MySQL – Is it Safe to Delete mysql-bin Files?

binlogMySQLreplication

I have MM Replication in mysql, and I want to squeeze some free space in the box be deleting unnecessary files, I came across these mysql-bin files inside /var/db/mysql/ There are hundreds of those files like mysql-bin.000123, mysql-bin.000223 etc. I have checked the mysql replication by doing show master status and show slave status they are using some mysql-bin files at certain positions, but I guess all the other bin files are leftovers which will not be used anymore. In this case is it safe to delete all those mysql-bin files except the ones that replication is currently pointing at ?

If it is safe to delete, then is there anything I could do to automatically delete those files once they are not in use ?

Best Answer

Please do not just delete them in the OS.

You need to let mysqld do that for you. Here is how mysqld manages it:

The file mysql-bin.[index] keeps a list of all binary logs mysqld has generated and auto-rotated. The mechanisms for cleaning out the binlogs in conjunction with mysql-bin.[index] are:

PURGE BINARY LOGS TO 'binlogname';
PURGE BINARY LOGS BEFORE 'datetimestamp';

These will clear all binary logs before the binlog or timestamp you just specified.

For example, if you run

PURGE BINARY LOGS TO 'mysql-bin.000223';

this will erase all binary logs before mysql-bin.000223.

If you run

PURGE BINARY LOGS BEFORE DATE(NOW() - INTERVAL 3 DAY) + INTERVAL 0 SECOND;

this will erase all binary logs before midnight 3 days ago.

If you want to have binlog rotated away automatically and keep 3 days woth, simply set this:

mysql> SET GLOBAL expire_logs_days = 3;

then add this to /etc/my.cnf

[mysqld]
expire_logs_days=3

and mysqld will delete them logs for you

SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G

This is critical. When you run SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G, you will see two binary logs from the Master:

Master_Log_File
Relay_Master_Log_File

When replication has little or no lag these are usually the same value. When there is a lot of replication lag, these values are different. Just to make it simple, choose whatever Relay_Master_Log_File is, and go back to the Master and run

PURGE BINARY LOGS TO 'Whatever Relay_Master_Log_File Is';

That way, replication is not interrupted.

Related Solutions

Mysql – Create a thesql slave database from master database

Going by your question, I will like to review what I believe you did thus far:

You stopped mysql on the Master
You copied Master's /var/lib/mysql to the Slave's /var/lib/mysql
I surmise the binlogs on the Master were copied as well

Look at the Slave's last binlog. From the question, it should be

mydbm1-bin.008524
Filesize 1330529

Believe it or not, you have to do a few things:

1) On the Master, create a replication user like this:

GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE,REPLICATION CLIENT
ON *.* TO replicator@'%'
IDENTIFIED BY 'r3plic4t0R';

2) Make /var/lib/mysql on the Slave owned by mysql user

chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql

3) Make sure Master's server_id is explicitly set in my.cnf

[mysqld]
server_id = 1

4) Make sure Slave's server_id is explicitly set in my.cnf

[mysqld]
server_id = 2

5) Startup mysql on the Slave

service mysql start

6) Setup replication by running this on the Slave

CHANGE MASTER TO
MASTER_HOST='IPAddressOfMaster',
MASTER_PORT=3306,
MASTER_USER='replicator',
MASTER_PASSWORD='r3plic4t0R',
MASTER_LOG_FILE='mydbm1-bin.008524',
MASTER_LOG_POS=1330529;
START SLAVE;
SELECT SLEEP(5);
SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G

You will see something like this:

mysql> show slave status\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
             Slave_IO_State: Waiting for master to send event
                Master_Host: 10.48.20.253
                Master_User: replicant
                Master_Port: 3306
              Connect_Retry: 60
            Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000254
        Read_Master_Log_Pos: 858190247
             Relay_Log_File: relay-bin.066069
              Relay_Log_Pos: 873918
      Relay_Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.000254
           Slave_IO_Running: Yes
          Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
            Replicate_Do_DB:
        Replicate_Ignore_DB:
         Replicate_Do_Table:
     Replicate_Ignore_Table:
    Replicate_Wild_Do_Table:
Replicate_Wild_Ignore_Table:
                 Last_Errno: 0
                 Last_Error:
               Skip_Counter: 0
        Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 858190247
            Relay_Log_Space: 873772
            Until_Condition: None
             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:
      Seconds_Behind_Master: 0
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

If Slave_IO_Running and Slave_SQL_Running are both Yes, CONGRATULATIONS !!!

I already answered a post back on Feb 06, 2012 ( How to setup replication(Master/slave) in MySQL 5.5.20? ) with essentially the same steps.

I wanted to add additional posts I made for setting up Circular Replication should you decide to setup the two DB servers as Master/Master

Sep 24, 2012 : Setting up MySQL circular replication in existing replication topology?
May 07, 2012 : Setting Circular Replication in mysql

Mysql – Huge 0.000001 and 0.000002 files and so on, in thesql data folder

These are your binary logs. For some reason, your config file lists:

log-bin = 0

Did you mean by that to disable binary logs? Well, instead, you've simply named them as "0". Which is why you get all these files: 0.000001, 0.00002 etc.

If you want binary logging, better name them properly:

log-bin = mysql-bin

(this will make files named mysql-bin.000001, mysql-bin.000002 etc)

If you don't want binary logging, just comment the line:

#log-bin = mysql-bin

Typically, binary logs are desired: they are essential if you want to set up replication, or do logical point-in-time recovery.

If you do decide to disable them, and are convinced you do not need them, then you can also purge them:

mysql> PURGE MASTER LOGS TO '0.000025';

will delete all logs up to and excluding given log file.

Best Answer

SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G

Related Solutions

Mysql – Create a thesql slave database from master database

Mysql – Huge 0.000001 and 0.000002 files and so on, in thesql data folder

Related Question