this isn't my exact situation but close enough for description.
On a MySQL 8.0.28 instance on an ubuntu 22.08 server, I have a database 'important' that contains only MyISAM tables. Within MySQL I:
DROP DATABASE important;
then continue to 'do stuff' with other databases etc. Some time later, I decide I want that 'important' database back (without restoring other databases). Luckily I have a physical backup of the MySQL data folder, specifically including the 'important' directory.
If I stop the server, copy the 'important' directory back in place, then restart the server I hoped (and was the case under MySQL 5) that the database would re-appear, but it doesn't.
As far as I can sell, MySQL 5 used to physically scan the directory to look for databases whereas MySQL 8 seems to have a separate idea of what databases exist. To clarify, I am only using MySQL 8.0.28 in this scenario - the backup was made under the same version as I'm restoring to.
My question is, how can I make this database reappear? Perhaps that's "How can I make MySQL 8 rescan its database of databases"?
I think you're in uncharted territory.
It's true that in MySQL 5.x, you could create a schema simply with mkdir, creating a subdirectory under the data directory. Within that directory, each MyISAM table has three files: tablename.MYD, tablename.MYI, and tablename.frm. The frm file has metadata about the table and its columns, so the MyISAM storage engine could discover new tables simply by reading their respective frm file.
This was not possible for InnoDB in 5.x, because InnoDB had an internal data dictionary stored in the ibdata1 tablespace in the data directory. The data dictionary had to maintain duplicate metadata about InnoDB tables.
In MySQL 8.0, they eliminated frm files completely. Tables of all storage engines are managed by the InnoDB data dictionary. There is no interface to the data dictionary besides DDL statements like CREATE/ALTER/DROP. There are several benefits to this change.
This means you can't use external shell commands like mkdir and cp to create schemas and tables. You have to use DDL to communicate to the data dictionary. It's not only stored on disk in the InnoDB tablespace, but it's also cached as objects in the MySQL Server process. Using DDL updates both.
I have not tried this with MyISAM tables (I haven't used MyISAM tables if I can avoid it for over ten years), but in theory you could use CREATE SCHEMA and CREATE TABLE to recreate empty tables that match the definition of the tables you're restoring. Then outside of MySQL, use cp to copy the tables you want to restore over the empty data and index files. I would shut down MySQL Server before doing this, to hopefully avoid any race conditions or conflicting with file caches.
I have no idea if that will work. I would test these steps first on a test instance (not your production instance).
looking to optimize mysql5.5 databases for INNODB. I have tried the link
Note: The databases also contains MYISAM tables.
Howto: Clean a mysql InnoDB storage engine?
As per the instructions I have dropped all databases as well as ibdata* and ib_logfile* and made changes in my.cnf like
[mysqld]
innodb_file_per_table
innodb_flush_method=O_DIRECT
innodb_log_file_size=1G
innodb_buffer_pool_size=4G
Now on restoring the backup, not only mysql storing INNODB tables in separate files, but it is doing it for MYISAM tables as well.
This is resulting in MYISAM database unusable.
when I am trying to access the website having MYISAM tables I am getting the error - Error displaying the error page: Application Instantiation Error
Can't makeout why mysql is storing MYISAM tables in separate files.
Thanks.
AFAIK MyISAM always stores tables in their own files (3 files per table: .MYI, .MYD and .frm).
It is not allowed to remove the ibdata file. Do you have a backup of that file? To move from single file to file per table you need to do as stated here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-multiple-tablespaces.html (see under "Enabling and Disabling Multiple Tablespaces")
I have DB InnoDb innodb_db_1. I have turned on innodb_file_per_table.
If I go to var/lib/mysql/innodb_db_1/ I will find files table_name.ibd, table_name.frm, db.opt.
Now, I'm trying to copy these files to another DB for example to innodb_db_2(var/lib/mysql/innodb_db_2/) but nothing happened.
But if my DB will be MyIsam, I can copy in such way and everything be ok.
What suggestions to move the DB by copying the file of InnoDb DB?
Even when you use file-per-table, the tables keep some of their data and metadata in /var/lib/mysql/ibdata1. So you can't just move .ibd files to a new MySQL instance.
You'll have to backup and restore your database. You can use:
mysqldump, included with MySQL, reliable but slow.
mydumper, a community contributed substitute for mysqldump, this supports compression and parallel execution and other neat features.
Percona XtraBackup, which is free and performs high-speed physical backups of InnoDB (and also supports other storage engines). This is recommended to minimize interruption to your live operations, and also if your database is large.
Re your comment:
No, you cannot just copy .ibd files. You cannot turn off the requirement for ibdata1. This file includes, among other things, a data dictionary which you can think of like a table of contents for a book. It tells InnoDB what tables you have, and which physical file they reside in.
If you just move a .ibd file into another MySQL instance, this does not add it to that instance's data dictionary. So InnoDB has no idea to look in the new file, or which logical table it goes with.
If you want a workaround, you could ALTER TABLE mytable ENGINE=MyISAM, move that file and its .frm to another instance, and then ALTER TABLE mytable ENGINE=InnoDB to change it back. Remember to FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK before you move MyISAM files.
But these steps are not for beginners. It would be a lot safer for you to use the backup & restore method unless you know what you're doing. I'm trying to save you some grief.
There is an easy procedure to move the whole Mysql InnoDB from pc A to pc B.
The conditions to perform the procedure are:
You need to have innodb_file_per_table option set
You need to be able to make a shutdown of the database
In my case i had to move whole 150Gb MySql database (the biggest table had aprox. 60Gb). Making sqldumps and loading them back was not an option (too slow).
So what I did was I made a "cold backup" of the mysql database (mysql doc) and then simply move files to another computer.
The steps to make after moving the databse are described here dba stackexchange.
I am writing this, because (assuming you are able to follow mentioned conditions) this is by far the fastest (and probalby the easiest) method to move a (large) MySql InnoDb and nobody mentioned it yet.
You can copy MyISAM tables all day long (safely, as long as they are flushed and locked or the server is stopped) but you can't do this with InnoDB, because the two storage engines handle tables and tablespaces very differently.
MyISAM automatically discovers tables by iterating the files in the directory named for the database.
InnoDB has an internal data dictionary stored in the system tablespace (ibdata1). Not only do the tables have to be consistent, there are identifiers in the .ibd files that must match what the data dictionary has stored internally.
Prior to MySQL 5.6, with the introduction of transportable tablespaces, this wasn't a supported operation. If you are using MySQL 5.6, the link provides you with information on how this works.
The alternatives:
use mysqldump [options] database_name > dumpfile.sql without the --databases option, which will dump the tables in the specified database but will omit any DATABASE commands (DROP DATABASE, CREATE DATABASE and USE), some or all of which, based on the combination of options specified, are normally added to the dump file. You can then import this with mysql [options] < dumpfile.sql.
CREATE TABLE db2.t1 LIKE db1.t1; INSERT INTO db2.t1 SELECT * FROM db1.t1; (for each table; you'll have to add any foreign key constraints back in)
ALTER TABLE on each table, changing it to MyISAM, then flushing and locking the tables with FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;, copying them over, then altering everything back to InnoDB. Not the greatest idea, since you'll lose all foreign key declarations and have to add them back on the original tables, but it is an alternative.
As far as I know, "hot copying" table files is a very bad idea (I've done it two times, and only made it work with MyISAM tables, and i did it only because I had no other choice).
My personal recomendation is: Use mysqldump. On your shell:
mysqldump -h yourHost -u yourUser -pYourPassword yourDatabase yourTable > dumpFile.sql
To copy the data from a dump file to another database, on your shell:
mysql -h yourHost -u yourUser -pYourPassword yourNewDatabase < dumpFile.sql
Check: mysqldump — A Database Backup Program.
If you insist on copying InnoDB files by hand, please read this: Backing Up and Recovering an InnoDB Database
Can I use MySQL transactions on an InnoDB table inside MySQL event? Are there any restrictions on the event scheduler?
Following are limits on InnoDB Tables
Warning
Do not convert MySQL system tables in the mysql database from MyISAM to InnoDB tables! This is an unsupported operation. If you do this, MySQL does not restart until you restore the old system tables from a backup or re-generate them with the mysql_install_db script.
Warning
It is not a good idea to configure InnoDB to use data files or log files on NFS volumes. Otherwise, the files might be locked by other processes and become unavailable for use by MySQL.
**Go to follwoing link
restrictions on the event scheduler
Hope its help you!!!
I am trying to change the table engine from MyISAM to INNODB. I am using the
alter table tablename ENGINE=INNODB
command. I am not getting any errors or warnings on the mysql side. I also commented the
skip-innodb
line in my.cnf file. So when I do a
show variables like 'have-innodb%'
it gives me a "YES". Also just to be on the safe side, I also deleted my ib_logfile0 and ib_logfile1 and restarted my mysql server.
But it still does not change the engine. I also did a show engines, and it shows innodb as one of the available engines.
Also these tables are full of data and have around 5000 rows, so is changing the engine type when a table has data, would that be the problem??
What could the missing link be??
Are you able to restart the server? If so, the error log will tell you if it had problems initialising the InnoDB engine.
Is this the first InnoDB table in your db? If so, you may have forgotten to create your ibdata files.
Does the table use fulltext indexing or other InnoDB-incompatible features?