Understanding MySQL replication

coordinates
Apr 15, 2018

Basic MySQL replication (as implemented in MySQL 5.5) conceptually is very simple -
master server use binlog dump thread to write data changes (row based, statement
based or mixed depending on settings) into binary log and slave use I/O thread to
copy statements from binay log into relay log. Another slave thread - SQL thread -
reads data from relay log and applies them (so that changes made in master server
would appear in slave server too). This basic MySQL replication design is shown in
picture bellow.

SHOW SLAVE STATUS is main command in order to check state of MySQL replication
as it shows information about slave threads and other parameters. Here is example
from actual running slave server (information not related with slave threads is not
shown) with explanation:

Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001363 - master binlog filename from

which the I/O thread is currently reading.

Read_Master_Log_Pos: 867649780 - position in master binlog

file up to which the I/O thread has read.

Relay_Log_File: slave-relay.000453 - relay log filename from

which the SQL thread is currently reading and executing.

Relay_Log_Pos: 867649926 - position in relay log file up to

which the SQL thread has read and executed.
Relay_Master_Log_File: mysql-bin.001363 - binary log filename
containing the most recent event executed by the SQL thread.

Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 867649780 - position in master binlog file

to which the SQL thread has read and executed

Picture below shows graphical representation how these parameters fits into basic
MySQL replication setup.

These 6 parameters logically can be grouped into three tuples (filename, position)
and these 3 pairs gives us nice overview of slave threads progress:

 (Master_Log_File, Read_Master_Log_Pos) - this pair of coordinates show

information about slave I/O thread state. Slave I/O thread is reading from
binlog mysql-bin.001363 and it has read up to 867649780 position in that
file.
 (Relay_Log_File, Relay_Log_Pos) - this pair of coordinates show
information about slave SQL thread state from relay log perspective. Slave
SQL thread is reading from relay file slave-relay.000453 and has read and
executed statements up to 867649926 position in that file.
 (Relay_Master_Log_File, Exec_Master_Log_Pos) - this pair of coordinates
show information about slave SQL thread state from Master binlog
perspective. Slave SQL thread is reading from relay file slave-relay.000453
and has read and executed statements up to 867649926 position in that
file. This correspond to mysql-bin.001363 binlog file and position
867649780 in master server. That is if we start reading from master binlog
file pointed by Relay_Master_Log_File in position starting from
Exec_Master_Log_Pos and if we start reading from slave relay log file
pointed by Relay_Log_File starting from position Relay_Log_Pos we should
get the same information.