I answered a question on how to use rsync to copy a live DB to another location.
You would repeat rsync process multiple times until two rsync's run in the same time.
Then, you would shutdown mysql on the master, perform a final rsync to the new server, and start mysql on the master.
You then properly prep the new server, make sure /var/lib/mysql has everything, make sure you erase all binary logs on the new server, and make sure you have the same my.cnf on both machines (you may want to change the server_id)
Here is an excerpt from that link:
Step 01) install the same version of mysql on ServerB that ServerA has
Step 02) On ServerA, run SET GLOBAL innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct = 0;
from mysql and about 10 minutes (This purges dirty pages from the InnoDB Buffer Pool. It also helps perform a mysql shutdown faster) If your database is all MyISAM, you can skip this step.
Step 03) rsync /var/lib/mysql of ServerA to /var/lib/mysql on ServerB
Step 04) Repeat Step 03 until an rsync takes less than 1 minute
Step 05) service mysql stop
on ServerA
Step 06) Perform one more rsync
Step 07) scp ServerA:/etc/my.cnf to ServerB:/etc/.
Step 08) service mysql start
on ServerB
Step 09) service mysql start
on ServerA (optional)
Give it a Try !!!
Are you using InnoDB? Xtrabackup will allow you to do "hot" or "online" copies of your running master.
Propagate the backup made via xtrabackup to the slave. There is no need to disrupt the relay (blackhole) server, just add the extra tables to be replicated to the relay server config before you "START SLAVE" on your slave.
Best Answer
No issues with using the slave DB if you are ok with having the site in read-only until the cutover.
You could turn the
READ_ONLY=1
inmy.cnf
(set global read_only=1
) in the slave just to make sure there are no unintentional writes to the slave.