How To Repair MySQL Replication

If you have set up MySQL replication, you probably know this problem: sometimes there are invalid MySQL queries which cause the replication to not work anymore. In this short guide I explain how you can repair the replication on the MySQL slave without the need to set it up from scratch again. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

Login to dbserver

ssh dbserver

Identifying The Problem

To find out whether replication is/is not working and what has caused to stop it, you can take a look at the logs. On Debian, for example, MySQL logs to /var/log/syslog:

grep mysql /var/log/syslog

 [root@dbserver ~]#  grep mysql /var/log/syslog
 May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: 080529 9:56:08 [ERROR] Slave: Error 'Table 'mydb.taggregate_temp_1212047760' doesn't exist' on query. Default database: 'mydb'. Query: 'UPDATE thread AS thread,taggregate_temp_1212047760 AS   aggregate
 May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: ^ISET thread.views = thread.views + aggregate.views
 May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: ^IWHERE thread.threadid = aggregate.threadid', Error_code: 1146
 May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: 080529 9:56:08 [ERROR] Error running query, slave SQL thread aborted. Fix the problem, and restart the slave SQL thread with "SLAVE START". We stopped at log 'mysql-bin.001079' position 203015142
 [root@dbserver ~]#

You can see what query caused the error, and at what log position the replication stopped. To verify that the replication is really not working, log in to MySQL:

mysql -u root -p

On the MySQL shell, run:
mysql> SHOW SLAVE STATUS \G

If one of Slave_IO_Running or Slave_SQL_Running is set to No, then the replication is broken:

mysql> SHOW SLAVE STATUS \G

*************************** 1. row ***************************
             Slave_IO_State: Waiting for master to send event
                Master_Host: 1.2.3.4
                Master_User: slave_user
                Master_Port: 3306
              Connect_Retry: 60
            Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001079
        Read_Master_Log_Pos: 269214454
             Relay_Log_File: slave-relay.000130
              Relay_Log_Pos: 100125935
      Relay_Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001079
           Slave_IO_Running: Yes
          Slave_SQL_Running: No
            Replicate_Do_DB: mydb
        Replicate_Ignore_DB:
         Replicate_Do_Table:
     Replicate_Ignore_Table:
    Replicate_Wild_Do_Table:
Replicate_Wild_Ignore_Table:
                 Last_Errno: 1146
                 Last_Error: Error 'Table 'mydb.taggregate_temp_1212047760' doesn't exist' on query. Default database: 'mydb'.
Query: 'UPDATE thread AS thread,taggregate_temp_1212047760 AS aggregate
        SET thread.views = thread.views + aggregate.views
        WHERE thread.threadid = aggregate.threadid'
               Skip_Counter: 0
        Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 203015142
            Relay_Log_Space: 166325247
            Until_Condition: None
             Until_Log_File:
              Until_Log_Pos: 0
         Master_SSL_Allowed: No
         Master_SSL_CA_File:
         Master_SSL_CA_Path:
            Master_SSL_Cert:
          Master_SSL_Cipher:
             Master_SSL_Key:
      Seconds_Behind_Master: NULL
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

Repairing The Replication

Just to go sure, we stop the slave:

mysql> STOP SLAVE;

Fixing the problem is actually quite easy. We tell the slave to simply skip the invalid SQL query:

mysql> SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER = 1;

This tells the slave to skip one query (which is the invalid one that caused the replication to stop). If you’d like to skip two queries, you’d use SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER = 2; instead and so on. That’s it already. Now we can start the slave again…

mysql> START SLAVE;

… and check if replication is working again:

mysql> SHOW SLAVE STATUS \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
             Slave_IO_State: Waiting for master to send event
                Master_Host: 1.2.3.4
                Master_User: slave_user
                Master_Port: 3306
              Connect_Retry: 60
            Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001079
        Read_Master_Log_Pos: 447560366
             Relay_Log_File: slave-relay.000130
              Relay_Log_Pos: 225644062
      Relay_Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001079
           Slave_IO_Running: Yes
          Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
            Replicate_Do_DB: mydb
        Replicate_Ignore_DB:
         Replicate_Do_Table:
     Replicate_Ignore_Table:
    Replicate_Wild_Do_Table:
Replicate_Wild_Ignore_Table:
                 Last_Errno: 0
                 Last_Error:
               Skip_Counter: 0
        Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 447560366
            Relay_Log_Space: 225644062
            Until_Condition: None
             Until_Log_File:
              Until_Log_Pos: 0
         Master_SSL_Allowed: No
         Master_SSL_CA_File:
         Master_SSL_CA_Path:
            Master_SSL_Cert:
          Master_SSL_Cipher:
             Master_SSL_Key:
      Seconds_Behind_Master: 0
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

As you see, both Slave_IO_Running and Slave_SQL_Running are set to Yes now. Now leave the MySQL shell…

mysql> quit;

… and check the log again:

grep mysql /var/log/syslog

[root@dbserver ~]# grep mysql /var/log/syslog
May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: 080529 9:56:08 [ERROR] Slave: Error 'Table 'mydb.taggregate_temp_1212047760' doesn't exist' on query. Default database: 'mydb'. Query: 'UPDATE thread AS thread,taggregate_temp_1212047760 AS aggregate
May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: ^ISET thread.views = thread.views + aggregate.views
May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: ^IWHERE thread.threadid = aggregate.threadid', Error_code: 1146
May 29 09:56:08 dbserver mysqld[1380]: 080529 9:56:08 [ERROR] Error running query, slave SQL thread aborted. Fix the problem, and restart the slave SQL thread with "SLAVE START". We stopped at log 'mysql-bin.001079' position 203015142
May 29 11:42:13 dbserver mysqld[1380]: 080529 11:42:13 [Note] Slave SQL thread initialized, starting replication in log 'mysql-bin.001079' at position 203015142, relay log '/var/lib/mysql/slave-relay.000130' position: 100125935
[root@dbserver ~]#

The last line says that replication has started again, and if you see no errors after that line, everything is ok.

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Asif Khan

Responsible and proactive professional with more than 14 years of experience in IT systems, open source software applications, DevOps, Linux systems, and cloud operations. My main goals are to automate things, keep them safe, and make sure they are strong. I am very good at planning and building the infrastructure for services that people really want. I was drawn to the fast-paced world of cloud computing because it has resources that can be scaled up or down as needed. One of my best skills is being able to use a lot of different DevOps tools to set up, release management, and microservices ecosystems, as well as for provisioning, orchestration, and configuration management.