Synchronize data from an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance to a PolarDB-X 2.0 instance - Data Transmission Service

This topic describes how to synchronize data from an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance to a PolarDB-X instance by using Data Transmission Service (DTS).

Supported source databases

You can use DTS to synchronize data from the following types of MySQL databases to a PolarDB-X instance. In this topic, an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance is used to describe how to configure a data synchronization task. You can also follow the procedure to configure data synchronization tasks for other types of MySQL databases.

ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance
Self-managed database that is hosted on Elastic Compute Service (ECS)
Self-managed database that is connected over Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway
Self-managed database that is connected over Database Gateway
Self-managed database that is connected over Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN)

Prerequisites

An ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance is created. For more information, see Create an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
A PolarDB-X instance is created and its storage type is MySQL 5.x.
The available storage space of the PolarDB-X instance is larger than the total size of the data in the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.

Usage notes

Note

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

Category	Description
Limits on the source database	The tables to synchronize 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 synchronized and you need to modify the tables, such as renaming tables or columns, you can synchronize up to 1,000 tables in a single data synchronization task. If you run a task to synchronize more than 1,000 tables, a request error occurs. In this case, we recommend that you configure multiple tasks to synchronize the tables in batches or configure a task to synchronize the entire database. The following requirements for binary logs must be met: By default, the binary logging feature is enabled. The binlog_row_image parameter must be set to full. Otherwise, error messages are returned during precheck and the data synchronization task cannot be started. For more information, see Modify instance parameters. Important If the source database is a self-managed MySQL database, you must enable the binary logging feature and set the binlog_format parameter to row and the binlog_row_image parameter to full. If the source database is a self-managed MySQL database deployed in a dual-primary cluster, you must set the log_slave_updates parameter to ON. This ensures that DTS can obtain all binary logs. For more information, see Create an account for a self-managed MySQL database and configure binary logging. The binary logs of the source database must be stored for more than seven days. Otherwise, DTS may fail to obtain the binary logs, which may cause the task to fail, or even data inconsistency and data loss. Make sure that you set the retention period of binary logs based on the preceding requirements. Otherwise, the service level agreement (SLA) of DTS does not guarantee service reliability or performance. For more information about how to manage the binary log files of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, see Manage binary log files.
Other limits	Requirements for the objects to be synchronized: DTS does not synchronize data of the following data types: BIT, VARBIT, GEOMETRY, ARRAY, UUID, TSQUERY, TSVECTOR, and TXID_SNAPSHOT. Prefix indexes cannot be synchronized. If the source database contains prefix indexes, data may fail to be synchronized. Before you synchronize data, evaluate the impact of data synchronization on the performance of the source and destination databases. We recommend that you synchronize data during off-peak hours. During initial full data synchronization, DTS uses the read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the loads of the database servers. During initial full data synchronization, concurrent INSERT operations cause fragmentation in the tables of the destination database. After initial full data synchronization is complete, the size of the used tablespace of the destination database is larger than that of the source database. If you select one or more tables instead of an entire database as the objects to be synchronized, do not use tools such as pt-online-schema-change to perform online DDL operations on the tables during data synchronization. Otherwise, data may fail to be synchronized. You can use Data Management (DMS) to perform online DDL operations. For more information, see Perform lock-free DDL operations. During data synchronization, we recommend that you use only DTS to write data to the destination database. This prevents data inconsistency between the source and destination databases. For example, if you use tools other than DTS to write data to the destination database, data loss may occur in the destination database when you use DMS to perform online DDL operations.
Special cases	If the source database is a self-managed MySQL database, take note of the following items: If you perform a primary/secondary switchover on the source database when the data synchronization task is running, the task fails. DTS calculates the synchronization latency based on the timestamp of the latest synchronized data in the destination database and the current timestamp in the source database. If no DML operation is performed on the source database for an extended period of time, the synchronization latency may be inaccurate. If the synchronization latency is too high, you can perform a DML operation on the source database to update the latency. Note If you select an entire database as the object to be synchronized, you can create a heartbeat table. The heartbeat table is updated or receives data every second. DTS executes the CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS 'test' statement in the source database as scheduled to move forward the binary log file position. If the source database is an Apsara RDS for MySQL instance, take note of the following item: The source Apsara RDS for MySQL instance cannot be a read-only ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance that does not record transaction logs, such as an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL V5.6 instance.

Billing

Synchronization type	Task configuration fee
Schema synchronization and full data synchronization	Free of charge.
Incremental data synchronization	Charged. For more information, see Billing overview.

Supported synchronization topologies

One-way one-to-one synchronization
One-way many-to-one synchronization

SQL operations that can be synchronized

Operation type	SQL statement
DML	INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE
DDL	ALTER TABLE and ALTER VIEW CREATE FUNCTION, CREATE INDEX, CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE TABLE, and CREATE VIEW DROP INDEX and DROP TABLE RENAME TABLE TRUNCATE TABLE

Procedure

Go to the Data Synchronization page of the new DTS console.
Note
You can also log on to the Data Management (DMS) console. In the top navigation bar, click DTS. In the left-side navigation pane, choose DTS (DTS) > Data Synchronization.
In the upper-left corner of the page, select the region in which you want to create the data synchronization task.

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

Warning

After you configure the source and destination databases, we recommend that you read the limits that are displayed in the upper part of the page. Otherwise, the task may fail or data inconsistency may occur.

Section	Parameter	Description
N/A	Task Name	The name of the task. DTS automatically assigns a name to the task. We recommend that you specify a descriptive name that makes it easy to identify the task. You do not need to specify 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 data is synchronized 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. The account must have the REPLICATION CLIENT, REPLICATION SLAVE, SHOW VIEW, and SELECT permissions.
	Database Password	The password of the database account.
	Encryption	Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the database. Select Non-encrypted or SSL-encrypted based on your business requirements. If you 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 the SSL encryption feature.
Destination Database	Database Type	The type of the destination instance. Select PolarDB-X 2.0.
	Access Method	The access method of the destination instance. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.
	Instance Region	The region in which the destination PolarDB-X instance resides.
	Instance ID	The ID of the destination PolarDB-X instance.
	Database Account	The database account of the destination PolarDB-X instance. The account must have read and write permissions.
	Database Password	The password of the database account.

In the lower part of the page, click Test Connectivity and Proceed.
If the source or destination database 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 instance. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database hosted on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security group rules of the ECS instance, and you must ensure that the ECS instance can access the database. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database that is deployed in a data center or provided by a third-party cloud service provider, you must manually add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the database to allow DTS to access the database. For more information, see Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security settings of on-premises databases.
Warning
If the CIDR blocks of DTS servers are automatically or manually added to the whitelist of the database or instance, or to the ECS security group rules, security risks may arise. Therefore, before you use DTS to synchronize data, you must understand and acknowledge the potential risks and take preventive measures, including but not limited to the following measures: enhancing the security of your username and password, limiting the ports that are exposed, authenticating API calls, regularly checking the whitelist or ECS security group rules and forbidding unauthorized CIDR blocks, or connecting the database to DTS by using Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway.

Configure objects to synchronize and advanced settings.

Basic Settings

Parameter or setting	Description
Synchronization Type	By default, Incremental Data Synchronization is selected. You must also select Schema Synchronization and Full Data Synchronization. After the precheck is complete, DTS synchronizes the historical data of selected objects from the source instance to the destination instance. The historical data is the basis for subsequent incremental synchronization.
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 tables that have identical table names, the precheck is passed. Otherwise, an error is returned during the precheck and the data synchronization task cannot be started. Note You can use the object name mapping feature to rename the tables that are synchronized to the destination database. You can use this feature if the source and destination databases contain identical table 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 schemas, and a data record has the same primary key value as an existing data record in the destination database: During full data synchronization, DTS does not synchronize the data record to the destination database. The existing data record in the destination database is retained. During incremental data synchronization, DTS synchronizes the data record to the destination database. The existing data record in the destination database is overwritten. If the source and destination databases have different schemas, data may fail to be initialized, only some columns are synchronized, or the data synchronization task fails. Operate with caution.
Source Objects	Select one or more objects from the Source Objects section and click the icon to add the objects to the Selected Objects section. Note You can select columns, tables, or databases as the objects to be synchronized. If you select tables or columns as the objects to be synchronized, DTS does not synchronize other objects such as views, triggers, or stored procedures to the destination database.
Selected Objects	To rename an object that you want to synchronize 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 Batch Edit in the upper-right corner of the Selected Objects section. For more information, see Map multiple object names at a time. Note To select the SQL operations performed on a specific database or table, right-click an object to be synchronized in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, select the SQL operations that you want to synchronize. For more information about the SQL operations that can be synchronized, see SQL operations that can be synchronized. To specify WHERE conditions to filter data, right-click an object in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, specify the conditions. For more information about how to specify the conditions, see Set filter conditions. If you use the object name mapping feature to rename an object, other objects that are dependent on the object may fail to be synchronized.

Advanced Settings

Parameter	Description
Set Alerts	Specifies whether to configure alerting for the data synchronization task. If the task fails or the synchronization latency exceeds the specified threshold, alert contacts will receive notifications. Valid values: No: does not configure alerting. Yes: configures alerting. In this case, you must also configure the alert threshold and alert contacts. For more information, see Configure monitoring and alerting when you create a DTS task.
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 that in the source or destination database. For more information, see Specify the capitalization of object names in the destination instance.
Copy the temporary table of the Online DDL tool that is generated in the source table to the destination database	In this scenario, DTS does not synchronize DDL operations. You must set this parameter to No, Adapt to DMS Online DDL or No, Adapt to gh-ost. However, DTS may support DDL operations for this scenario in the future. In this case, if you use Data Management (DMS) or the gh-ost tool to perform online DDL operations on the source database, you can specify whether to synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by the operations. Yes: DTS synchronizes the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations. Note If online DDL operations generate a large amount of data, the data synchronization task may take an extended period of time to complete. No, Adapt to DMS Online DDL: DTS does not synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations. Only the original DDL operations that are performed by using Data Management (DMS) are synchronized. Note If you select this option, the tables in the destination database may be locked. No, Adapt to gh-ost: DTS does not synchronize the data of temporary tables generated by online DDL operations. Only the original DDL operations that are performed by using the gh-ost tool are synchronized. You can use the default or custom regular expressions to filter out the shadow tables of the gh-ost tool and tables that are not required. Note If you select this option, the tables in the destination database may be locked.
Specify the retry time range for failed connections	The retry time range for failed connections. If the source or destination database fails to be connected after the data synchronization task is started, DTS immediately retries a connection within the time range. Valid values: 10 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 720. We recommend that you set the parameter to a value greater than 30. If DTS reconnects to the source and destination databases within the specified time range, DTS resumes the data synchronization task. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails. Note If you set different retry time ranges for multiple DTS tasks that have the same source or destination database, the shortest retry time range that is set 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 your earliest opportunity after the source and destination instances are released.

Click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck in the lower part of the page.
You can move the pointer over Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck and click Preview OpenAPI parameters to view the parameter settings of the API operation that is called to configure the instance.
Note
- Before you can start the data synchronization task, DTS performs a precheck. You can start the data synchronization 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, configure the Billing Method and Instance Class parameters for the data synchronization instance. The following table describes the parameters.

Section	Parameter	Description
New Instance Class	Billing Method	Subscription: You pay for the instance when you create an instance. The subscription billing method is more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method for long-term use. Pay-as-you-go: A pay-as-you-go instance is charged on an hourly basis. The pay-as-you-go billing method is suitable for short-term use. If you no longer require a pay-as-you-go instance, you can release the pay-as-you-go instance to reduce costs.
	Resource Group	The resource group on which the instance is run. Default value: default resource group. For more information, see What is Resource Management?.
	Instance Class	DTS provides various synchronization specifications that provide different performance. The synchronization speed varies based on the synchronization specifications that you select. You can select a synchronization specification based on your business scenario. For more information, see Specifications of data synchronization instances.
	Subscription Duration	If you select the subscription billing method, set the subscription duration and the number of instances that you want to create. The subscription duration can be one to nine months, one year, two years, three years, or five years. Note This parameter is available only if you select the Subscription billing method.

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