Use the Clone plugin¶
The Clone plugin in the server enables you to create a physical copy of a server instance. This feature simplifies server provisioning and replication setup. Using the Clone plugin, you can quickly copy data from one server instance (donor) to another (recipient).
Common scenarios¶
The following are common scenarios for using the Clone plugin:
| Scenario | Description |
|---|---|
| Set up new replicas quickly | Without manual data copying |
| Bootstrap new Group Replication members | Efficiently add new members to the group |
| Create physical backups | With minimal performance impact |
| Build test environments | Mirror production data for accurate testing |
| Provision new MySQL server instances | Quickly set up new servers with existing data |
| Perform local cloning | Clone data within the same server for testing or backup purposes |
| Clone encrypted and compressed data | Support for cloning encrypted and page-compressed data |
The Clone Plugin significantly reduces the time needed to create full server instance copies compared to traditional backup and restore methods.
Local clone on the same server¶
To clone data to a different directory on the same server:
mysql> CLONE LOCAL DATA DIRECTORY = '/path/to/destination/directory';
This command creates a full copy of all databases in the source directory.
Remote cloning to copy data between servers¶
On the source server, create a user with the necessary privileges:
mysql> CLONECREATE USER clone_user@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> GRANT CLONE_ADMIN ON *.* TO clone_user@'%';
On the target server, run the clone command:
mysql> CLONE INSTANCE FROM 'clone_user'@'donor_host':3306
IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
The destination server will shut down, replace its data, and restart automatically.
Monitor clone operations¶
Check the status of ongoing and completed clone operations:
mysql> SELECT * FROM performance_schema.clone_status;
mysql> SELECT * FROM performance_schema.clone_progress;
Additional details are recorded in the server error log.
For more information about the Clone plugin, see: