This section describes the performance considerations for restoring a database with MySQL Enterprise Backup. This subject is important because:

For the combination of options you can specify for a restore job, see Section 5.1.1.3, “Restore an Existing Backup”.

Restoring Different Classes of Backup Data

Restoring a partial backup takes less time than restoring a full backup, because there is less data to physically copy. See Section 5.1.9, “Partial Backup and Restore Options” for information about making partial backups.

Restoring a compressed backup takes more time than restoring an uncompressed backup, because the time needed to uncompress the data is typically greater than any time saved by transferring less data across the network. If you need to rearrange your storage to free up enough space to uncompress the backup before restoring it, include that administration work in your estimate of the total time required. In an emergency, the time needed to uncompress the backup data before restoring it might be unacceptable. There might also be storage issues if there is not enough free space on the database server to hold both the compressed backup and the uncompressed data. Thus, the more critical the data is, the more likely that you might choose not to use compression: accepting a slower, larger backup to ensure that the restore process is as fast and reliable as possible. See Section 5.1.7, “Compression Options” for information about making compressed backups.

The unpacking process to restore a single-file backup is typically not expensive either in terms of raw speed or extra storage. Each file is unpacked directly to its final destination, the same as if it was copied individually. Thus, if you can speed up the backup substantially or decrease its storage requirements by using single-file backups, that typically does not involve a tradeoff with restore time. See Section 5.1.1.5, “Work with Single-File Backups” for information about making single-file backups.

The Apply-Log Phase

If you store the backup data on a separate machine, and that machine is not as busy the machine hosting the database server, you can offload some postprocessing work (the apply-log phase) to that separate machine. Section 5.1.1.2, “Apply-Log Operations for Existing Backup Data”

There is always a performance tradeoff between doing the apply-log phase immediately after the initial backup (makes restore faster), or postponing it until right before the restore (makes backup faster). In an emergency, restore performance is the most important consideration. Thus, the more crucial the data is, the more important it is to run the apply-log phase immediately after the backup. Either combine the backup and apply-log phases on the same server by specifying the backup-and-apply-log option, or perform the fast initial backup, transfer the backup data to another server, and then perform the apply-log phase using one of the options from Section 5.1.1.2, “Apply-Log Operations for Existing Backup Data”.

Section 5.1.1.2, “Apply-Log Operations for Existing Backup Data”

Network Performance

For data processing operations, you might know the conventional advice that Unix sockets are faster than TCP/IP for communicating with the database. Although the mysqlbackup command supports the options --protocol=tcp, --protocol=socket, and --protocol=pipe, these options do not have a significant effect on backup or restore performance. These processes involve file-copy operations rather than client/server network traffic. The database communication controlled by the --protocol option is low-volume. For example, mysqlbackup retrieves information about database parameters through the database connection, but not table or index data.

Parallel Restore

The mysqlbackup command can take advantage of modern multicore CPUs and operating system threads to perform backup operations in parallel. See Section 5.1.11, “Performance / Scalability / Capacity Options” for the options to control how many threads are used for different aspects of the restore process. If you see that there is unused system capacity during a restore, consider increasing the values for these options and testing whether doing so increases restore performance:

Depending on your operating system, you can measure resource utilization using commands such as top, iostat, sar, dtrace, or a graphical performance monitor. Do not increase the number of read or write threads iowait once the system iowait value reaches approximately 20%.