Generic MySQL

Last updated on Dec 18, 2024
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MySQL is the most popular Open Source Relational SQL Database Management System used by small and large businesses. It has a customizable software and works well even with large data sets.

You can ingest data from your MySQL database using Hevo Pipelines and replicate it to a warehouse of your choice.

Prerequisites

Perform the following steps to configure your Generic MySQL Source:

Set up MySQL Binary Logs for Replication

A binary log is a collection of log files that records information about data modifications and data object modifications made on a MySQL server instance. Typically binary logs are used for data replication and data recovery.

Hevo supports data ingestion for replication from MySQL servers via binary logs (BinLog). For this, binary logging must be enabled on your MySQL server. You can do this via the MySQL server configuration file or via server startup options to mysqld.

Follow these steps to set up BinLog replication:

1. Check if BinLog replication is already enabled

  1. Access the MySQL database you want to check for BinLog activity:

     mysql -h hostname -u user -p database

  2. Open a secure shell:

     ssh user@localhost

  3. Enter the command:

    select @@log_bin;

    If this statement returns a value of 1, BinLog is active. If value returned is 0, this means that BinLog is disabled. To enable it, follow the steps below.

2. Enable BinLog replication

  1. Log in to your MySQL server instance.

  2. Check your MySQL Server configuration:

    sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

    This may be sudo nano /etc/my.cnf in some cases.

  3. In the config file, ensure the following configurations are specified. If not specified, add them now.

     [mysqld]

 binlog_format=ROW

 binlog_row_image=FULL

 expire_logs_days=3  -- The retention period (`expire_log_days`) can also be set in seconds by using the command: `binlog_expire_logs_seconds=259200`

 log_bin=mysql-binlog  -- For ubuntu, use: `/var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log`
  
 server-id=1 -- (only in the case of ubuntu) 
    
 log_slave_updates=1

 max_allowed_packet=16777216 -- The SQL statement that the server can accept from a client. It is specified in bytes.

    Note: The log_slave_updates setting is required only if you are connecting a read replica. When it is set to 1, updates received by a replica server from a source server are logged to the replica’s own binary log.

  4. Restart the MySQL server using the command service mysql restart on your instance.

  5. After restart, log in to the MySQL server to check BinLog again:

     SELECT @@log_bin;

    The value returned is now 1, indicating that BinLog is active.

    Note: The retention period should ideally be at least 72 hours (3 days). This helps Hevo ensure that no log-file is missed from being read, specially when Historical Data loading is enabled.

Read BinLog to understand how database replication works in MySQL.

The replication reference guide on MySQL’s documentation portal provides a complete reference of the options available for replication and binary logging.

Whitelist Hevo’s IP Addresses

You need to whitelist the Hevo IP address for your region to enable Hevo to connect to your MySQL database. To do this:

  1. Edit the MySQL server configuration:

     sudo nano /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

  2. Scroll to [mysqld] and add:

     bind-address = 0.0.0.0

    Or

     bind-address = 10.2.7.152

    (Check the Hevo IP address for your region).

  3. Save the file.

Create a Database User and Grant Privileges

1. Create a database user (Optional)

Perform the following steps to create a user in your MySQL database:

  1. Connect to your MySQL database as an admin user with an SQL client tool, such as MySQL workbench.

  2. Create a database user:

    CREATE USER <username>@'%' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '<password>';

    Note: Replace the placeholder values in the command above with your own. For example, <username> with hevo.

2. Grant privileges to the user

The database user specified in the Hevo Pipeline must have the following global privileges:

  • SELECT

  • SUPER or (REPLICATION CLIENT and REPLICATION SLAVE)

Perform the following steps to set up these privileges:

  1. Connect to your MySQL database as an admin user with an SQL client tool, such as MySQL workbench.

  2. Grant SELECT and REPLICATION privileges to the user:

    GRANT SELECT, REPLICATION CLIENT, REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO <username>@'%';

  3. (Optional) View the grants for the user:

    show grants for <username>@localhost;

Note: Replace the placeholder values in the commands above with your own. For example, <username> with hevo.

Connect to a Local Database (Optional)

Refer to the steps in this section if you need to connect to your local database. For detailed information and troubleshooting help, read Connecting to a Local Database.

Prerequisites

  • MY-SQL/MS-SQL service is running on your local machine.

  • Data to be loaded to the Destination is available in your MY-SQL/MS-SQL database.

  • You have an account on ngrok and an installed ngrok utility on your local machine. To run ngrok on your local machine, follow these one-time steps:

    1. Extract the ngrok utility:

      • On Linux or MacOS, unzip ngrok from a terminal:

        unzip /path/to/ngrok.zip

      • On Windows, double-click ngrok.zip to extract it.

    2. Authenticate ngrok in your local machine:

      ./ngrok authtoken <your_auth_token>

      You can get the auth token from your ngrok dashboard. For example, in the image below, the auth_token starts with 2ig3VXv3v2ZX4LDg.

      Auth token

Connect to your local database

Perform the following steps to connect to the local database:

  1. Log in to your database server.

  2. Start a TCP tunnel forwarding to your database port.

    ./ngrok tcp <your_database_port>

    For example, the port address for MySQL is 3306. Therefore, the command would be:

    ./ngrok tcp 3306

  3. Copy the public IP address (hostname and port number) for your local database and port. For example, in the image below, 8.tcp.ngrok.io is the database hostname and 19789 is the port number.

    Getting hostname and port

  4. Paste the hostname and port number into the Database Host and Database Port fields respectively.

    MySQL settings

  5. Specify all other settings and click TEST & CONTINUE.

Specify MySQL Connection Settings

Perform the following steps to configure MySQL as a Source in Hevo:

  1. Click PIPELINES in the Navigation Bar.

  2. Click + CREATE PIPELINE in the Pipelines List View.

  3. On the Select Source Type page, select MySQL.

  4. On the Configure your MySQL Source page, specify the following:

    Generic MySQL settings

    • Pipeline Name: A unique name for your Pipeline, not exceeding 255 characters.

    • Database Host: The MySQL host’s IP address or DNS.

      The following table lists a few examples of MySQL hosts:

      Variant Host
      Amazon RDS MySQL mysql-rds-1.xxxxx.rds.amazonaws.com
      Azure MySQL mysql.database.windows.net
      Generic MySQL 10.123.10.001 or mysql-replica.westeros.inc
      Google Cloud MySQL 35.220.150.0

      Note: For URL-based hostnames, exclude the http:// or https:// part. For example, if the hostname URL is http://mysql-replica.westeros.inc, enter mysql-replica.westeros.inc.

    • Database Port: The port on which your MySQL server listens for connections. Default value: 3306.

    • Database User: The authenticated user who has the permissions to read tables in your database.

    • Database Password: The password for the database user.

    • Select an Ingestion Mode: The desired mode by which you want to ingest data from the Source. You can expand this section by clicking SEE MORE to view the list of ingestion modes to choose from. Default value: BinLog. The available ingestion modes are BinLog, Table, and Custom SQL.

      Ingestion Modes

      Depending on the ingestion mode you select, you must configure the objects to be replicated. Refer to section, Object and Query Mode Settings for the steps to do this.

      Note: For Custom SQL ingestion mode, all Events loaded to the Destination are billable.

    • Database Name: The database you want to load data from if the Pipeline mode is Table or Custom SQL.

    • Connection Settings

      • Connect through SSH: Enable this option to connect to Hevo using an SSH tunnel, instead of directly connecting your MySQL database host to Hevo. This provides an additional level of security to your database by not exposing your MySQL setup to the public. Read Connecting Through SSH.

        If this option is disabled, you must whitelist Hevo’s IP addresses. Refer to the content for your MySQL variant for steps to do this.

      • Use SSL: Enable it to use SSL encrypted connection. To enable this, specify the following:

        • CA File: The file containing the SSL server certificate authority (CA).

          • Load all CA Certificates: If selected, Hevo loads all CA certificates (up to 50) from the uploaded CA file, else it loads only the first certificate.

            Note: Select this check box if you have more than one certificate in your CA file.

        • Client Certificate: The client public key certificate file.

        • Client Key: The client private key file.

    • Advanced Settings

      • Load All Databases: Applicable for Pipelines with BinLog mode. If this option is enabled, Hevo loads the data from all databases on the selected host. Else, specify a comma-separated list of Database Names you want to load data from.

      • Load Historical Data: Applicable for Pipelines with BinLog mode. If this option is enabled, the entire table data is fetched during the first run of the Pipeline. If disabled, Hevo loads only the data that was written in your database after the time of creation of the Pipeline.

      • Merge Tables: Applicable for Pipelines with BinLog mode. If this option is enabled, Hevo merges tables with the same name from different databases while loading the data to the warehouse. Hevo loads the Database Name field with each record. If disabled, the database name is prefixed to each table name. Read How does the Merge Tables feature work?.

      • Include New Tables in the Pipeline: Applicable for all ingestion modes except Custom SQL.

        If enabled, Hevo automatically ingests data from tables created in the Source after the Pipeline has been built. These may include completely new tables or previously deleted tables that have been re-created in the Source.

        If disabled, new and re-created tables are not ingested automatically. They are added in SKIPPED state in the objects list, on the Pipeline Overview page. You can update their status to INCLUDED to ingest data. You can include these objects post-Pipeline creation to ingest data.

        You can change this setting later.

  5. Click TEST CONNECTION. This button is enabled once you specify all the mandatory fields. Hevo’s underlying connectivity checker validates the connection settings you provide.

  6. Click TEST & CONTINUE to proceed for setting up the Destination. This button is enabled once you specify all the mandatory fields.

Object and Query Mode Settings

Once you have specified the Source connection settings in Step 5 above, do one of the following:

  • For Pipelines with Table or BinLog mode:

    1. On the Select Objects page, select the objects you want to replicate and click CONTINUE.

      Object Selection

      Note: Each object represents a table in your database.

    2. On the Configure Objects page, specify the query mode you want to use for each selected object.

      Query-Mode Selection

  • For Pipelines with Custom SQL mode:

    1. On the Provide Query Settings page, enter the custom SQL query to fetch data from the Source.

    2. In the Query Mode drop-down, select the query mode, and click CONTINUE.

      Custom SQL

Data Replication

For Teams Created Ingestion Mode Default Ingestion Frequency Minimum Ingestion Frequency Maximum Ingestion Frequency Custom Frequency Range (in Hrs)
Before Release 2.21 Table 15 Mins 15 Mins 24 Hrs 1-24
  Log-based 5 Mins 5 Mins 1 Hr NA
After Release 2.21 Table 6 Hrs 30 Mins 24 Hrs 1-24
  Log-based 30 Mins 30 Mins 12 Hrs 1-24

Note: The custom frequency must be set in hours as an integer value. For example, 1, 2, or 3 but not 1.5 or 1.75.

  • Historical Data: In the first run of the Pipeline, Hevo ingests all available data for the selected objects from your Source database.

  • Incremental Data: Once the historical load is complete, data is ingested as per the ingestion frequency.

Additional Information

Read the detailed Hevo documentation for the following related topics:

Source Considerations

  • MySQL does not generate log entries for cascading deletes. So, Hevo cannot capture these deletes for log-based Pipelines.

Limitations

  • Hevo only fetches tables from the MySQL database. It does not fetch other entities such as functions, stored procedures, views, and triggers.

    To fetch views, you can create individual Pipelines in Custom SQL mode. However, some limitations may arise based on the type of data synchronization, the query mode, or the number of Events. Contact Hevo Support for more details.

  • During the historical load, Hevo reads table definitions directly from the MySQL database schema, whereas for incremental updates, Hevo reads from the BinLog. As a result, certain fields, such as nested JSON, are parsed differently during historical and incremental loads. In the Destination tables, nested JSON fields are parsed as a struct or JSON during historical loads, but as a string during incremental loads. This leads to a data type mismatch between the Source and Destination data, causing Events to be sidelined.

    To ensure JSON fields are parsed correctly during the historical load, you can apply transformations to every table containing nested JSON fields. Contact Hevo Support for more details.

  • Hevo Pipelines may fail to process transactions in the BinLog if the size of the transaction exceeds 4GB. This problem is due to a MySQL bug that affects the library used by Hevo to stream Events, resulting in ingestion failures. In such cases, Hevo attempts to restart the ingestion process from the beginning of the transaction, skipping already processed Events. If the problem of transaction processing persists and the BinLog remains stuck, contact Hevo Support for assistance.

See Also

Revision History

Refer to the following table for the list of key updates made to this page:

Date Release Description of Change
Dec-18-2024 NA Updated section, Limitations to add information about Hevo handling transaction failures in the BinLog due to a MySQL bug affecting transactions exceeding 4GB.
Oct-22-2024 NA Updated section, Connect to a Local Database (Optional) as per the latest ngrok and Hevo UI.
Jul-31-2024 NA Updated section, Limitations to add information about Hevo reading table definitions differently during historical and incremental loads.
Apr-29-2024 NA Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to include more detailed steps.
Mar-18-2024 2.21.2 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to add information about the Load all CA certificates option.
Mar-05-2024 2.21 Added the Data Replication section.
Nov-03-2023 NA Renamed section, Object Settings to Object and Query Mode Settings.
Oct-27-2023 NA - Added subsection, Create a database user.
- Updated subsection, Grant privileges to the user with the latest steps.
Jul-25-2023 NA Updated section, Enable BinLog replication for more clarity.
Jun-26-2023 NA Added section, Source Considerations.
Apr-21-2023 NA Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to add a note to inform users that all loaded Events are billable for Custom SQL mode-based Pipelines.
Mar-09-2023 2.09 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to mention about SEE MORE in the Select an Ingestion Mode section.
Dec-19-2022 2.04 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to add information that you must specify all fields to create a Pipeline.
Dec-07-2022 2.03 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to mention about including skipped objects post-Pipeline creation.
Dec-07-2022 2.03 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to mention about the connectivity checker.
Oct-13-2022 1.99 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings to reflect the latest UI changes.
Apr-21-2022 1.86 Updated section, Specify MySQL Connection Settings.
Aug-09-2021 NA Added a note in Step 3 of section, Enable BinLog replication.
Jul-26-2021 1.68 Added a note for the Database Host field.
Jul-12-2021 1.67 Added sections:
- Specify MySQL Connection Settings and
- Connecting to a Local Database.
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