Migrate data from an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance to an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance - Data Transmission Service

This topic describes how to migrate data from a ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance to an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance by using Data Transmission Service (DTS).

Prerequisites

A source ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance is created. For more information, see Create an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
A destination ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance is created. For more information, see Create an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.
The available storage space of the destination instance is larger than the total size of the data in the source database.

Limits

Note

During schema migration, DTS migrates foreign keys from the source database to the destination database.
During full data migration and incremental data migration, DTS temporarily disables the constraint check and cascade operations on foreign keys at the session level. If you perform the cascade and delete operations on the source database during data migration, data inconsistency may occur.


Category	Description
Limits on the source database	The tables to be migrated must have PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraints and all fields must be unique. Otherwise, the destination database may contain duplicate data records. If you select tables as the objects to be migrated and you need to modify the tables in the destination database, such as renaming tables or columns, up to 1,000 tables can be migrated in a single data migration task. If you run a task to migrate more than 1,000 tables, a request error occurs. In this case, we recommend that you configure multiple tasks to migrate the tables in batches or configure a task to migrate the entire database. The following requirements for binary logs must be met: The binary logging feature must be enabled for the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance. The binlog_format parameter must be set to row and the binlog_row_image parameter must be set to full. For more information, see View the parameters of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance. Otherwise, error messages are returned during the precheck and the data migration task cannot be started. For an incremental data migration task, binary logs of the source database must be stored for more than 24 hours. For a full data and incremental data migration task, binary logs of the source database must be stored for at least seven days. After full data migration is complete, you can set the retention period to more than 24 hours. Otherwise, DTS may fail to obtain the binary logs and the task may fail. In exceptional circumstances, data inconsistency or loss may occur. Make sure that you set the retention period of binary logs in accordance with the preceding requirements. Otherwise, the Service Level Agreement (SLA) of DTS does not ensure service reliability and performance. For more information about binary log files of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, see View and delete the binary log files of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance. Limits on operations to be performed on the source database: During schema migration, do not perform DDL operations to change the schemas of databases or tables. Otherwise, the data migration task fails.
Other limits	We recommend that you do not use tools such as pt-online-schema-change to perform DDL operations on objects during data migration. Otherwise, data migration may fail. Make sure that the precision settings for columns of the FLOAT or DOUBLE data type meet your business requirements. DTS uses the `ROUND(COLUMN,PRECISION)` function to retrieve values from columns of the FLOAT or DOUBLE data type. If you do not specify a precision, DTS sets the precision for columns of the FLOAT type to 38 digits and the precision for columns of the DOUBLE type to 308 digits. Before you migrate data, evaluate the impact of data migration on the performance of the source and destination databases. We recommend that you migrate data during off-peak hours. During full data migration, DTS uses the read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the loads on the database servers. During full data migration, concurrent INSERT operations cause fragmentation in the tables of the destination database. After full data migration is complete, the tablespace of the destination database is larger than that of the source database. DTS attempts to resume data migration tasks that failed within the last seven days. Before you switch workloads to the destination database, stop or release the data migration task. You can also execute the `REVOKE` statement to revoke the write permissions from the accounts that are used by DTS to access the destination database. Otherwise, the data in the source database overwrites the data in the destination database after the data migration task is resumed.

Billing


Migration type	Instance configuration fee	Internet traffic fee
Schema migration and full data migration	Free of charge.	Charged only when data is migrated from Alibaba Cloud over the Internet. For more information, see Billing overview.
Incremental data migration	Charged. For more information, see Billing overview.

Migration types

Schema migration
Data Transmission Service (DTS) migrates the schemas of objects from the source database to the destination database.
Full data migration
DTS migrates the existing data of objects from the source database to the destination database.
Incremental data migration
After full data migration is complete, DTS migrates incremental data from the source database to the destination database. Incremental data migration allows data to be migrated smoothly without interrupting services of self-managed applications during data migration.

SQL operations that can be incrementally migrated


Operation type	SQL statement
DML	INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE

Permissions required for database accounts


Database	Schema migration	Full data migration	Incremental data migration	References
ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance	The SELECT permission	The SELECT permission	The REPLICATION SLAVE, REPLICATION CLIENT, SHOW VIEW, and SELECT permissions	Create an account on an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance and Modify the permissions of a standard account on an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance
ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance	The CREATE and USAGE permissions on the migrated objects	The permissions of the schema owner	The permissions of the schema owner	Create an account on an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance

Procedure

Go to the Data Migration Tasks page.
1. Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console.
2. In the top navigation bar, click DTS.
3. In the left-side navigation pane, choose DTS (DTS) > Data Migration.
Note You can also go to the Data Migration Tasks page of the new DTS console.
From the drop-down list right to Data Migration Tasks, select the region in which your data migration instance resides.
Note If you use the new DTS console, you must select the region in which your data migration instance resides in the top navigation bar.

Click Create Task. On the page that appears, configure the source and destination databases.


Section	Parameter	Description
N/A	Task Name	DTS automatically generates a task name. We recommend that you specify an informative name to identify the task. You do not need to use a unique task name.
Source Database	Database Type	The type of the source database. Select MySQL.
	Access Method	The access method of the source database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.
	Instance Region	The region in which the source ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance resides.
	Replicate Data Across Alibaba Cloud Accounts	Specifies whether to migrate data across Alibaba Cloud accounts. In this example, No is selected.
	RDS Instance ID	The ID of the source ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
	Database Account	The database account of the source ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
	Database Password	The password of the database account.
	Encryption	Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the database. You can select Non-encrypted or SSL-encrypted based on your business requirements. If you want to select SSL-encrypted, you must enable SSL encryption for the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance before you configure the data synchronization task. For more information, see Configure SSL encryption for an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
Destination Database	Database Type	The type of the destination database. Select PostgreSQL.
	Access Method	The access method of the destination database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.
	Instance Region	The region in which the destination ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance resides.
	Instance ID	The ID of the destination ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.
	Database Account	The name of the database to which the objects are migrated in the destination ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.
	Database Account	The database account of the destination ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.
	Database Password	The password of the database account.

In the lower part of the page, click Test Connectivity and Proceed.
Warning
- If the source or destination database instance is an Alibaba Cloud database instance, such as an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL or ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the database instance. If the source or destination database instance is a self-managed database hosted on Elastic Compute Service (ECS), DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security group rules of the ECS instance. For more information, see Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security settings of on-premises databases. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database that is deployed in data centers or provided by third-party cloud service providers, you must manually add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to allow DTS to access the database.
- If the CIDR blocks of DTS servers are automatically or manually added to the whitelist of the database instance or ECS security group rules, security risks may arise. Therefore, before you use DTS to migrate data, you must understand and acknowledge the potential risks and take preventive measures, including but not limited to the following measures: enhance the security of your account and password, limit the ports that are exposed, authenticate API calls, regularly check the whitelist or ECS security group rules and forbid unauthorized CIDR blocks, or connect the database to DTS by using Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway.
- After the DTS task is complete or released, we recommend that you manually detect and remove the added CIDR blocks from the whitelist of the database instance or ECS security group rules.

Select objects for the task and configure advanced settings.

Basic Settings


Parameter or setting	Description
Task Stages	To perform only full data migration, select Schema Migration and Full Data Migration. To ensure service continuity during data migration, select Schema Migration, Full Data Migration, and Incremental Data Migration. Note If Incremental Data Migration is not selected, we recommend that you do not write data to the source instance during data migration. This ensures data consistency between the source and destination instances.
Processing Mode of Conflicting Tables	Precheck and Report Errors: checks whether the destination database contains tables that have the same names as tables in the source database. If the source and destination databases do not contain identical table names, the precheck is passed. Otherwise, an error is returned during the precheck and the data migration task cannot be started. Note You can use the object name mapping feature to rename the tables that are migrated to the destination database. You can use this feature if the source and destination databases contain tables that have identical names and the tables in the destination database cannot be deleted or renamed. For more information, see Map object names. Ignore Errors and Proceed: skips the precheck for identical table names in the source and destination databases. Warning If you select Ignore Errors and Proceed, data inconsistency may occur, and your business may be exposed to potential risks. If the source and destination databases have the same schema, DTS does not migrate data records that have the same primary keys as data records in the destination database. If the source and destination databases have different schemas, only some columns are migrated or the data migration task fails. Proceed with caution.
Capitalization of Object Names in Destination Instance	The capitalization of database names, table names, and column names in the destination instance. By default, DTS default policy is selected. You can select other options to ensure that the capitalization of object names is consistent with the default capitalization of object names in the source or destination database. For more information, see Specify the capitalization of object names in the destination instance.
Source Objects	Select one or more objects from the Source Objects section and click the icon to move the objects to the Selected Objects section. Note The time field supports the TIMESTAMP data type. If the time field of the source database is 0, the time field of the destination database is automatically converted to null.
Selected Objects	To rename an object that you want to migrate to the destination instance, right-click the object in the Selected Objects section. For more information, see Map the name of a single object. To rename multiple objects at a time, click in the upper-right corner of the Selected Objects section. For more information, see Map multiple object names at a time. Note If you use the object name mapping feature to rename an object, other objects that are dependent on the object may fail to be migrated.

Advanced Settings


Parameter	Description
Set Alerts	Specifies whether to set alerts for the data migration task. If the task fails or the migration latency exceeds the threshold, the alert contacts will receive notifications. Valid values: No: does not set alerts. Yes: sets alerts. If you select Yes, you must also set the alert threshold and alert contacts. For more information, see Configure monitoring and alerting when you create a DTS task.
Retry Time for Failed Connection	The retry time range for failed connections. Valid values: 10 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 120. We recommend that you set the retry time range to more than 30 minutes. If DTS reconnects to the source and destination databases within the specified retry time range, DTS resumes the data migration task. Otherwise, the data migration task fails. Note If you set different retry time ranges for multiple data migration tasks that share the same source or destination database, the value that is set later takes precedence. When DTS retries a connection, you are charged for the DTS instance. We recommend that you specify the retry time range based on your business requirements. You can also release the DTS instance at the earliest opportunity after the source and destination databases are released.
Configure ETL	Specifies whether to configure the extract, transform, and load (ETL) feature. For more information, see What is ETL?. Valid values: Yes: configures the ETL feature. You can enter data processing statements in the code editor. For more information, see Configure ETL in a data migration or data synchronization task. No: does not configure the ETL feature.

In the lower part of the page, click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck.
Note
- Before you can start the data migration task, DTS performs a precheck. You can start the data migration task only after the task passes the precheck.
- If the task fails to pass the precheck, click View Details next to each failed item. After you troubleshoot the issues based on the causes, run a precheck again.
- If an alert is triggered for an item during the precheck:
  If an alert item cannot be ignored, click View Details next to the failed item and troubleshoot the issues. Then, run a precheck again.
  If an alert item can be ignored, click Confirm Alert Details. In the View Details dialog box, click Ignore. In the message that appears, click OK. Then, click Precheck Again to run a precheck again. If you ignore the alert item, data inconsistency may occur, and your business may be exposed to potential risks.
Wait until the success rate becomes 100%. Then, click Next: Purchase Instance.

On the Purchase Instance page, specify the Instance Class parameter for the data migration instance. The following table describes the parameter.


Section	Parameter	Description
Parameters	Instance Class	DTS provides several instance classes that vary in the migration speed. You can select an instance class based on your business scenario. For more information, see Specifications of data migration instances.

Read and select the check box for Data Transmission Service (Pay-as-you-go) Service Terms.
Click Buy and Start to start the data migration task. You can view the progress of the task in the task list.