Chapter 5 Recovering or Restoring a Database Server

5.1 Performing a Restore Operation
5.2 Restoring a Backup from Cloud Storage to a MySQL Server
5.3 Point-in-Time Recovery
5.4 Restoring a Backup with a Database Server Upgrade or Downgrade

The ultimate purpose of backup data is to help recover from a database issue or to create a clone of the original database server in another location (typically, to run report queries or to create a new replica). This section describes the procedures to handle those scenarios.

After a serious database issue, you might need to perform a recovery under severe time pressure. It is critical to confirm in advance:

How long the recovery will take, including any steps to transfer, unpack, and otherwise process the data.
That you have practiced and documented all steps of the recovery process, so that you can do it correctly in one try. If a hardware issue requires restoring the data to a different server, verify all privileges, storage capacity, and so on, on that server ahead of time.
That you have periodically verified the accuracy and completeness of the backup data, so that the system will be up and running soon after being recovered.