20.8 Partial Backup and Restore Options

To select specific data to be backed up or restored, use the partial backup and restore options described in this section.

For an overview of partial backup and restore, as well as usage examples on the following options, see Section 4.3.5, “Making a Partial Backup” and Section 5.1.4, “Table-Level Recovery (TLR)”.

--include-tables=REGEXP
Command-Line Format --include-tables=REGEXP
Type String
Include for backup or restoration only those tables (both Innodb and non-Innodb) whose fully qualified names (in the form of db_name.table_name) match the regular expression REGEXP. The regular expression syntax used is the extended form specified in the POSIX 1003.2 standard. For example, --include-tables=^mydb\.t[12]$ matches the tables t1 and t2 in the database mydb. On Unix-like systems, quote the regular expression appropriately to prevent interpretation of shell meta-characters. mysqlbackup throws an error when the option is used without a regular expression being supplied with it.
While mysqlbackup understands the MySQL convention of quoting the database or the table name (or both) by backticks (see Schema Object Names), there is no need to include the backticks in the regular expression for --include-tables.
The option can also be used with the backup-dir-to-image and image-to-backup-dir commands to select tables when creating or unpacking a backup image.
mysqlbackup throws an error when no table matches the regular expression specified with --include-tables.
When used together with the --exclude-tables option, --include-tables is applied first, meaning mysqlbackup first selects all tables specified by --include-tables and then excludes from the set those tables specified by --exclude-tables.
The option cannot be used together with the legacy --include option.
--exclude-tables=REGEXP
Command-Line Format --exclude-tables=REGEXP
Type String
Exclude for backup or restoration all tables (both Innodb and non-Innodb) whose fully qualified names (in the form of db_name.table_name) match the regular expression REGEXP. The regular expression syntax is the extended form specified in the POSIX 1003.2 standard. For example, --exclude-tables=^mydb\.t[12]$ matches the tables t1 and t2 in the database mydb. On Unix-like systems, quote the regular expression appropriately to prevent interpretation of shell meta-characters. mysqlbackup throws an error when the option is used without a regular expression being supplied with it.
While mysqlbackup understands the MySQL convention of quoting the database or the table name (or both) by backticks (see Schema Object Names), there is no need to include the backticks in the regular expression for --exclude-tables.
The option can also be used with the backup-dir-to-image and image-to-backup-dir commands to select tables when creating or unpacking a backup image.
The option cannot be used together with the legacy --include option.
When used together with the --include-tables option, --include-tables is applied first, meaning mysqlbackup first select all tables specified by --include-tables, and then exclude from the set those tables specified by --exclude-tables.
--only-known-file-types
For back up only. By default, all files in the database subdirectories under the data directory of the server are included in the backup (see Table 1.1, “Types of Files in a Backup” for details). If the --only-known-file-types option is specified, mysqlbackup only backs up those types of files that are data files for MySQL or its built-in storage engines, which, besides the ibdata* files, have the following extensions:
- .ARM: ARCHIVE table metadata
- .ARZ: ARCHIVE table data
- .CSM: CSV table metadata
- .CSV: CSV table data
- .ibd: InnoDB tablespace created using the file-per-table mode
- .MRG: Merge storage engine references to other tables
- .MYD: MyISAM data
- .MYI: MyISAM indexes
--only-innodb
For back up only. Back up only InnoDB data and log files. All files created by other storage engines are excluded. Typically used when there is no need to copy MyISAM files.
The option is not compatible with the --replica-info option.
Default: backups include files from all storage engines.
--use-tts[={with-minimum-locking|with-full-locking}]
Command-Line Format --use-tts[={with-minimum-locking|with-full-locking}]
Type Enumeration
Default Value with-minimum-locking
Valid Values
with-minimum-locking
with-full-locking

Enable selective backup of InnoDB tables using transportable tablespaces (TTS). This is to be used in conjunction with the --include-tables and --exclude-tables options for selecting the InnoDB tables to be backed up by regular expressions. Using TTS for backups offers the following advantages:
- Backups can be restored to a different server
- The system tablespace is not backed up, saving disk space and I/O resources
- Data consistency of the tables is managed by MySQL Enterprise Backup
However, the option has the following limitations:
- Individual partitions cannot be selectively backed up or restored. Tables selected by the --include-tables and --exclude-tables options are always backed up or restored in full.
- Can only backup tables that are stored in their own individual tablespaces (i.e., tables created with the innodb_file_per_table option enabled)
- Non-InnoDB tables are not backed up
- For MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.0.20 and earlier: Encrypted InnoDB tables are never included (a warning is issued in the log file whenever an encrypted InnoDB table that matches the table selection criteria has been skipped over).
- Cannot be used for incremental backups
- Does not include the binary log or the relay log in the backup
See also Appendix B, Limitations of MySQL Enterprise Backup for some more minor limitations.
There are two possible values for the option:
- with-minimum-locking: Hot copies of the selected tables are backed up, and the tables are then locked in read-only mode while the redo log (with only the portion containing the relevant changes made after the hot backup) is being included in the backup. Any tables created during the locking phase are ignored.
- with-full-locking: The selected tables are locked in read-only mode while they are being backed up. The redo log is not included in the backup. Any tables created during the locking phase are ignored.
  Note
  Due to a known issue, when creating a backup using TTS for a server containing tables with a mix of the Antelope and Barracuda file formats, do NOT apply full locking on the tables.
Default: with-minimum-locking
To use the --use-tts option, extra privileges are required of the user through which mysqlbackup connects to the server; see Section 4.1.2, “Grant MySQL Privileges to Backup Administrator” for details.
There are some special requirements for restoring backups created with the --use-tts option; see Section 5.1.5, “Restoring Backups Created with the --use-tts Option” for details.
--rename=“old_table_name to new_table_name”
Rename a single table when it is selected by the --include-tables or --exclude-tables option (or both together) to be restored to a database server from a backup created using the --use-tts option. The table named old_table_name is renamed to new_table_name. Note that when using the option:
- The --include-tables or --exclude-tables option (or both together) must be used in the restore command for the --rename option to work, unless there is only one table in the backup. Also, the --include-tables or --exclude-tables option (or both together) should specify one and only one table for restore when --rename is used, or the restore will fail.
- old_table_name and new_table_name can be fully qualified (containing the database names, in the form of old_db_name.old_tb_name and new_db_name.new_tb_name) or not. By using fully-qualified table names, a table can be restored into a database different from its original one. If the database specified with new_db_name does not exist on the target server, it will be created during the restore process. Regular expressions are not accepted in the argument of the option.
- The restore fails if old_table_name does not match with the table specified using the --include-tables or --exclude-tables option (or both together), or if new_table_name already exists in the target database.
- The requirements listed in Section 5.1.5, “Restoring Backups Created with the --use-tts Option” apply.
See Section 5.1.5, “Restoring Backups Created with the --use-tts Option”, for more information on selective restores, and for an example of table renaming.

Command-Line Format	`--include-tables=REGEXP`
Type	String

Command-Line Format	`--exclude-tables=REGEXP`
Type	String

Command-Line Format	`--use-tts[={with-minimum-locking\|with-full-locking}]`
Type	Enumeration
Default Value	`with-minimum-locking`
Valid Values	`with-minimum-locking` `with-full-locking`

Legacy Partial Backup Options

Important

Information in this subsection is only for using the legacy option of --include, which has been deprecated. For creating partial backups, use the --include-tables and --exclude-tables options instead.

Besides --include, some other options are also discussed below, but the information is only for using the options together with --include.

For an overview of partial backups and usage examples for these legacy options, see Making a Partial Backup with the Legacy Options (Deprecated).

--include=REGEXP
This option is for filtering InnoDB tables for backup. The InnoDB tables' fully qualified names are checked against the regular expression specified by the option. If the REGEXP matches db_name.table_name, the table is included. The regular expression syntax used is the extended form specified in the POSIX 1003.2 standard. For example, --include=mydb\.t[12] matches the tables t1 and t2 in the database mydb. mysqlbackup throws an error when the option is used without a regular expression being supplied with it.
This option only applies to InnoDB tables created with the MySQL option innodb_file_per_table enabled (which is the default setting for MySQL 5.6 and after), in which case the tables are in separate files that can be included or excluded from the backup. All tables in the InnoDB system tablespace are always backed up.
When no InnoDB table names match the specified regular expression, an error is thrown with a message indicating there are no matches.
Default: Backs up all InnoDB tables.
Note
This option does not filter non-InnoDB tables.
--use-tts[={with-minimum-locking|with-full-locking}]
Enable selective backup of InnoDB tables using transportable tablespaces (TTS). This is to be used in conjunction with the --include option, which selects the InnoDB tables to be backed up by a regular expression. Using TTS for backups offers the following advantages:
- Backups can be restored to a different server
- The system tablespace is not backed up, saving disk space and I/O resources
- Data consistency of the tables is managed by MySQL Enterprise Backup
See important discussions here on the limitations with using the --use-tts option.
There are two possible values for the option:
- with-minimum-locking: Hot copies of the selected tables are backed up, and the tables are then locked in read-only mode while the redo log (with only the portion containing the relevant changes made after the hot backup) is being included in the backup. Any tables created during the locking phase are ignored.
- with-full-locking: The selected tables are locked in read-only mode while they are being backed up. The redo log is not included in the backup. Any tables created during the locking phase are ignored.
Default: back up with minimum locking
There are some special requirements for restoring backups created with the --use-tts option; see the explanations in Section 5.1, “Performing a Restore Operation” for details.