Importing data to an Amazon RDS for MySQL database with reduced downtime
In some cases, you might need to import data from an external MariaDB or MySQL database that supports a live application to an RDS for MariaDB DB instance, an RDS for MySQL DB instance, or an RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB cluster. Use the following procedure to minimize the impact on availability of applications. This procedure can also help if you are working with a very large database. Using this procedure, you can reduce the cost of the import by reducing the amount of data that is passed across the network to AWS.
In this procedure, you transfer a copy of your database data to an Amazon EC2 instance and
import the data into a new Amazon RDS database. You then use replication to bring the Amazon RDS
database up-to-date with your live external instance, before redirecting your application to
the Amazon RDS database. If the external instance is MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher and the target
instance is RDS for MariaDB, configure MariaDB replication based on global transaction
identifiers (GTIDs). Otherwise, configure replication based on binary log coordinates. We
recommend GTID-based replication if your external database supports it because GTID-based
replication is a more reliable method. For more information, see Global transaction
ID
Note
If you want to import data into an RDS for MySQL DB instance and your scenario supports it, we recommend moving data in and out of Amazon RDS by using backup files and Amazon S3. For more information, see Restoring a backup into an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance.
The following diagram shows importing an external MySQL database into a MySQL database on Amazon RDS.

Task 1: Create a copy of your existing database
The first step in the process of migrating a large amount of data to an RDS for MariaDB or RDS for MySQL database with minimal downtime is to create a copy of the source data.
The following diagram shows creating a backup of the MySQL database.

You can use the mysqldump
utility to create a database backup in either
SQL or delimited-text format. In MariaDB 10.5, the client is called mariadb-dumpmariadb-dump
instead of
mysqldump
. We recommend that you do a test run with each format in a
non-production environment to see which method minimizes the amount of time that
mysqldump runs.
We also recommend that you weigh mysqldump
performance against the
benefit offered by using the delimited-text format for loading. A backup using
delimited-text format creates a tab-separated text file for each table being dumped. To
reduce the amount of time required to import your database, you can load these files in
parallel using the LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE
command. For more information, see Load the data for MariaDB or Load the data for MySQL.
Before you start the backup operation, make sure to set the replication options on the MariaDB or MySQL database that you are copying to Amazon RDS. The replication options include turning on binary logging and setting a unique server ID. Setting these options causes your server to start logging database transactions and prepares it to be a source replication instance later in this process.
Make sure that you're aware of the following recommendations and considerations:
-
Use the
--single-transaction
option withmysqldump
because it dumps a consistent state of the database. To ensure a valid dump file, don't run data definition language (DDL) statements whilemysqldump
is running. You can schedule a maintenance window for these operations. -
Exclude the following schemas from the dump file:
-
sys
-
performance_schema
-
information_schema
The
mysqldump
andmariadb-dump
utility excludes these schemas by default. -
-
If you need to migrate users and privileges, consider using a tool that generates the data control language (DCL) for recreating them, such as the pt-show-grants
utility.
To set replication options
-
Edit the
my.cnf
file. This file is usually located under/etc
.sudo vi /etc/my.cnf
Add the
log_bin
andserver_id
options to the[mysqld]
section. Thelog_bin
option provides a file name identifier for binary log files. Theserver_id
option provides a unique identifier for the server in source-replica relationships.The following example shows the updated
[mysqld]
section of amy.cnf
file:[mysqld] log-bin=mysql-bin server-id=1
For more information, see Setting the Replication Source Configuration
in the MySQL documentation. -
For replication with a Multi-AZ DB cluster set the
ENFORCE_GTID_CONSISTENCY
and theGTID_MODE
parameter toON
.mysql> SET @@GLOBAL.ENFORCE_GTID_CONSISTENCY = ON;
mysql> SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_MODE = ON;
These settings aren't required for replication with a DB instance.
-
Restart the
mysql
service.sudo service mysqld restart
To create a backup copy of your existing database
-
Create a backup of your data using the
mysqldump
utility or themariadb-dump
utility, specifying either SQL or delimited-text format.For MySQL 8.0.25 and lower versions, specify
--master-data=2
to create a backup file that can be used to start replication between servers. For MySQL 8.0.26 and higher versions, specify--source-data=2
to create a backup file that can be used to start replication between servers. For more information, see the mysqldump — A Database Backup Programin the MySQL documentation. To improve performance and ensure data integrity, use the
--order-by-primary
and--single-transaction
options formysqldump
.To avoid including the MySQL system database in the backup, don't use the
--all-databases
option withmysqldump
. For more information, see Creating a Data Snapshot Using mysqldumpin the MySQL documentation. Use
chmod
, if necessary, to make sure that the directory where the backup file is being created is writeable.Important
On Windows, run the command window as an administrator.
-
To produce SQL output, use the following command:
For Linux, macOS, or Unix:
sudo mysqldump \ --databases
database_name
\ --master-data=2 \ --single-transaction \ --order-by-primary \ -r backup.sql \ -ulocal_user
\ -ppassword
Note
As a security best practice, specify credentials other than the prompts shown in the example.
For Windows:
mysqldump ^ --databases
database_name
^ --master-data=2 ^ --single-transaction ^ --order-by-primary ^ -r backup.sql ^ -ulocal_user
^ -ppassword
Note
As a security best practice, specify credentials other than the prompts shown in the example.
-
To produce delimited-text output, use the following command:
For Linux, macOS, or Unix:
sudo mysqldump \ --tab=
target_directory
\ --fields-terminated-by ',' \ --fields-enclosed-by '"' \ --lines-terminated-by 0x0d0a \database_name
\ --master-data=2 \ --single-transaction \ --order-by-primary \ -ppassword
For Windows:
mysqldump ^ --tab=
target_directory
^ --fields-terminated-by "," ^ --fields-enclosed-by """ ^ --lines-terminated-by 0x0d0a ^database_name
^ --master-data=2 ^ --single-transaction ^ --order-by-primary ^ -ppassword
Note
As a security best practice, specify credentials other than the prompts shown in the example.
Make sure to create any stored procedures, triggers, functions, or events manually in your Amazon RDS database. If you have any of these objects in the database that you are copying, then exclude them when you run
mysqldump
. To do so, include the following arguments with yourmysqldump
command:-
--routines=0
-
--triggers=0
-
--events=0
For MySQL 8.0.22 and lower versions and MariaDB versions, when you run
mysqldump
and specify the delimited-text format, aCHANGE MASTER TO
comment is returned. This comment contains the master log file name and position. For MySQL 8.0.23 and higher versions, when you runmysqldump
using the delimited-text format, aCHANGE REPLICATION SOURCE TO
comment is returned. This comment contains the source log file name and position. If the external instance is anything other than MariaDB 10.0.24 and higher versions, or MySQL 8.0.23 and higher versions, note the values forMASTER_LOG_FILE
andMASTER_LOG_POS
. You need these values when setting up replication.The following output is returned for MariaDB versions and for MySQL 8.0.22 and lower versions:
-- Position to start replication or point-in-time recovery from -- -- CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin-changelog.000031', MASTER_LOG_POS=107;
The following output is returned for MySQL 8.0.23 and higher versions:
-- Position to start replication or point-in-time recovery from -- -- CHANGE SOURCE TO SOURCE_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin-changelog.000031', SOURCE_LOG_POS=107;
For MySQL 8.0.22 and lower versions, if you are using SQL format, you can get the master log file name and position in the
CHANGE MASTER TO
comment in the backup file. For MySQL 8.0.23 and higher versions, if you are using SQL format, you can get the source log file name and position in theCHANGE REPLICATION SOURCE TO
comment in the backup file. If the external instance is MariaDB version 10.0.24 or higher, you can get the GTID in the next step. -
-
-
If the external instance you are using is MariaDB version 10.0.24 or higher, use GTID-based replication. Run
SHOW MASTER STATUS
on the external MariaDB instance to get the binary log file name and position, and then convert them to a GTID by runningBINLOG_GTID_POS
on the external MariaDB instance.SELECT BINLOG_GTID_POS('
binary_log_file_name
',binary_log_file_position
);Note the GTID returned. You need the GTID to configure replication.
-
Compress the copied data to reduce the amount of network resources needed to copy your data to the Amazon RDS database. Note the size of the backup file. You need this information when determining how large an Amazon EC2 instance to create. When you are done, compress the backup file using GZIP or your preferred compression utility.
-
To compress SQL output, use the following command:
gzip backup.sql
-
To compress delimited-text output, use the following command:
tar -zcvf backup.tar.gz
target_directory
-
Task 2: Create an Amazon EC2 instance and copy the compressed database
Copying your compressed database backup file to an Amazon EC2 instance takes fewer network resources than doing a direct copy of uncompressed data between database instances. After your data is in Amazon EC2, you can copy it from there directly to your MariaDB or MySQL database. For you to save on the cost of network resources, your Amazon EC2 instance must be in the same AWS Region as your Amazon RDS DB instance. Having the Amazon EC2 instance in the same AWS Region as your Amazon RDS database also reduces network latency during the import.
The following diagram shows copying the database backup to an Amazon EC2 instance.

To create an Amazon EC2 instance and copy your data
-
In the AWS Region where you plan to create the Amazon RDS database, create a virtual private cloud (VPC), a VPC security group, and a VPC subnet. Ensure that the inbound rules for your VPC security group allow the IP addresses required for your application to connect to AWS. You can specify a range of IP addresses—for example,
203.0.113.0/24
—or another VPC security group. You can use the Amazon VPC consoleto create and manage VPCs, subnets, and security groups. For more information, see Getting started with Amazon VPC in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide. -
Open the Amazon EC2 console
and choose the AWS Region to contain both your Amazon EC2 instance and your Amazon RDS database. Launch an Amazon EC2 instance using the VPC, subnet, and security group that you created in Step 1. Ensure that you select an instance type with enough storage for your database backup file when it is uncompressed. For details on Amazon EC2 instances, see Getting started with Amazon EC2 in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide. -
To connect to your Amazon RDS database from your Amazon EC2 instance, edit your VPC security group. Add an inbound rule specifying the private IP address of your EC2 instance. You can find the private IP address on the Details tab of the Instance pane in the EC2 console window. To edit the VPC security group and add an inbound rule, choose Security Groups in the EC2 console navigation pane, choose your security group, and then add an inbound rule for MySQL or Aurora specifying the private IP address of your EC2 instance. To learn how to add an inbound rule to a VPC security group, see Security group rules in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.
-
Copy your compressed database backup file from your local system to your Amazon EC2 instance. Use
chmod
, if necessary, to make sure that you have write permission for the target directory of the Amazon EC2 instance. You can usescp
or a Secure Shell (SSH) client to copy the file. The following command is an examplescp
command:scp -r -i
key pair
.pem backup.sql.gz ec2-user@EC2 DNS
:/target_directory
/backup.sql.gzImportant
When copying sensitive data, be sure to use a secure network transfer protocol.
-
Connect to your Amazon EC2 instance and install the latest updates and the MySQL client tools using the following commands:
sudo yum update -y sudo yum install mysql -y
For more information, see Connect to your instance for Linux instances in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.
Important
This example installs the MySQL client on an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for an Amazon Linux distribution. This example doesn't install the MySQL client on a different distribution, such as Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For information about installing MySQL, see Installing MySQL
in the MySQL documentation. -
While connected to your Amazon EC2 instance, decompress your database backup file. The following commands are examples.
-
To decompress SQL output, use the following command:
gzip backup.sql.gz -d
-
To decompress delimited-text output, use the following command:
tar xzvf backup.tar.gz
-
Task 3: Create a MySQL or MariaDB database and import data from your Amazon EC2 instance
By creating an RDS for MariaDB DB instance, an RDS for MySQL DB instance, or an RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB cluster in the same AWS Region as your Amazon EC2 instance, you can import the database backup file from Amazon EC2 faster than over the internet.
The following diagram shows importing the backup from an Amazon EC2 instance into a MySQL database.

To create a MariaDB or MySQL database and import your data
-
Determine which DB instance class and what amount of storage space is required to support the expected workload for this Amazon RDS database. As part of this process, decide what is sufficient space and processing capacity for your data load procedures. Also, decide what is required to handle the production workload. You can estimate this based on the size and resources of the source MariaDB or MySQL database. For more information, see DB instance classes.
-
Create a DB instance or Multi-AZ DB cluster in the AWS Region that contains your Amazon EC2 instance.
To create an RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB cluster, follow the instructions in Creating a Multi-AZ DB cluster for Amazon RDS.
To create an RDS for MariaDB or RDS for MySQL DB instance, follow the instructions in Creating an Amazon RDS DB instance and use the following guidelines:
-
Specify a DB engine version that is compatible with your source DB instance.
-
If your source instance is MySQL 5.5.x, the Amazon RDS DB instance must be MySQL.
-
If your source instance is MySQL 5.6.x or 5.7.x, the Amazon RDS DB instance must be MySQL or MariaDB.
-
If your source instance is MySQL 8.0.x, the Amazon RDS DB instance must be MySQL 8.0.x.
-
If your source instance is MySQL 8.4.x, the Amazon RDS DB instance must be MySQL 8.4.x.
-
If your source instance is MariaDB 5.5 or higher, the Amazon RDS DB instance must be MariaDB.
-
-
Specify the same virtual private cloud (VPC) and VPC security group as for your Amazon EC2 instance. This approach ensures that your Amazon EC2 instance and your Amazon RDS instance are visible to each other over the network. Make sure your DB instance is publicly accessible. To set up replication with your source database as described in a following section, your DB instance must be publicly accessible.
-
Don't configure multiple Availability Zones, backup retention, or read replicas until after you have imported the database backup. When that import is completed, you can configure Multi-AZ and backup retention for the production instance.
-
-
Review the default configuration options for the Amazon RDS database. If the default parameter group for the database doesn't have the configuration options that you want, find a different one that does or create a new parameter group. For more information about creating a parameter group, see Parameter groups for Amazon RDS.
-
Connect to the new Amazon RDS database as the master user. Create the users required to support the administrators, applications, and services that need to access the DB instance. The hostname for the Amazon RDS database is the Endpoint value for this DB instance without the port number, for example,
mysampledb.123456789012.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com
. You can find the endpoint value in the database details in the Amazon RDS console. -
Connect to your Amazon EC2 instance. For more information, see Connect to your instance for Linux instances in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.
-
Connect to your Amazon RDS database as a remote host from your Amazon EC2 instance using the
mysql
command. The following command is an example:mysql -h
host_name
-P 3306 -udb_master_user
-pThe
host_name
is the Amazon RDS database endpoint. -
At the
mysql
prompt, run thesource
command and pass it the name of your database dump file. This command loads the data into the Amazon RDS DB instance.-
For SQL format, use the following command:
mysql> source backup.sql;
-
For delimited-text format, first create the database, if it isn't the default database that you created when setting up the Amazon RDS database.
mysql> create database
database_name
; mysql> usedatabase_name
;Then create the tables.
mysql> source
table1
.sql mysql> sourcetable2
.sql etc...Then import the data.
mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE 'table1.txt' INTO TABLE table1 FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"' LINES TERMINATED BY '0x0d0a'; mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE 'table2.txt' INTO TABLE table2 FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"' LINES TERMINATED BY '0x0d0a'; etc...
To improve performance, you can perform these operations in parallel from multiple connections so that all of your tables are created and then loaded at the same time.
Note
If you used any data-formatting options with
mysqldump
when you initially dumped the table, make sure to use the same options withLOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE
to ensure proper interpretation of the data file contents.
-
-
Run a simple
SELECT
query against one or two of the tables in the imported database to verify that the import was successful.
If you no longer need the Amazon EC2 instance used in this procedure, terminate the EC2 instance to reduce your AWS resource usage. To terminate an EC2 instance, see Terminate an instance in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide.
Task 4: Replicate data from your external database to your new Amazon RDS database
Your source database was likely updated during the time that it took to copy and transfer the data to the MariaDB or MySQL database. Thus, you can use replication to bring the copied database up-to-date with the source database.

The permissions required to start replication on an Amazon RDS database are restricted and aren't available to your Amazon RDS master user. Because of this, use the appropriate Amazon RDS stored procedure for your major engine version:
To start replication
In Task 1 when you set replication options, you turned on binary logging and set a unique server ID for your source database. Now you can set up your Amazon RDS database as a replica with your live database as the source replication instance.
-
In the Amazon RDS console, add the IP address of the server that hosts the source database to the VPC security group for the Amazon RDS database. For more information on configuring a VPC security group, see Configure security group rules in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.
You might also need to configure your local network to permit connections from the IP address of your Amazon RDS database so that it can communicate with your source instance. To find the IP address of the Amazon RDS database, use the
host
command:host
host_name
The
host_name
is the DNS name from the Amazon RDS database endpoint, for examplemyinstance.123456789012.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
. You can find the endpoint value in the DB instance details in the Amazon RDS console. -
Using the client of your choice, connect to the source instance and create a user to be used for replication. This account is used solely for replication and must be restricted to your domain to improve security. The following command is an example:
CREATE USER 'repl_user'@'
mydomain.com
' IDENTIFIED BY 'password
';Note
Specify credentials other than the prompts shown here as a security best practice.
-
For the source instance, grant
REPLICATION CLIENT
andREPLICATION SLAVE
privileges to your replication user. For example, to grant theREPLICATION CLIENT
andREPLICATION SLAVE
privileges on all databases for the 'repl_user
' user for your domain, issue the following command:GRANT REPLICATION CLIENT, REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO '
repl_user
'@'mydomain.com
'; -
If you used SQL format to create your backup file and the external instance isn't MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher, look at the contents of that file by running the following command:
cat backup.sql
The file includes a
CHANGE MASTER TO
comment that contains the master log file name and position. This comment is included in the backup file when you use the--master-data
option withmysqldump
. Note the values forMASTER_LOG_FILE
andMASTER_LOG_POS
.-- -- Position to start replication or point-in-time recovery from -- -- CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin-changelog.000031', MASTER_LOG_POS=107;
If you used delimited text format to create your backup file and the external instance isn't MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher, you should already have binary log coordinates from Step 1 of the To create a backup copy of your existing database procedure under Task 1.
If the external instance is MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher, you should already have the GTID from which to start replication from Step 2 of the To create a backup copy of your existing database procedure under Task 1.
-
Make the Amazon RDS database the replica. If the external instance isn't MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher, connect to the Amazon RDS database as the master user and identify the source database as the source replication instance by using the appropriate Amazon RDS stored procedure:
If you have a SQL format backup file, use the master log file name and master log position that you determined in Step 4. If you used delimited-text format, use the name and position that you determined when creating the backup files. The following commands are examples:
MySQL 8.4 and higher versions
CALL mysql.rds_set_external_source ('myserver.mydomain.com', 3306, 'repl_user', '
password
', 'mysql-bin-changelog.000031', 107, 1);MariaDB and MySQL 8.0 and lower versions
CALL mysql.rds_set_external_master ('myserver.mydomain.com', 3306, 'repl_user', '
password
', 'mysql-bin-changelog.000031', 107, 1);Note
Specify credentials other than the prompts shown here as a security best practice.
If the external instance is MariaDB 10.0.24 or higher, connect to the Amazon RDS database as the master user and identify the source database as the source replication instance by using the mysql.rds_set_external_master_gtid command. Use the GTID that you determined in Step 2 of the To create a backup copy of your existing database procedure under Task 1. The following command is an example:
CALL mysql.rds_set_external_master_gtid ('
source_server_ip_address
', 3306, 'ReplicationUser', 'password
', 'GTID
', 1);The
is the IP address of source replication instance. An EC2 private DNS address isn't currently supported.source_server_ip_address
Note
Specify credentials other than the prompts shown here as a security best practice.
-
On the Amazon RDS database, to start replication, run the following mysql.rds_start_replication command:
CALL mysql.rds_start_replication;
-
On the Amazon RDS database, to determine when the replica is up to date with the source replication instance, run the SHOW REPLICA STATUS
command. The results of the SHOW REPLICA STATUS
command include theSeconds_Behind_Master
field. When theSeconds_Behind_Master
field returns 0, then the replica is up to date with the source replication instance.Note
Previous versions of MySQL used
SHOW SLAVE STATUS
instead ofSHOW REPLICA STATUS
. If you are using a MySQL version before 8.0.23, then useSHOW SLAVE STATUS
.For a MariaDB 10.5, 10.6, or 10.11 DB instance, run the mysql.rds_replica_status stored procedure instead of the MySQL command.
-
After the Amazon RDS database is up to date, turn on automated backups so you can restore that database if needed. You can turn on or modify automated backups for your Amazon RDS database by using the Amazon RDS console
. For more information, see Introduction to backups.
Task 5: Redirect your live application to your Amazon RDS instance
After the MariaDB or MySQL database is up to date with the source replication instance, you can now update your live application to use the Amazon RDS instance.

To redirect your live application to your MariaDB or MySQL database and stop replication
-
To add the VPC security group for the Amazon RDS database, add the IP address of the server that hosts the application. For more information on modifying a VPC security group, see Configure security group rules in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.
-
Verify that the
Seconds_Behind_Master
field in the SHOW REPLICA STATUScommand results is 0, which indicates that the replica is up to date with the source replication instance. SHOW REPLICA STATUS;
Note
Previous versions of MySQL used
SHOW SLAVE STATUS
instead ofSHOW REPLICA STATUS
. If you are using a MySQL version before 8.0.23, then useSHOW SLAVE STATUS
.For a MariaDB 10.5, 10.6, or 10.11 DB instance, run the mysql.rds_replica_status procedure instead of the MySQL command.
-
Close all connections to the source when their transactions complete.
-
Update your application to use the Amazon RDS database. This update typically involves changing the connection settings to identify the hostname and port of the Amazon RDS database, the user account and password to connect with, and the database to use.
-
Connect to the DB instance.
For a Multi-AZ DB cluster, connect to the writer DB instance.
-
Stop replication for the Amazon RDS instance by using the following mysql.rds_stop_replication command:
CALL mysql.rds_stop_replication;
-
Run the appropriate Amazon RDS stored procedure on your Amazon RDS database to reset the replication configuration so this instance is no longer identified as a replica.
MySQL 8.4 and higher versions
CALL mysql.rds_reset_external_source;
MariaDB and MySQL 8.0 and lower versions
CALL mysql.rds_reset_external_master;
-
Turn on additional Amazon RDS features such as Multi-AZ support and read replicas. For more information, see Configuring and managing a Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS and Working with DB instance read replicas.