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Hot backups with Percona XtraBackup ​

Perform non-locking MySQL backups without interrupting database reads or writes.

Percona XtraBackup copies InnoDB data files at the storage level while the database continues running. Unlike mysqldump, it does not acquire a global read lock, making it suitable for production databases where downtime or write delays are not acceptable.

Prerequisites ​

Before setting up this backup type, ensure you have:

  • Percona XtraBackup installed on the server. See the Percona documentation for installation instructions.
  • A .my.cnf credentials file readable only by the user running the backup script.
  • Sufficient permissions to run xtrabackup and connect to MySQL.

Set up the backup script ​

  1. Create a .my.cnf credentials file and restrict its permissions:
plain
[client]
user=root
password=yourpassword
bash
chmod 600 ~/.my.cnf
  1. Create a backup script — for example backup_script.sh:
bash
#!/bin/bash

BACKUP_DIR=/mnt/hot-backups
DATABASE=mydatabase
CONFIG=~/.my.cnf

mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}

xtrabackup --backup \
  --defaults-file=${CONFIG} \
  --databases=${DATABASE} \
  --target-dir=${BACKUP_DIR}/${DATABASE}_$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)

exit $?

Replace mydatabase with your database name. If your .my.cnf is stored elsewhere, update the CONFIG path accordingly.

  1. Make the script executable:
bash
chmod +x backup_script.sh
  1. Run the script to verify it completes without errors:
bash
./backup_script.sh

A successful run outputs a timestamped directory under BACKUP_DIR containing the backup files. In SimpleBackups, use Custom Script as the backup type and point it to this script to automate the process on a schedule.