4.1.2 Grant MySQL Privileges to Backup Administrator

The mysqlbackup command connects to the MySQL server using the credentials supplied with the --user and --password options. The specified user needs certain privileges. You can either create a new user with a limited set of privileges, or use an administrative account such as root. Here are the privileges required by mysqlbackup:

The minimum privileges for the MySQL user with which mysqlbackup connects to the server include:
- SELECT on all databases and tables, for table locks that protect the backups against inconsistency caused by parallel DDL operations.
- BACKUP_ADMIN on all databases and tables.
- RELOAD on all databases and tables.
- SUPER, to enable and disable logging, and to optimize locking in order to minimize disruption to database processing.
- REPLICATION CLIENT, to retrieve the binary log position, which is stored with the backup.
- PROCESS, to process DDL statements with the ALGORITHM = INPLACE clause.
- CREATE, INSERT, DROP, and UPDATE on the tables mysql.backup_progress and mysql.backup_history, and also SELECT and ALTER on mysql.backup_history.
To create a MySQL user (mysqlbackup in this example) and set the above-mentioned privileges for the user to connect from localhost, issue statements like the following from the mysql client program:
```
CREATE USER 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT SELECT, BACKUP_ADMIN, RELOAD, PROCESS, SUPER, REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* 
    TO `mysqlbackup`@`localhost`;
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP, UPDATE ON mysql.backup_progress TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost'; 
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP, UPDATE, SELECT, ALTER ON mysql.backup_history 
    TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
```
The following additional privileges are required for using specific features of MySQL Enterprise Backup:
- For using transportable tablespaces (TTS) to back up and restore InnoDB tables:
  - LOCK TABLES for backing up tables. CREATE for restoring tables.
  - DROP for dropping tables if the restore fails for some reasons.
  - FILE for restoring tables in external tablespaces outside of the server's data directory.
- For creating tape backups using the System Backup to Tape (SBT) API :
  - CREATE, INSERT, DROP, and UPDATE on the mysql.backup_sbt_history table
- For working with encrypted InnoDB tables:
  - ENCRYPTION_KEY_ADMIN to enable InnoDB encryption key rotation.
- For backing up and restoring user-created non-InnoDB tables:
  - LOCK TABLES on all schemas containing user-created non-InnoDB tables
- For using redo log archiving for backups:
  - INNODB_REDO_LOG_ARCHIVE to invoke the innodb_redo_log_archive_start() function .
- For Section 5.1.4, “Table-Level Recovery (TLR)” of non-TTS backups:
  - INSERT and ALTER to update tables
Set those additional privileges if you are using the features that require them. To set all of them, issue statements like the following from the mysql client program:
```
GRANT LOCK TABLES, CREATE, DROP, FILE, INSERT, ALTER ON *.* TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, DROP, UPDATE ON mysql.backup_sbt_history TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT ENCRYPTION_KEY_ADMIN ON *.* TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT INNODB_REDO_LOG_ARCHIVE ON *.* TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
```
For privileges required for using MySQL Enterprise Backup with a Group Replication setting, see Chapter 9, Using MySQL Enterprise Backup with Group Replication.
The following additional privileges might also be required after a server upgrade:
- When using MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 for the first time on a MySQL Server that has been upgraded from 8.0.18 or earlier and has been backed up by MySQL Enterprise Backup before:
  - ALTER on mysql.backup_progress.
  - CREATE, INSERT, and DROP on mysql.backup_progress_old.
  - CREATE, INSERT, DROP, and ALTER on mysql.backup_progress_new.
  Grant these privileges by issuing these sample statements at the mysql client:
```
GRANT ALTER ON mysql.backup_progress TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP ON mysql.backup_progress_old TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP, ALTER ON mysql.backup_progress_new TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
```
  Note
  If you are working with a multiprimary Group Replication setting, make sure these privileges are granted on all primary nodes; see also Chapter 9, Using MySQL Enterprise Backup with Group Replication.
  These privileges are for the attempt to migrate the mysql.backup_progress table to a newer format (see Appendix F, Backup Progress Table Update for details), and they are no longer needed after the first backup operation by MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 has taken place on the server, by which point they can be revoked.
- When using MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 for the first time on a MySQL Server that has been upgraded from 8.0.11 or earlier and has been backed up by MySQL Enterprise Backup before:
  - CREATE, INSERT, and DROP on mysql.backup_history_old.
  - CREATE, INSERT, DROP, and ALTER on mysql.backup_history_new.
  Grant these privileges by issuing these sample statements at the mysql client:
```
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP ON mysql.backup_history_old TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP, ALTER ON mysql.backup_history_new TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
```
  Note
  If you are working with a multiprimary Group Replication setting, make sure these privileges are granted on all primary nodes; see also Chapter 9, Using MySQL Enterprise Backup with Group Replication.
  These privileges are for the attempt to migrate the mysql.backup_history table to a newer format (see Appendix D, Backup History Table Update for details), and they are no longer needed after the first backup operation by MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 has taken place on the server, by which point they can be revoked.
- When performing for the first time a backup using the SBT API with MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 on a MySQL Server that has been upgraded from 8.0.20 or earlier and has been backed up by MySQL Enterprise Backup before using the SBT API:
  - ALTER on mysql.backup_sbt_history.
  - CREATE, INSERT, and DROP on mysql.backup_sbt_history_old.
  - CREATE, INSERT, DROP, and ALTER on mysql.backup_sbt_history_new.
  Grant these privileges by issuing these sample statements at the mysql client:
```
GRANT ALTER ON mysql.backup_sbt_history TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP ON mysql.backup_sbt_history_old TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
GRANT CREATE, INSERT, DROP, ALTER ON mysql.backup_sbt_history_new TO 'mysqlbackup'@'localhost';
```
  Note
  If you are working with a multiprimary Group Replication setting, make sure these privileges are granted on all primary nodes; see also Chapter 9, Using MySQL Enterprise Backup with Group Replication.
  These privileges are for the attempt to migrate the mysql.backup_sbt_history table to a newer format (see Appendix E, SBT Backup History Table Update for details), and they are no longer needed after the first backup operation by MySQL Enterprise Backup 8.4 using the SBT API has taken place on the server, by which point they can be revoked.

Note

Make sure that the limit MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR is not set for the user mysqlbackup uses to access the server, or backup operations might fail unexpectedly.