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Percona Documentation

The xtrabackup command-line options

Here you can find all of the command-line options for the xtrabackup binary.

Modes of operation

You invoke xtrabackup in one of the following modes:

  • --backup mode to make a backup in a target directory

  • --prepare mode to restore data from a backup (created in --backup mode)

  • --copy-back to copy data from a backup to the original location; to move the data instead of copying the data, use the alternate --move-back mode.

When you intend to run xtrabackup in any of these modes, use the following syntax:

$ xtrabackup [--defaults-file=#] --backup|--prepare|--copy-back| [OPTIONS]

For example, the --prepare mode is applied as follows:

$ xtrabackup --prepare --target-dir=/data/backup/mysql/

For all modes, the default options are read from the xtrabackup and mysqld configuration groups from the following files in the given order:

  1. /etc/my.cnf

  2. /etc/mysql/my.cnf

  3. /usr/etc/my.cnf

  4. ~/.my.cnf.

As the first parameter to xtrabackup in place of the --defaults-file, you may supply one of the following:

  • --print-defaults - prints the argument list and exit.

  • --no-defaults - forbids reading options from any file but the login file.

  • --defaults-file - reads the default options from the given file.

  • --defaults-extra-file - reads the specified additional file after the global files.

  • --defaults-group-suffix - reads the configuration groups with the given suffix. The effective group name is constructed by concatenating the default configuration groups (xtrabackup and mysqld) with the given suffix.

  • --login-path - reads the given path from the login file.

InnoDB options

A large group of InnoDB options is usually read from the my.cnf configuration file, so xtrabackup boots up its embedded InnoDB in the same configuration as your current server. You typically do not need to specify them explicitly. These options have the same behavior in InnoDB and XtraDB. See --innodb-miscellaneous for more information.

Options

apply-log-only

Usage: --apply-log-only

This option causes only the redo stage to be performed when preparing a backup. It is essential for incremental backups.

backup

Usage: --backup

Make a backup and place it in --target-dir. See Create a full backup

backup-lock-timeout

Usage: --backup-lock-timeout

The timeout in seconds for attempts to acquire metadata locks.

backup-lock-retry-count

Usage: --backup-lock-retry-count

The number of attempts to acquire metadata locks.

backup-locks

Usage: --backup-locks

This option controls if Backup locks are used instead of FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK on the backup stage. The option has no effect when the server does not support backup locks. This option is enabled by default, disable with --no-backup-locks.

check-privileges

Usage: check-privileges

This option checks if Percona XtraBackup has all the required privileges. If a required privilege is missing for the current operation, the operation terminates and prints an error message. If a privilege is not needed for the current operation but is missing and may be necessary for another XtraBackup operation, the operation is not aborted, and a warning is printed.

Example output 
```{.text .no-copy}
xtrabackup: Error: missing required privilege LOCK TABLES on *.*
xtrabackup: Warning: missing required privilege REPLICATION CLIENT on *.*
```

close-files

Usage: --close-files

Do not keep files opened. When xtrabackup opens a tablespace, xtrabackup normally doesn’t close its file handle. This operation allows xtrabackup to handle the DDL operations correctly. However, if the number of tablespaces is huge and can not fit into any limit, there is an option to close file handles once they are no longer accessed. Percona XtraBackup can produce inconsistent backups with this option enabled. Use at your own risk.

compress

Usage: --compress

This option tells xtrabackup to compress all output data, including the transaction log and metadata files, using either the ZSTD or the lz4 compression algorithm. ZSTD is the default compression algorithm.

--compress produces \*.zst files. You can extract the contents of these files using the --decompress option. You can specify the ZSTD compression level with the --compress-zstd-level option.

--compress=lz4 produces \*.lz4 files. You can extract the contents of these files by using the lz4 program.

compress-chunk-size

Usage: --compress-chunk-size=#

Size of working buffer(s) for compression threads in bytes. The default value is 64K.

compress-threads

Usage: --compress-threads=#

This option specifies the number of worker threads xtrabackup uses for parallel data compression. This option defaults to 1 and can be used with parallel file copying.

For example, --parallel=4 --compress --compress-threads=2 creates four I/O threads that read and pipe the data to two compression threads.

compress-zstd-level

Usage: --compress-zstd-level=#

This option specifies ZSTD compression level. Compression levels provide a trade-off between the compression speed and the compressed files’ size. A lower compression level provides faster compression speed but larger file sizes. A higher compression level provides lower compression speed but smaller file sizes. For example, set level 1 if the compression speed is the most important for you. Set level 19 if the size of the compressed files is the most important.

The default value is 1. Allowed range of values is from 1 to 19.

copy-back

Usage: --copy-back

Copy all the files in a previously made backup from the backup directory to their original locations. This option will not copy over existing files unless the --force-non-empty-directories option is specified.

core-file

Usage: --core-file

Write core on fatal signals.

databases

Usage: --databases=#

This option specifies a list of databases and tables that should be backed up. The option accepts the list of the form "databasename1[.table_name1] databasename2[.table_name2] . . .".

databases-exclude

Usage: --databases-exclude=name

Databases are excluded based on name. This option operates the same way as --databases but excludes the matched names from the backup.

This option has a higher priority than --databases.

databases-file

Usage: --databases-file=#

This option specifies the path to the file containing the list of databases and tables that should be backed up. The file can contain the list elements of the form databasename1[.table_name1], one element per line.

datadir

Usage: --datadir=DIRECTORY

The source directory for the backup. This should be the same as the datadir for your server, so it should be read from my.cnf if that exists; otherwise, specify the directory on the command line.

When combined with the --copy-back or the --move-back option, this option refers to the destination directory.

To perform a backup, you must have the READ and EXECUTE permissions at a filesystem level in the server’s datadir.

debug-sleep-before-unlock

Usage: --debug-sleep-before-unlock=#

This option is only used by the xtrabackup test suite.

debug-sync

Usage: --debug-sync=name

This option is only used by the xtrabackup test suite.

decompress

Usage: --decompress

Decompresses all files in a backup previously made with the --compress option. The --parallel option lets multiple files be decrypted simultaneously.

Percona XtraBackup does not automatically remove the compressed files. Users should use the --remove-original option to clean up the backup directory.

decompress-threads

Usage: --decompress-threads=#

Force xbstream to use the specified number of threads for decompressing.

decrypt

Usage: --decrypt=ENCRYPTION-ALGORITHM

Decrypts all files with the xbcrypt extension in a backup previously made with --encrypt option. The --parallel option lets multiple files be decrypted simultaneously. Percona XtraBackup doesn’t automatically remove the encrypted files; use --remove-original`](#remove-original) option.

defaults-extra-file

Usage: --defaults-extra-file=[MY.CNF]

Read this file after the global files are read. The option must be the first option on the command line.

defaults-file

Usage: --defaults-file=[MY.CNF]

Only read default options from the given file. The value must be the first option on the command line and cannot be a symbolic link.

defaults-group

Usage: --defaults-group=GROUP-NAME

This option sets the group that should be read from the configuration file and is needed for mysqld_multi deployments.

defaults-group-suffix

Usage: --defaults-group-suffix=#

Also reads groups with concat(group, suffix).

dump-innodb-buffer-pool

Usage: --dump-innodb-buffer-pool

This option controls creating a new dump of the buffer pool content.

The xtrabackup binary requests the server to start the buffer pool dump. This operation may take time to complete and is done in the background. The beginning of a backup with the option reports that the dump has been completed.

$ xtrabackup --backup --dump-innodb-buffer-pool --target-dir=/home/user/backup

By default, this option is set to OFF.

If innodb_buffer_pool_dump_status reports that there is a running dump of the buffer pool, xtrabackup waits for the dump to complete using the value of --dump-innodb-buffer-pool-timeout

The file ib_buffer_pool stores the tablespace ID and page ID data used to warm up the buffer pool sooner.

dump-innodb-buffer-pool-pct

Usage: --dump-innodb-buffer-pool-pct

This option contains the percentage of the most recently used buffer pool pages to dump.

This option is effective if --dump-innodb-buffer-pool option is set to ON. If this option contains a value, xtrabackup sets the MySQL system variable innodb_buffer_pool_dump_pct. As soon as the buffer pool dump completes or is stopped (see --dump-innodb-buffer-pool-timeout), the value of the MySQL system variable is restored.

dump-innodb-buffer-pool-timeout

Usage: --dump-innodb-buffer-pool-timeout

This option contains the number of seconds that xtrabackup should monitor the value of innodb_buffer_pool_dump_status to determine if the buffer pool dump has been completed.

This option is used in combination with --dump-innodb-buffer-pool. By default, it is set to 10 seconds.

encrypt

Usage: --encrypt=ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM

This option instructs xtrabackup to encrypt backup copies of InnoDB data files using the algorithm specified in the ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM. Currently supported algorithms are: AES128, AES192 and AES256

encrypt-key

Usage: --encrypt-key=ENCRYPTION_KEY

A proper length encryption key to use. This key can be viewed as part of the process info. We do not recommend using this option with uncontrolled access to the machine.

encrypt-key-file

Usage: --encrypt-key-file=ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE

The name of a file where the raw key of the appropriate length can be read from. The file must be a simple binary (or text) file that contains exactly the key to be used.

It is passed directly to the xtrabackup child process. See the xtrabackup documentation for more details.

encrypt-threads

Usage: --encrypt-threads=#

This option specifies the number of worker threads that will be used for parallel encryption/decryption. See the xtrabackup documentation for more details.

encrypt-chunk-size

Usage: --encrypt-chunk-size=#

This option specifies the size of the internal working buffer for each encryption thread, measured in bytes. It is passed directly to the xtrabackup child process.

To adjust the chunk size for encrypted files, use --read-buffer-size and this option.

estimate-memory

Usage: --estimate-memory=#

This option is in tech preview.

The option lets you enable or disable the Smart memory estimation feature. The default value is OFF. Enable the feature by setting --estimate-memory=ON in the backup phase and setting the --use-free-memory-pct option in the --prepare phase. If the --estimate-memory setting is disabled, the --use-free-memory-pct setting is ignored.

An example of how to enable the Smart memory estimation feature:

$ xtrabackup --backup --estimate-memory=ON --target-dir=/data/backups/

$ xtrabackup --prepare --use-free-memory-pct=50 --target-dir=/data/backups/

export

Usage: --export

Create files necessary for exporting tables. For more details, see Restore individual tables.

extra-lsndir

Usage: --extra-lsndir=DIRECTORY

(for –backup): save an extra copy of the xtrabackup_checkpoints and xtrabackup_info files in the specified directory.

force-non-empty-directories

Usage: --force-non-empty-directories

When specified, the --copy-backand–move-back` options transfer files to non-empty directories. No existing files are overwritten. If files that need to be copied/moved from the backup directory already exist in the destination directory, the operation fails with an error.

ftwrl-wait-timeout

Usage: --ftwrl-wait-timeout=SECONDS

This option specifies the time in seconds that xtrabackup should wait for queries that would block FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK before running it. If there are still such queries when the timeout expires, xtrabackup terminates with an error.

The default value is 0, xtrabackup does not wait for queries to complete and starts FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK immediately. Where supported, xtrabackup automatically uses the Backup locks as a lightweight alternative to FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK to copy non-InnoDB data to avoid blocking DML queries that modify the InnoDB tables.

ftwrl-wait-threshold

Usage: --ftwrl-wait-threshold=SECONDS

This option specifies the query run time threshold which is used by xtrabackup to detect long-running queries with a non-zero value of --ftwrl-wait-timeout. FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK is not started until such long-running queries exist.

This option has no effect if --ftwrl-wait-timeout is 0. The default value is 60 seconds. The xtrabackup binary automatically uses Backup locks as a lightweight alternative to FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK to copy non-InnoDB data to avoid blocking DML queries that modify InnoDB tables when backup locks are supported.

ftwrl-wait-query-type

Usage: --ftwrl-wait-query-type=all|updateThis option specifies which queries can be completed before xtrabackup issues the global lock. The default value is all.

galera-info

Usage: --galera-info

This option creates the xtrabackup_galera_info file, which contains the local node state at the backup time. This option should be used when performing the backup of a Percona XtraDB Cluster. The option has no effect when Backup locks are used to create the backup.

generate-new-master-key

Usage: --generate-new-master-key

Generate a new master key when doing a copy-back.

generate-transition-key

Usage: --generate-transition-key

xtrabackup needs to access the same keyring file or vault server during prepare and copy-back operations but it should not depend on whether the server keys have been purged.

--generate-transition-key creates and adds to the keyring a transition key for xtrabackup to use if the master key used for encryption is not found because that key has been rotated and purged.

get-server-public-key

Usage: --get-server-public-key

Get the server public key

help

Usage: --help

This option displays information about how to run the program along with supported options and variables with the default values, where appropriate.

history

Usage: --history=NAME

This option enables the tracking of backup history in the PERCONA_SCHEMA.xtrabackup_history table. You can specify a history series name placed with the current backup’s history record.

host

Usage: --host=HOST

This option accepts a string argument that specifies the host to use when connecting to the database server with TCP/IP. It is passed to the mysql child process without alteration. See mysql –help for details.

incremental-basedir

Usage: --incremental-basedir=DIRECTORY

This is the directory that contains the full backup, which is the base dataset for the incremental backups.

incremental-dir

Usage: --incremental-dir=DIRECTORY

This is the directory where the incremental backup is combined with the full backup to make a new full backup.

incremental-force-scan

Usage: --incremental-force-scan

When creating an incremental backup, force a full scan of the data pages in that instance.

incremental-history-name

Usage: --incremental-history-name=name

This option specifies the name of the backup series stored in the PERCONA_SCHEMA.xtrabackup_history used as a base for an incremental backup. xtrabackup searches the history table looking for the most recent (highest innodb_to_lsn), successful backup in the series and takes the to_lsn`` value to use as the startinglsn` for the incremental backup.

This options is mutually exclusive with --incremental-history-uuid, --incremental-basedir, and --incremental-lsn.

If no valid lsn can be found, either no series by that name or no successful backups by that name, xtrabackup returns an error.

The option is used with the --incremental option.

incremental-history-uuid

Usage: --incremental-history-uuid=name

This option specifies the Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) of the history record in PERCONA_SCHEMA.xtrabackup_history used as the base for an incremental backup.

This options is mutually exclusive with --incremental-history-name, --incremental-basedir, and --incremental-lsn.

If there is no success record with that UUID, xtrabackup returns an error.

The option is used with the -–incremental option.

incremental-lsn

Usage: --incremental-lsn=LSN

When creating an incremental backup, you can specify the log sequence number (LSN), a single 64-bit integer, instead of the --incremental-basedir.

Important

Percona XtraBackup does not detect if an incorrect LSN value is specified; the backup is unusable. Be careful!

innodb

Usage: --innodb=name

This option is ignored for MySQL option compatibility.

innodb-miscellaneous

Usage: --innodb-miscellaneous xtrabackup boots up its embedded InnoDB with the same configuration as your current server using the InnoDB options read from that server'smy.cnf` file. You do not need to specify these options explicitly.

These options behave the same in either InnoDB or XtraDB.

keyring-file-data

Usage: --keyring-file-data=FILENAME

Defines the path to the keyring file. You can combine this option with --xtrabackup-plugin-dir.

kill-long-queries-timeout

Usage: --kill-long-queries-timeout=SECONDS

This option specifies the number of seconds xtrabackup waits between starting FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK and killing those queries that block it. The default value is 0 (zero) seconds, which means xtrabackup does not kill any queries.

To use this option xtrabackup user should have the PROCESS and SUPER privileges.

Where supported, xtrabackup automatically uses Backup locks as a lightweight alternative to FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK to copy non-InnoDB data to avoid blocking DML queries that modify InnoDB tables.

kill-long-query-type

Usage: --kill-long-query-type=all|select

This option specifies which queries should be killed to unblock the global lock. The default value is “select”.

lock-ddl

Usage: --lock-ddl

Enabled by default to ensure that any DDL event does not corrupt the backup. Any DML events continue to occur. A DDL lock protects table and view definitions.

If the option is disabled, a backup continues while concurrent DDL events are executed. These backups are invalid and fail in the Prepare step.

Use a safe-slave-backup option to stop a SQL replica thread before copying the InnoDB files.

lock-ddl-per-table

Usage: --lock-ddl-per-table

Deprecated. Use the –lock-ddl option instead

Lock DDL for each table before xtrabackup starts to copy it and until the backup is completed.

lock-ddl-timeout

Usage: --lock-ddl-timeout

If LOCK TABLES FOR BACKUP or LOCK INSTANCE FOR BACKUP does not return within a given time, abort the backup.

log

Usage: --log

This option is ignored for MySQL

log-bin

Usage: --log-bin

The base name for the log sequence.

log-bin-index

Usage: --log-bin-index=name

The file that stores the names for binary log files.

log-copy-interval

Usage: --log-copy-interval=#

This option specifies the time interval between checks done by the log copying thread in milliseconds. The default value is 1 second.

login-path

Usage: --login-path

Read the given path from the login file.

move-back

Usage: --move-back

Move all files in a previous backup from the backup directory to their original locations.

Use this option with caution since the operation removes backup files.

no-backup-locks

Usage: --no-backup-locks

Explicity disables the --backup-locks option which is enabled by default.

no-defaults

Usage: --no-defaults

The default options are only read from the login file.

no-lock

Usage: --no-lock

Disables the table lock with FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK. Use it only if all your tables are InnoDB and you do not care about the binary log position of the backup. This option shouldn’t be used if any DDL statements are being executed or updates are happening on non-InnoDB tables; this includes the system MyISAM tables in the mysql database. Otherwise, those operations could lead to an inconsistent backup.

Where supported, xtrabackup will automatically use Backup locks as a lightweight alternative to FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK to copy non-InnoDB data to avoid blocking DML queries that modify InnoDB tables.

If you consider using this option because your backups fail to acquire the lock, maybe incoming replication events prevent the lock from succeeding. Try the --safe-slave-backup option to stop the replication replica thread momentarily. The --safe-slave-backup option may help the backup to succeed and avoid using this option.

no-server-version-check

Usage: --no-server-version-check

The --no-server-version-check option disables the server version check.

The default behavior runs a check that compares the source system version to the Percona XtraBackup version. If the source system version is higher than the XtraBackup version, the backup is aborted with a message.

Adding the option overrides this check, and the backup proceeds, but there may be issues with the backup.

See Server Version and Backup Version Comparison for more information.

no-version-check

Usage: --no-version-check

This option disables the version check.

If you do not pass this option, xtrabackup implicitly enables the automatic version check in the --backup mode.

To disable the version check, invoke xtrabackup and explicitly pass this option.

When the automatic version check is enabled, xtrabackup performs a version check against the server on the backup stage after creating a server connection. xtrabackup sends the following information to the server:

  • MySQL flavour and version

  • Operating system name

  • Percona Toolkit version

  • Perl version

Each piece of information has a unique identifier. This identifier is a MD5 hash value that Percona Toolkit uses to obtain statistics about its use. This information is a random UUID; no client information is collected or stored.

open-files-limit

Usage: --open-files-limit=#

The maximum number of file descriptors to reserve with setrlimitgit .

parallel

Usage: --parallel=#

This option specifies the number of threads to use to copy multiple data files concurrently when creating a backup. The default value is 1, there is no concurrent transfer. This option can be used with the --copy-back option to copy the user data files in parallel. The redo logs and system tablespaces are copied in the main thread.

password

Usage: --password=PASSWORD

This option accepts a string argument that specifies the password used when connecting to the database.

plugin-load

Usage: --plugin-load

A list of plugins to load.

port

Usage: --port=PORT

This option accepts a string argument specifying the TCP/IP port used to connect to the database server. This option is passed to the mysql child process without alteration.

prepare

Usage: --prepare

Makes xtrabackup perform a recovery on a backup created with --backup, so that the backup data is ready to use.

For details, see Prepare a full backup.

Usage: --print-defaults

Prints the program argument list and exit and must be the first option on the command line.

Usage: --print-param

Prints the parameters that can be used for copying the data files back to their original locations to restore them.

read-buffer-size

Usage: --read-buffer-size

Set the read buffer size. The given value is scaled up to page size. The default size is 10MB. Use this option to increase the xbcloud/xbstream chunk size from the default size.

To adjust the chunk size for encrypted files, use --read-buffer-size and --encrypt-chunk-size.

rebuild-indexes

Usage: --rebuild-indexes

Rebuilds indexes in a compact backup.

This option only has effect when the --prepare and --rebuild-threads options are provided.

rebuild-threads

Usage: --rebuild-threads=#

Uses the given number of threads to rebuild indexes in a compact backup. This option only affects the --prepare](#prepare) and [–rebuild-indexes`](#rebuild-threads) options.

register-redo-log-consumer

Usage: --register-redo-log-consumer

This option is disabled by default.

When enabled, this options lets Percona XtraBackup register as a redo log consumer at the start of the backup. The server does not remove a redo log that Percona XtraBackup (the consumer) has not yet copied. The consumer reads the redo log and manually advances the log sequence number (LSN). The server blocks the writes during the process. The server determines when to purge the log based on the redo log consumption.

remove-original

Usage: --remove-original

This option removes .qp, .xbcrypt and .qp.xbcrypt files after decryption and decompression.

rocksdb-datadir

Usage: --rocksdb-datadir

Names the RocksDB data directory

rocksdb-wal-dir

Usage: --rocksdb-wal-dir

RocksDB WAL directory.

rocksdb-checkpoint-max-age

Usage: --rocksdb-checkpoint-max-age

The checkpoint cannot be older than this number of seconds when the backup is complete.

rocksdb-checkpoint-max-count

Usage: --rocksdb-checkpoint-max-count

Complete the backup even if the checkpoint age requirement has not been met after this number of checkpoints.

rollback-prepared-trx

Usage: --rollback-prepared-trx

Force rollback prepared InnoDB transactions.

rsync

Usage: --rsync

Uses the rsync utility to optimize local file transfers. The xtrabackup binary uses rsync to copy all non-InnoDB files instead of spawning a separate cp for each file, which can be much faster for servers with many databases or tables.

You cannot use this option with --stream.

safe-slave-backup

Usage: --safe-slave-backup

When specified, xtrabackup stops the replica SQL thread just before running FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK and waits to start the backup operation until Slave_open_temp_tables`` inSHOW STATUS` is zero.

If there are no open temporary tables, the backup takes place, otherwise the SQL thread is started and stopped until there are no open temporary tables. The backup fails if Slave_open_temp_tables does not become zero after --safe-slave-backup-timeout seconds. The replication SQL thread is restarted when the backup is complete. This option is implemented to deal with replication and temporary tables and isn’t necessary with row-based replication.

Using a safe-slave-backup option stops the SQL replica thread before copying the InnoDB files.

safe-slave-backup-timeout

Usage: --safe-slave-backup-timeout=SECONDS

How many seconds the --safe-slave-backup option waits for the Slave_open_temp_tables to become zero. The default value is 300 seconds.

secure-auth

Usage: --secure-auth

Refuse the client from connecting to the server if it uses the old protocol. This option is enabled by default. Disable this options with –skip-secure-auth.

server-id

Usage: --server-id=#

The server instance being backed up.

server-public-key-path

Usage: --server-public-key-path

The file path to the server public RSA key in the PEM format.

skip-tables-compatibility-check

Usage: --skip-tables-compatibility-check

See --tables-compatibility-check.

slave-info

Usage: --slave-info

This option is useful when backing up a replication replica server. It prints the binary log position of the source server. It also writes the binary log coordinates to the xtrabackup_slave_info file as a CHANGE MASTER command.

A new replica for this source can be set up by starting a replica server on this backup and issuing a CHANGE MASTER command with the binary log position saved in the xtrabackup_slave_info file.

socket

Usage: --socket

This option accepts a string argument that specifies the socket to use when connecting to the local database server with a UNIX domain socket. It is passed to the MySQL child process without alteration. See mysql –help for details.

ssl

Usage: --ssl

Enable secure connection.

ssl-ca

Usage: --ssl-ca

The path of the file contains a list of trusted SSL CAs.

ssl-capath

Usage: --ssl-capath

The directory path that contains trusted SSL CA files in PEM format.

ssl-cert

Usage: --ssl-cert

The path of the file contains the X509 certificate in PEM format.

ssl-cipher

Usage: --ssl-cipher

The list of the permitted ciphers to use for connection encryption.

ssl-crl

Usage: --ssl-crl

The path of the file that contains certificate revocation lists.

ssl-crlpath

Usage: --ssl-crlpath

The path of the directory that contains the certificate revocation list files.

ssl-fips-mode

Usage: --ssl-fips-mode

The SSL FIPS mode applies only for OpenSSL; permitted values are OFF, ON, and STRICT.

ssl-key

Usage: --ssl-key

The path of the file that contains the X509 key in PEM format.

ssl-mode

Usage: --ssl-mode

The security state of connection to the server.

ssl-verify-server-cert

Usage: --ssl-verify-server-cert

Verify the server certificate Common Name value against the hostname used when connecting to the server.

stream

Usage: --stream=FORMAT

Stream all backup files to the standard output in the specified format. Currently, this option only supports the xbstream format.

strict

Usage: --strict

If this option is specified, xtrabackup fails with an error when invalid parameters are passed.

tables

Usage: --tables=name

A regular expression against which the full table name in the databasename.tablename format is matched. If the name matches, the table is backed up. See Create a partial backup.

tables-compatibility-check

Usage: --tables-compatibility-check

Enables the engine compatibility warning. The default value is ON. To disable the engine compatibility warning, use --skip-tables-compatibility-check`](#skip-tables-compatibility-check).

tables-exclude

Usage: --tables-exclude=name

Filtering by regexp for table names. Operates the same way as --tables, but matched names are excluded from backup. Note that this option has a higher priority than --tables.

tables-file

Usage: --tables-file=name

A file containing one table name per line in databasename.tablename format. The backup will be limited to the specified tables.

target-dir

Usage: --target-dir=DIRECTORY

This option specifies the destination directory for the backup. If the directory does not exist, xtrabackup creates it. If the directory does exist and is empty, xtrabackup will succeed. xtrabackup does not overwrite existing files, however, the operation fails with the operating system error 17, file exists.

If this option is a relative path, it is interpreted as relative to the current working directory from which xtrabackup is executed.

To perform a backup, you need READ, WRITE, and EXECUTE permissions at a filesystem level for the directory that you supply as the value of --target-dir.

innodb-temp-tablespaces-dir

Usage: --innodb-temp-tablespaces-dir=DIRECTORY

The location of the directory for the temp tablespace files. This path can be absolute.

throttle

Usage: --throttle=#

This option limits the number of chunks copied per second. The chunk size is 10 MB.

To limit the bandwidth to 10 MB/s, set the option to 1.

tls-ciphersuites

Usage: --tls-ciphersuites

The TLS v1.3 cipher to use.

tls-version

Usage: --tls-version

Defines which TLS version to use. The permitted values are: TLSv1, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2, TLSv1.3.

tmpdir

Usage: --tmpdir=name

Specify the directory used to store temporary files during the backup

transition-key

Usage: --transition-key=name

This option is used to enable processing the backup without accessing the keyring vault server. In this case, xtrabackup derives the AES encryption key from the specified passphrase and uses it to encrypt the tablespace keys of tablespaces being backed up.

If --transition-key does not have any value, xtrabackup will ask for it. The same passphrase should be specified for the --prepare command.

use-free-memory-pct

Usage: --use-free-memory-pct

The --use-free-memory-pct is a tech preview option.

This option lets you configure the Smart memory estimation feature. The option controls the amount of free memory that can be used to --prepare a backup. The default value is 0 (zero), which defines the option as disabled. For example, if you set --use-free-memory-pct=50, then 50% of the free memory is used to prepare a backup. The maximum allowed value is 100.

This option works only if --estimate-memory option is enabled. If the --estimate-memory option is disabled, the --use-free-memory-pct setting is ignored.

An example of how to enable the Smart memory estimation feature:

$ xtrabackup --backup --estimate-memory=ON --target-dir=/data/backups/

$ xtrabackup --prepare --use-free-memory-pct=50 --target-dir=/data/backups/

use-memory

Usage: --use-memory

This option affects how much memory is allocated and is similar to innodb_buffer_pool_size. This option is only relevant in the --prepare phase. The default value is 100MB. The recommended value is between 1GB to 2GB. Multiple values are supported if you provide the unit (1MB, 1M, 1GB, 1G).

user

Usage: --user=USERNAME

This option specifies the MySQL username used when connecting to the server if that’s not the current user. The option accepts a string argument. See mysql –help for details.

version

Usage: --version

This option prints xtrabackup version and exits.

xtrabackup-plugin-dir

Usage: --xtrabackup-plugin-dir=DIRNAME

The absolute path to the directory that contains the keyring plugin.

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