                 | Delete all deployed sandboxes                                      |        |
| fan-in                           | fan-in-deployment.sh                | Creation of a fan-in (many masters, one slave) replication sandbox | mysql  |
| group-multi                      | group-multi-primary-deployment.sh   | Creation of a multi-primary group replication sandbox              | mysql  |
| group-single                     | group-single-primary-deployment.sh  | Creation of a single-primary group replication sandbox             | mysql  |
| master-slave                     | master-slave-deployment.sh          | Creation of a master/slave replication sandbox                     |        |
| ndb                              | ndb-deployment.sh                   | Shows deployment with ndb                                          | ndb    |
| prerequisites                    | prerequisites.sh                    | Shows dbdeployer prerequisites and how to make them                |        |
| pxc                              | pxc-deployment.sh                   | Shows deployment with pxc                                          | pxc    |
| remote                           | remote.sh                           | Shows how to get a remote MySQL tarball                            |        |
| replication-restart              | repl-operations-restart.sh          | Show how to restart sandboxes with custom options                  |        |
| replication-operations           | repl-operations.sh                  | Show how to run operations in a replication sandbox                |        |
| replication_between_groups       | replication-between-groups.sh       | Shows how to run replication between two group replications        | mysql  |
| replication_between_master_slave | replication-between-master-slave.sh | Shows how to run replication between two master/slave replications |        |
| replication_between_ndb          | replication-between-ndb.sh          | Shows how to run replication between two NDB clusters              | ndb    |
| show                             | show-sandboxes.sh                   | Show deployed sandboxes                                            |        |
| single                           | single-deployment.sh                | Creation of a single sandbox                                       |        |
| single-reinstall                 | single-reinstall.sh                 | Re-installs a single sandbox                                       |        |
| tidb                             | tidb-deployment.sh                  | Shows deployment and some operations with TiDB                     | tidb   |
| upgrade                          | upgrade.sh                          | Shows a complete upgrade example from 5.5 to 8.0                   | mysql  |
'----------------------------------'-------------------------------------'--------------------------------------------------------------------'--------'

The recipe that seems to be the simplest one is single. We can try to see what is in there:


$ dbdeployer  cookbook show single
#!/bin/bash

[...]
# Generated by dbdeployer 1.26.0 using template single on Fri Mar 29 12:27:53 UTC 2019
cd $(dirname $0)
source cookbook_include.sh

version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=NOTFOUND_mysql
check_version $version

if [ -n "$(dbdeployer sandboxes | grep 'single\s*'$version)" ]
then
    echo "single version $version is already installed"
else
    header "Deploying a single sandbox for version $version"
    run dbdeployer deploy single $version
fi

What looks odd is the line that says NOTFOUND. If we try creating that script and then running it, it won’t work, and rightfully so.


There is a recipe named prerequisites that could probably help us.

$ dbdeployer cookbook create prerequisites
recipes/prerequisites.sh created

So, now, we have a starting point. Let’s run it:


$ ./recipes/prerequisites.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Creating Sandbox binary directory ($HOME/opt/mysql)
# ****************************************************************************

## HOW TO GET  binaries for dbdeployer
# FOR REGULAR MYSQL
# run the commands:

1. dbdeployer remote list
2. dbdeployer remote get mysql-5.7.25
3. dbdeployer unpack mysql-5.7.25.tar.xz

4. dbdeployer versions

# FOR MySQL forks, MySQL Cluster, PXC:

# 1. Get the binaries from the maker download pages
# 2. run the command
 dbdeployer unpack FlavorName-X.X.XX-OS.tar.gz  --prefix=FlavorName
3. dbdeployer versions

The first thing we see is that the sandbox binary directory was created, and then we see a series of steps to fill it in.

Let’s try:

$ dbdeployer remote list
Files available in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datacharmer/mysql-docker-minimal/master/dbdata/available.json
5.5 -> [mysql-5.5.61 mysql-5.5.62]
5.6 -> [mysql-5.6.41 mysql-5.6.43]
5.7 -> [mysql-5.7.24 mysql-5.7.25]
8.0 -> [mysql-8.0.13 mysql-8.0.15]
4.1 -> [mysql-4.1.22]
5.0 -> [mysql-5.0.15 mysql-5.0.96]
5.1 -> [mysql-5.1.72]

$ dbdeployer remote get mysql-5.7.25
File /home/msandbox/mysql-5.7.25.tar.xz downloaded

$ dbdeployer unpack mysql-5.7.25.tar.xz
Unpacking tarball mysql-5.7.25.tar.xz to $HOME/opt/mysql/5.7.25
[...]
Renaming directory $HOME/opt/mysql/mysql-5.7.25 to $HOME/opt/mysql/5.7.25

$ dbdeployer versions
Basedir: /home/msandbox/opt/mysql
5.7.25

If we repeat the show command now, we get a different result:


$ dbdeployer  cookbook show single
#!/bin/bash
[...]
# Generated by dbdeployer 1.26.0 using template single on Fri Mar 29 12:37:26 UTC 2019
cd $(dirname $0)
source cookbook_include.sh

version=$1
[ -z "$version" ] && version=5.7.25
check_version $version

if [ -n "$(dbdeployer sandboxes | grep 'single\s*'$version)" ]
then
    echo "single version $version is already installed"
else
    header "Deploying a single sandbox for version $version"
    run dbdeployer deploy single $version
fi

There! instead of the NOTFOUND we saw before, it now shows the version that we just downloaded. If we repeat the same procedure (remote list, remote get, unpack) for MySQL 8.0.15, we would see 8.0.15 as the recommended version.


Now we can create the single recipe. Or even better, since we want to try several ones, we can create all of them.


$ dbdeployer  cookbook create all
recipes/replication-between-master-slave.sh created
recipes/single-reinstall.sh created
recipes/fan-in-deployment.sh created
recipes/group-multi-primary-deployment.sh created
recipes/repl-operations.sh created
recipes/tidb-deployment.sh created
recipes/remote.sh created
recipes/upgrade.sh created
recipes/ndb-deployment.sh created
recipes/cookbook_include.sh created
recipes/master-slave-deployment.sh created
recipes/prerequisites.sh created
recipes/replication-between-groups.sh created
recipes/replication-between-ndb.sh created
recipes/pxc-deployment.sh created
recipes/single-deployment.sh created
recipes/show-sandboxes.sh created
recipes/delete-sandboxes.sh created
recipes/all-masters-deployment.sh created
recipes/group-single-primary-deployment.sh created
recipes/repl-operations-restart.sh created

Now it’s time to try one:


msandbox@505969e46289:~$ ./recipes/single-deployment.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Deploying a single sandbox for version 5.7.25
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25
Creating directory /home/msandbox/sandboxes
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0

Looking at the list, we see a single-reinstall recipe. If we run it, we will get a mini tutorial on how to use a single sandbox:


$ ./recipes/single-deployment.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Deploying a single sandbox for version 5.7.25
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25
Creating directory $HOME/sandboxes
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0
msandbox@505969e46289:~$ ./recipes/show-sandboxes.sh
+ dbdeployer sandboxes --full-info
.------------.--------.---------.---------.--------.-------.--------.
|    name    |  type  | version |  ports  | flavor | nodes | locked |
+------------+--------+---------+---------+--------+-------+--------+
| msb_5_7_25 | single | 5.7.25  | [5725 ] | mysql  |     0 |        |
'------------'--------'---------'---------'--------'-------'--------'
0
msandbox@505969e46289:~$ ./recipes/single-reinstall.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Deploying the same sandbox again, with different parameters
# We need to use --force, as we are overwriting an existing sandbox
# Incidentally, the new deployment will run a query before and after the grants
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25 '--pre-grants-sql=select host, user from mysql.user' '--post-grants-sql=select host, user from mysql.user' --force
Overwriting directory $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
+-----------+---------------+
| host      | user          |
+-----------+---------------+
| localhost | mysql.session |
| localhost | mysql.sys     |
| localhost | root          |
+-----------+---------------+
+-----------+---------------+
| host      | user          |
+-----------+---------------+
| 127.%     | msandbox      |
| 127.%     | msandbox_ro   |
| 127.%     | msandbox_rw   |
| 127.%     | rsandbox      |
| localhost | msandbox      |
| localhost | msandbox_ro   |
| localhost | msandbox_rw   |
| localhost | mysql.session |
| localhost | mysql.sys     |
| localhost | root          |
+-----------+---------------+

# ****************************************************************************
# Deploying the same sandbox with a different directory.
# No --force is necessary, as dbdeployer will choose a different port
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer deploy single 5.7.25 --sandbox-directory=msb_5_7_25_new
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new
run 'dbdeployer usage single' for basic instructions'
. sandbox server started
0

+ dbdeployer sandboxes --header
            name               type    version    ports
---------------------------- -------- --------- ---------
 msb_5_7_25               :   single   5.7.25    [5725 ]
 msb_5_7_25_new           :   single   5.7.25    [5726 ]
0

# ****************************************************************************
# Removing the second sandbox
# ****************************************************************************
+ dbdeployer delete msb_5_7_25_new
List of deployed sandboxes:
$HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new
Running $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new/stop
stop $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new
Running rm -rf $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new
Directory $HOME/sandboxes/msb_5_7_25_new deleted
0

This script teaches us the basics of starting and restarting a sandbox, with useful twists as running an SQL command before granting privileges.


There is a similar tutorial for replication operations, but we’ll have a look at a slightly different one.


$ ./recipes/master-slave-deployment.sh
+ dbdeployer deploy replication 5.7.25 --concurrent
$HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/initialize_slaves
initializing slave 1
initializing slave 2
Replication directory installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25
run 'dbdeployer usage multiple' for basic instructions'

$ ./recipes/repl-operations.sh

# ****************************************************************************
# Running a simple command with the master in the sandbox.
# Notice the usage of the '-e', as if we were using the 'mysql' client
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'SHOW MASTER STATUS'
+------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+-------------------+
| File             | Position | Binlog_Do_DB | Binlog_Ignore_DB | Executed_Gtid_Set |
+------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+-------------------+
| mysql-bin.000001 |     4089 |              |                  |                   |
+------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+-------------------+

# ****************************************************************************
# Creating a table in the master
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test.t1'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'CREATE TABLE test.t1(id int not null primary key)'

# ****************************************************************************
# Inserting 3 lines into the new table
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'INSERT INTO test.t1 VALUES(1)'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'INSERT INTO test.t1 VALUES(2)'
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/m -e 'INSERT INTO test.t1 VALUES(3)'

# ****************************************************************************
# Getting the table contents from one slave
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/s1 -e 'SELECT * FROM test.t1'
+----+
| id |
+----+
|  1 |
|  2 |
|  3 |
+----+

# ****************************************************************************
# Getting the table count from all nodes (NOTE: no '-e' is needed)
# $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/use_all 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM test.t1'
# master
COUNT(*)
3
# server: 1
COUNT(*)
3
# server: 2
COUNT(*)
3

# ****************************************************************************
# Checking the status of all slaves
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/check_slaves
master
port 19226 - server_id 100
             File: mysql-bin.000001
         Position: 5213
Executed_Gtid_Set:
slave1
port 19227 - server_id 200
              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 5213
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 5213
           Retrieved_Gtid_Set:
            Executed_Gtid_Set:
                Auto_Position: 0
slave2
port 19228 - server_id 300
              Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000001
          Read_Master_Log_Pos: 5213
             Slave_IO_Running: Yes
            Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
          Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 5213
           Retrieved_Gtid_Set:
            Executed_Gtid_Set:
                Auto_Position: 0
0

# ****************************************************************************
# Running a multiple query in all slaves
# ****************************************************************************
+ $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_5_7_25/use_all_slaves 'STOP SLAVE; SET GLOBAL slave_parallel_workers=3; START SLAVE;show processlist '
# server: 1
Id User Host db Command Time State Info
11 msandbox localhost NULL Query 0 starting show processlist
12 system user  NULL Connect 0 Checking master version NULL
13 system user  NULL Connect 0 System lock NULL
14 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL
15 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL
16 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL
# server: 2
Id User Host db Command Time State Info
10 msandbox localhost NULL Query 0 starting show processlist
11 system user  NULL Connect 0 Checking master version NULL
12 system user  NULL Connect 0 System lock NULL
13 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL
14 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL
15 system user  NULL Connect 0 Waiting for an event from Coordinator NULL


By studying the commands mentioned in these samples, you will become proficient in dbdeployer components, allowing you to use it for advanced testing operations.

Monday, March 05, 2018

Customizing dbdeployer


As of version 0.2.1, dbdeployer allows users to customize composite sandboxes more than ever. This is done by manipulating the default settings, which are used to deploy the sandbox templates.

In order to appreciate the customization capabilities, let's start with a vanilla deployment, and then we have a look at the possible changes.

$ dbdeployer deploy replication 8.0.4
Installing and starting master
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/master
. sandbox server started
Installing and starting slave 1
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/node1
. sandbox server started
Installing and starting slave 2
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/node2
. sandbox server started
$HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/initialize_slaves
initializing slave 1
initializing slave 2
Replication directory installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4
run 'dbdeployer usage multiple' for basic instructions'

A regular replication sandbox has one master and two slaves. Each slave is inside a directory called nodeX.

The resulting sandbox has a directory called master, two nodeX directories, a shortcut for the master called m, and two shortcuts for the slaves called s1 and s2. There are also two management scripts called initialize_slaves and check_slaves.

    $ ls -l ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/
    total 152
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1500 Mar  5 06:21 check_slaves
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1160 Mar  5 06:21 clear_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1617 Mar  5 06:21 initialize_slaves
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:21 m
    drwxr-xr-x  22 user  staff   748 Mar  5 06:21 master
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:21 n1
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   804 Mar  5 06:21 n2
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   804 Mar  5 06:21 n3
    drwxr-xr-x  23 user  staff   782 Mar  5 06:21 node1
    drwxr-xr-x  23 user  staff   782 Mar  5 06:21 node2
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   855 Mar  5 06:21 restart_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   804 Mar  5 06:21 s1
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   804 Mar  5 06:21 s2
    -rw-r--r--   1 user  staff   173 Mar  5 06:21 sbdescription.json
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1127 Mar  5 06:21 send_kill_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1296 Mar  5 06:21 start_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1680 Mar  5 06:21 status_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1087 Mar  5 06:21 stop_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  4598 Mar  5 06:21 test_replication
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1315 Mar  5 06:21 test_sb_all
    -rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1100 Mar  5 06:21 use_all

Now, let's see how we can change this. We'll start by listing the current defaults

$ dbdeployer defaults show
# Internal values:
{
    "version": "0.2.1",
    "sandbox-home": "$HOME/sandboxes",
    "sandbox-binary": "$HOME/opt/mysql",
    "master-slave-base-port": 11000,
    "group-replication-base-port": 12000,
    "group-replication-sp-base-port": 13000,
    "fan-in-replication-base-port": 14000,
    "all-masters-replication-base-port": 15000,
    "multiple-base-port": 16000,
    "group-port-delta": 125,
    "master-name": "master",
    "master-abbr": "m",
    "node-prefix": "node",
    "slave-prefix": "slave",
    "slave-abbr": "s",
    "sandbox-prefix": "msb_",
    "master-slave-prefix": "rsandbox_",
    "group-prefix": "group_msb_",
    "group-sp-prefix": "group_sp_msb_",
    "multiple-prefix": "multi_msb_",
    "fan-in-prefix": "fan_in_msb_",
    "all-masters-prefix": "all_masters_msb_"
 }

The values that we want to change are master-name, master-abbr, node-prefix, slave-prefix, and slave-abbr. We can export the defaults to a file, and import them after editing the values we want to change.

$ dbdeployer defaults export defaults.json
# Defaults exported to file defaults.json
$ vim defaults.json
$ dbdeployer defaults import defaults.json
Defaults imported from defaults.json into $HOME/.dbdeployer/config.json

Now dbdeployer is using the new defaults.


$ dbdeployer defaults show
# Configuration file: $HOME/.dbdeployer/config.json
{
    "version": "0.2.1",
    "sandbox-home": "/Users/gmax/sandboxes",
    "sandbox-binary": "/Users/gmax/opt/mysql",
    "master-slave-base-port": 11000,
    "group-replication-base-port": 12000,
    "group-replication-sp-base-port": 13000,
    "fan-in-replication-base-port": 14000,
    "all-masters-replication-base-port": 15000,
    "multiple-base-port": 16000,
    "group-port-delta": 125,
    "master-name": "primary",
    "master-abbr": "p",
    "node-prefix": "branch",
    "slave-prefix": "replica",
    "slave-abbr": "r",
    "sandbox-prefix": "msb_",
    "master-slave-prefix": "rsandbox_",
    "group-prefix": "group_msb_",
    "group-sp-prefix": "group_sp_msb_",
    "multiple-prefix": "multi_msb_",
    "fan-in-prefix": "fan_in_msb_",
    "all-masters-prefix": "all_masters_msb_"
 }
We have now *primary* for *master*, *replica* for *slave*, *branch* for *node*, and the abbreviations for master and slave changed to *p* and *r* respectively.
Let's see how these defaults can play together when we run the same command as we did before for replication. We first remove the previous deployment.

$ dbdeployer delete rsandbox_8_0_4
List of deployed sandboxes:
$HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4
Running $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/stop_all
# executing "stop" on $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4
executing "stop" on slave 1
executing "stop" on slave 2
executing "stop" on master
Running rm -rf $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4
Sandbox $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4 deleted

The deployment command is the same as before, but the output changes:

$ dbdeployer deploy replication 8.0.4
Installing and starting primary
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/primary
. sandbox server started
Installing and starting replica 1
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/branch1
. sandbox server started
Installing and starting replica 2
Database installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/branch2
.. sandbox server started
$HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/initialize_replicas
initializing replica 1
initializing replica 2
Replication directory installed in $HOME/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4
run 'dbdeployer usage multiple' for basic instructions'

This looks already as if our defaults have been adopted. Let's see the sandbox itself:

$ ls -l ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/
total 152
drwxr-xr-x  23 user  staff   782 Mar  5 06:45 branch1
drwxr-xr-x  23 user  staff   782 Mar  5 06:45 branch2
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1515 Mar  5 06:45 check_replicas
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1170 Mar  5 06:45 clear_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1629 Mar  5 06:45 initialize_replicas
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   807 Mar  5 06:45 n1
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:45 n2
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:45 n3
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   807 Mar  5 06:45 p
drwxr-xr-x  22 user  staff   748 Mar  5 06:45 primary
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:45 r1
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   806 Mar  5 06:45 r2
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff   855 Mar  5 06:45 restart_all
-rw-r--r--   1 user  staff   173 Mar  5 06:45 sbdescription.json
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1137 Mar  5 06:45 send_kill_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1308 Mar  5 06:45 start_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1700 Mar  5 06:45 status_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1097 Mar  5 06:45 stop_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  4613 Mar  5 06:45 test_replication
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1325 Mar  5 06:45 test_sb_all
-rwxr--r--   1 user  staff  1106 Mar  5 06:45 use_all

We see that the new defaults were used and the script names have changed. But the differences are deeper than this. Also the internal values in the scripts were changed accordingly.

$ ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/test_replication
# primary log: mysql-bin.000001 - Position: 14073 - Rows: 20
# Testing replica #1
ok - replica #1 acknowledged reception of transactions from primary
ok - replica #1 IO thread is running
ok - replica #1 SQL thread is running
ok - Table t1 found on replica #1
ok - Table t1 has 20 rows on #1
# Testing replica #2
ok - replica #2 acknowledged reception of transactions from primary
ok - replica #2 IO thread is running
ok - replica #2 SQL thread is running
ok - Table t1 found on replica #2
ok - Table t1 has 20 rows on #2
# Tests :    10
# failed:     0 (  0.0%)
# PASSED:    10 (100.0%)
# exit code: 0

The test script calls the components with the names that we defined in the new defaults. Let's have a look at what the shortcuts for the master and slaves (now primary and replicas) do:

$ ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/p
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 35
Server version: 8.0.4-rc-log MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

primary [localhost] {msandbox} ((none)) >

$ ~/sandboxes/rsandbox_8_0_4/r1
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 15
Server version: 8.0.4-rc-log MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

replica1 [localhost] {msandbox} ((none)) >

Also the internal prompt has been adapted to the new naming.

Should we want to revert to the old behavior, we can just reset the defaults:

$ dbdeployer defaults reset
#File $HOME/.dbdeployer/config.json removed

The current replication sandbox is left untouched, but the next one will use the default values.

If we don't want to change the defaults permanently, there is an alternative. The --defaults flag allows us to change defaults on-the-fly just for the command we're running. For example, we could have achieved the same result, without editing the configuration file, using this command:

    dbdeployer deploy replication 8.0.4 \
        --defaults=master-name:primary \
        --defaults=master-abbr:p \
        --defaults=slave-prefix:replica \
        --defaults=slave-abbr:r \
        --defaults=node-prefix:branch

The syntax for --defaults requires the name of the variable and the new value, separated by a colon. The flag can be used as many times as needed.

Thursday, March 01, 2018

Using MySQL 8.0: what to expect

Mysql8

MySQL 8.0 will be GA soon (just my assumption: Oracle doesn't tell me anything about its release plans) and it's time to think about having a look at it.
If this is your first try of MySQL 8, get prepared for several impacting differences from previous versions.

In this article I won't tell you what you can do with MySQL 8: there is plenty of material about this, including in this very blog. I will instead concentrate on differences from previous versions that users need to know if they want to avoid surprises.

Data Directory

Let's start with an observation of the data directory.
After a standard installation, without any additional options, I see the following:

Files that I expected to see

auto.cnf
ib_buffer_pool
ib_logfile0
ib_logfile1
ibdata1
ibtmp1
(dir) mysql
(dir) performance_schema
(dir) sys

These files are also present in 5.7.

Files that are new in 8.0

binlog.000001
binlog.index

log-bin is ON by default. You need to remember this if you are using a MySQL server for a benchmark test that used to run without binary logs.

ca-key.pem
ca.pem
client-cert.pem
client-key.pem
private_key.pem
public_key.pem
server-cert.pem
server-key.pem

Now the MySQL generates all the certificates needed to run connections securely. This will greatly simplify your task when setting up a new instance.

mysql.ibd

This was completely unexpected! The mysql database has now its own tablespace. This is probably due to the new Data Dictionary, which is implemented in InnoDB. You will notice that all the InnoDB tables in MySQL use this tablespace, not only dictionary tables. This will help keeping administrative data separate from operational data in the rest of the server.

undo_001
undo_002

The undo logs have now their own tablespace by default.

Global variables

There are a lot of changes in global variables. Here's the list of what will impact your work when you use MySQL 8.0 for the first time:

character_set_client        utf8mb4
character_set_connection    utf8mb4
character_set_database      utf8mb4
character_set_results       utf8mb4
character_set_server        utf8mb4

All character sets are now utf8mb4. In MySQL 5.7, the default values are a mix of utf8 and latin1.

default_authentication_plugin   caching_sha2_password

This is huge. Using this plugin, passwords are stored in a different way, which guarantees more security, but will probably break several workflows among the users. The bad thing about this change implementation is that this password format contains characters that don't display well on screen, and you can see garbled output when inspecting the "user" table.

local_infile    OFF

Loading local files is now prevented by default. If you have a workflow that requires such operations, you need to enable it.

log_bin ON
log_slave_updates   ON

We've seen from an inspection of the local directory that binary logging is enabled by default. But also very important is that log_slave_update is enabled. This is important to have slaves ready to replace a master, but will severely affect performance in those scenarios where some slaves were supposed to run without that feature.

master_info_repository  TABLE
relay_log_info_repository   TABLE

Also impacting performance is the setting for replication repositories, which are now on TABLE by default. This is something that should have happened already in MySQL 5.6 and was long overdue.

Surprisingly, something that DOES NOT get enabled by default is Global Transaction Identifiers (GTID). This is also a legacy from decisions taken in MySQL 5.6. Due to the GTID implementation, enabling them by default is not possible when upgrading from a previous version. With new data in a fresh installation, it is safe to enable GTID from the start.


Users


There are two new users when the server is created:

mysql.infoschema
mysql.session 

Theoretically, mysql.session also exists in 5.7, but it was introduced long after GA, so it still qualifies as a novelty.

Then, when the server starts, you get a grand total of 4 users (root and mysql.sys are inherited from MySQL 5.7.)


Mixed oddities


When MySQL initializes, i.e. when the server starts for the first time and creates the database, you will notice some slowness, compared to previous versions. This is in part due to the data dictionary, which needs to create and fill 30 tables, but it is not a big deal in terms of performance. In some systems, though, the slowness is so acute that you start worrying about the server being stuck.

I noticed this problem in my Intel NUC running with SSD storage. In this box, the initialization time took a serious hit:

Version time
5.0.96 1.231s
5.1.72 1.346s
5.5.52 2.441s
5.6.39 5.540s
5.7.21 6.080s
8.0.3 7.826s
8.0.4 38.547s

There is no mistype. The initialization for 8.0.4 lasts 6 times more than 5.7.
This doesn't happen everywhere. On a Mac laptop running on SSD the same operation takes almost 9 seconds, while 5.7 deploys in less than 5. It is still a substantial difference, one that has totally disrupted my regular operations in the NUC. I investigated the matter, and I found the reason. In 8.0, we have a new (hidden) table in the data dictionary, called st_spatial_reference_systems. Up to MySQL 8.0.3, this table was filled using a single transaction containing roughly 5,000 REPLACE INTO statements. It is a lot of data, but it happens quickly. For comparison, in MySQL 8.0.3 the initialization is only 2 seconds slower than 5.7.
The reason for the slowness in 8.0.4 is that there was a new command added to the syntax: CREATE SPATIAL REFERENCE SYSTEM, which is now used 5,000 times to fill the table that was previously filled with a single transaction. I don't know why someone in the MySQL team thought that changing this operation that is hidden from users was a good idea. The data is contained in the server itself and it goes into a data dictionary table, also not visible to users. I am sure I can find at least two methods to load the data faster. I was told that this glitch will be fixed in the next release. I'm waiting.

Speaking of initialization, the mysql_install_db script has been removed for good in 8.0. If you are still using it instead of the recommended mysqld --initialize, you should adapt asap.

This list is far from being exhaustive. I recommend reading What's new in MySQL 8 before upgrading.
If you are impatient, dbdeployer can help you test MySQL 8 quickly and safely.



Wednesday, February 28, 2018

The confusing strategy for MySQL shell

Where the hell is it?

The MySQL shell is a potentially useful tool that has been intentionally made difficult to use properly.

It was introduced, with much fanfare, with the MySQL Document Store, as THE tool to bridge the SQL and no-SQL worlds. The release was less than satisfactory, though: MySQL 5.7.12 introduced a new feature (the X-protocol plugin) bundled with the server. The maturity of the plugin was unclear, as it popped out of the unknown into a GA release, without any public testing. It was allegedly GA quality, although the quantity of bug reports that were filed soon after the release proved otherwise. The maturity of the shell was known as "development preview", and so we had a supposedly GA feature that could only be used with an alpha quality tool.

The situation with the MySQL shell got worse in a few months. A new product was brewing (MySQL Group Replication) and went rapidly from something released in the Labs without docs to being part of the regular server distribution, and it was evolving into a more complex and ambitious project (the InnoDB Cluster) which used the MySQL shell as its main tool.

Since the announcement of InnoDB Cluster, using the MySQL shell has been a nightmare. You saw examples in blog posts and presentations, and when you tried them at home, they did not work. There were different releases of MySQL shell with the same version number but different capabilities, depending on whether they were released through the main downloads site or through the labs.

When I asked why the shell wasn't distributed with the server, like the other tools, I was told that a non-GA product could not be released with a GA server. Considering that the Document Store is still walking around with a Pre-Production status legal notice, this was an odd excuse.

Still, I kept waiting, trying to figure out how to pair a given version of MySQL shell with a given version of the server. Unlike the server, there are no release notes for the shell, so every release was a surprising experience.

Eventually, the MySQL shell reached the GA state, with which merit I can't tell. Given the obstacles in the path to its usage, I doubt it has had any serious testing from the community. Despite the state being GA, it keeps being released separately, leaving the puzzled users with the ungrateful task of determining with which server version that shell could be used safely.

With the upcoming release of MySQL 8.0, a new version of MySQL shell appeared, with a colorful prompt and new features that the GA shell doesn't have. The public perception of the tool keeps getting more confused. In the presentations given by the MySQL team we see the new shell doing wonders, while the GA shell keeps its monochromatic features. Shall I use the 8.0.x shell with a 5.7 server or should I stick with the 1.0 version?

In MySQL 8.0, the situation is still divided. Both products (the server and the shell) are, as of today, not GA yet. It would make sense to finally end the craziness and put the two things together, so that users don't have to hunt around for the right shell version. But the two products are still released separately.


How can I do stuff with MySQL shell?

So far, we have only seen the availability of the shell. What about the functionality?

I have heard that Oracle wants to convert the shell into the only tool to deal with MySQL. I can't prove it, as Oracle doesn't release its development plans to the public, but I can see the emphasis on the shell in talks and articles authored by MySQL team engineers. If this is the plan, I think it needs a lot more work.

If you try to use MySQL shell the same way as the regular "mysql" client, you get in trouble soon.

mysqlsh --user root --password=msandbox --port=5721 --host 127.0.0.1
mysqlx: [Warning] Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Creating a Session to 'root@127.0.0.1:5721'
Your MySQL connection id is 38
Server version: 5.7.21 MySQL Community Server (GPL)
No default schema selected; type \use  to set one.
MySQL Shell 1.0.11

Copyright (c) 2016, 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type '\help' or '\?' for help; '\quit' to exit.

Currently in JavaScript mode. Use \sql to switch to SQL mode and execute queries.

I see two problems here:

  • The warning about the password on the command line is legitimate. The trouble is that there is no alternative. mysqlsh does not support --defaults-file, and there is no way of giving a password other than directly at invocation. There is an option "--passwords-from-stdin" which does not seem to work, and even if it did, I can't see the advantage of using the password from a pipe.
  • The default mode is Javascript. I can see that this makes operations simpler when you want to perform setup tasks for InnoDB Cluster, but certainly doesn't help me to use this tool as the primary drive for database management. There is a "--sql" option that does what I expect, but if this is not the default, I can't see this replacement being very successful.
  • Due to the previous items, using the tool in batch mode (with -e "SQL commands") is impossible, as every invocation will start with the freaking password warning.

I'm afraid that it's too late to take action for MySQL 8.0. The MySQL team is probably packaging the GA release while I write these notes. But I offer some suggestions nonetheless.


Wish list


  1. Package MySQL shell with the server. Past experience shows that the MySQL team keeps adding features into a GA release, thus exposing users to the risk of getting the wrong tool for the job. Having the shell and the server in the same tarball will help users pick the right version for the task. This is similar to what happens with mysqldump: using the tool from 5.5 with a 5.7+ server will not work properly. There is no reason for mysqlsh to be treated differently.
  2. Make sure that all the features of the mysql client work seamlessly in mysqlsh. Perhaps run the test suite replacing mysql with mysqlsh and pick up from there.
  3. Make the MySQL shell compatible with other tools. Specifically, it should support option files (--defaults-file, --defaults-extra-file, --defaults-group-suffix, --no-defaults)

In short, if the plan is to replace mysql with mysqlsh, put the thing in the open, and please make sure it can do what users can reasonably expect.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Revisiting roles in MySQL 8.0

In my previous article about roles I said that one of the problems with role usage is that roles need to be activated before they kick in. Let's recap briefly what the problem is:

## new session, as user `root`

mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > create role viewer;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > grant select on *.* to viewer;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > create user see_it_all identified by 'msandbox';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > grant viewer to see_it_all;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

## NEW session, as user `see_it_all`

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > use test
ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'see_it_all'@'%' to database 'test'

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > show grants\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
Grants for see_it_all@%: GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO `see_it_all`@`%`
*************************** 2. row ***************************
Grants for see_it_all@%: GRANT `viewer`@`%` TO `see_it_all`@`%`
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > select current_role();
+----------------+
| current_role() |
+----------------+
| NONE           |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

We can create a simple role that gives read-only access to most database objects, and assign it to a user. However, when the new user tries accessing one database, it is rejected. The problem is that the role must be activated, either permanently, or for the current session.

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > set role viewer;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > select current_role();
+----------------+
| current_role() |
+----------------+
| `viewer`@`%`   |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > use test
Database changed

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > show grants\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
Grants for see_it_all@%: GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO `see_it_all`@`%`
*************************** 2. row ***************************
Grants for see_it_all@%: GRANT `viewer`@`%` TO `see_it_all`@`%`
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The main issue here is that the role is not active immediately. If we grant a given privilege to a user, the user will be able to operate under that privilege straight away. If we grant a role, instead, the user can't use it immediately. Roles need to be activated, either by the giver or by the receiver.


Auto activating roles


In MySQL 8.0.2 there are two new features related to roles, and one of them addresses the main problem we have just seen. When we use activate_all_roles_on_login, all roles become active when the user starts a session, regardless of any role activation that may pre-exist. Let's try. In the previous example, as root, we issue this command:


mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > set global activate_all_roles_on_login=ON;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Then, we connect as user see_it_all

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > select current_role();
+----------------+
| current_role() |
+----------------+
| `viewer`@`%`   |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > use test
Database changed

The role is active. The current role can be overridden temporarily using SET ROLE:

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} ((none)) > use test
Database changed

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > set role none;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > select current_role();
+----------------+
| current_role() |
+----------------+
| NONE           |
+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {see_it_all} (test) > show tables;
ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'see_it_all'@'%' to database 'test'

This is a good option, which can further simplify DBAs work. There are, as usual, a few caveats:

  • This option has effect only on login, i.e. when the user starts a new session. Users that are already logged in when the option is changed will not be affected until they re-connect.
  • Use of this option can have adverse effects when using combinations of roles. If the DBA intent is to give users several roles that should be used separately, using activate_all_roles_on_login will make the paradigm more difficult to use. Let's see an example:

CREATE ROLE payroll_viewer ;
GRANT SELECT ON payroll.* TO payroll_viewer;

CREATE ROLE payroll_updater;
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON payroll.* TO payroll_updater;

CREATE ROLE personnel_viewer ;
GRANT SELECT ON personnel.* TO personnel_viewer;

CREATE ROLE personnel_updater;
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON personnel.* TO personnel_updater;

CREATE ROLE payroll;
GRANT payroll_updater, payroll_viewer, personnel_viewer to payroll;

CREATE ROLE personnel;
GRANT personnel_updater, personnel_viewer to personnel;

CREATE USER pers_user identified by 'msandbox';
CREATE USER pers_manager identified by 'msandbox';
CREATE USER pay_user identified by 'msandbox';

GRANT personnel to pers_user;
GRANT personnel, payroll_viewer to pers_manager;
GRANT payroll to pay_user;

SET DEFAULT ROLE personnel TO pers_user;
SET DEFAULT ROLE personnel TO pers_manager;
SET DEFAULT ROLE payroll TO pay_user;

In the above situation, we want the user pers_manager to see the personnel records by default, but she needs to manually activate payroll_viewer to see the payroll.
If we set activate_all_roles_on_login, pers_manager would be able to see payroll info without further action.


Mandatory roles


Another option introduced in 8.0.2 is mandatory_roles. This variable can be set with a list of roles. When set, the roles in the list will be added to the privileges of all users, including future ones.

Here's an example of how this feature could be useful. We want a schema containing data that should be accessible to all users, regardless of their privileges.

CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS company;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS company.news;
CREATE TABLE company.news(
    id int not null auto_increment primary key,
    news_type ENUM('INFO', 'WARNING', 'ALERT'),
    contents MEDIUMTEXT);

DROP ROLE IF EXISTS news_reader;
CREATE ROLE news_reader;
GRANT SELECT ON company.* TO news_reader;
SET PERSIST mandatory_roles = news_reader;

In this example, every user that starts a session after mandatory_roles was set will be able to access the "company" schema and read the news from there.

There are at least two side effects of this feature:

  • When a role is included in the list of mandatory roles, it can't be dropped.
mysql [localhost] {root} (mysql) > drop role news_reader;
ERROR 4527 (HY000): The role `news_reader`@`%` is a mandatory role and can't be revoked or dropped. 
The restriction can be lifted by excluding the role identifier from the global variable mandatory_roles.
  • users who have already a broad access that include the privileges in the mandatory role will nonetheless have the global role show up in the user list of grants. For example, here is how 'root'@'localhost' grants look like:
mysql [localhost] {root} ((none)) > show grants \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
Grants for root@localhost: GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, RELOAD,
 SHUTDOWN, PROCESS, FILE, REFERENCES, INDEX, ALTER, SHOW DATABASES, SUPER, 
 CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES, EXECUTE, REPLICATION SLAVE, REPLICATION CLIENT, 
 CREATE VIEW, SHOW VIEW, CREATE ROUTINE, ALTER ROUTINE, CREATE USER, EVENT, TRIGGER, 
 CREATE TABLESPACE, CREATE ROLE, DROP ROLE ON *.* TO `root`@`localhost` WITH GRANT 
 OPTION
*************************** 2. row ***************************
Grants for root@localhost: GRANT BACKUP_ADMIN,BINLOG_ADMIN,CONNECTION_ADMIN,
 ENCRYPTION_KEY_ADMIN,GROUP_REPLICATION_ADMIN,PERSIST_RO_VARIABLES_ADMIN, 
 REPLICATION_SLAVE_ADMIN,RESOURCE_GROUP_ADMIN,RESOURCE_GROUP_USER,ROLE_ADMIN,
 SET_USER_ID,SYSTEM_VARIABLES_ADMIN,XA_RECOVER_ADMIN ON *.* TO `root`@`localhost` 
 WITH GRANT OPTION
*************************** 3. row ***************************
Grants for root@localhost: GRANT <b>SELECT ON `company`.*</b> TO `root`@`localhost`
*************************** 4. row ***************************
Grants for root@localhost: GRANT PROXY ON ''@'' TO 'root'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION
*************************** 5. row ***************************
Grants for root@localhost: GRANT <b>`news_reader`@`%`</b> TO `root`@`localhost`
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

More gotchas

There are several commands for setting roles. One of them uses ALTER USER, while the rest uses a SET command.

  • First gotcha: SET ROLE and SET DEFAULT ROLE don't need an equals sign (=). The syntax is similar to SET CHARACTER SET, not to SET variable. This is a bit confusing, because another security related command (SET PASSWORD) requires the '=' in the assignment.

  • Now, for the really entertaining part, here's a list of commands that can give any DBA an headache.


Command meaning
SET ROLE role_name Activates the role role_name for the current session.
SET DEFAULT ROLE role_name Sets the role role_name as default permanently.
SET ROLE DEFAULT Activates the default role for the current session.

State of bugs


Community members have reported several bugs about roles. While I am happy of the MySQL team response concerning the usability of roles (the automatic activation came after I gave feedback) I am less thrilled by seeing that none of the public bugs reported on this matter have been addressed.Bug#85561 is particularly vexing. I reported that users can be assigned non-existing roles as default. I was answered with a sophism about the inner being of a default role, and the bug report was closed with a "Won't fix" state. I disagree with this characterisation. The behaviour that I reported is a bug because it allows users to write a wrong statement without a warning or an error. I hope the team will reconsider and take action to improve the usability of roles.