I am Avinash,
I have a slight confusion about incremental backups.
I am going through the MySQL 5.7 Docs to study the backup process using mysqldump.
I am not using any master-slave configuration. I am only willing to have Point in Time Recovery capabilities. I am aware of the xtrabackup tool, but I want to use the logical backups as well.
The Docs explain how to make a full backup of InnoDB tables
mysqldump -u user -ppasword --single-transaction --flush-logs --master-data --all-databases > full_backup_sunday_1PM.sql
This will make a full backup of all the changes made since mysql-bin.0001 till let's say mysql-bin.0007. Flush logs will flush the logs and switch the current file and all the changes till mysql-bin.0007, mysqldump will be aware of.
--master-data option will print two lines to indicate the point in time recovery beginning time and master log position.
My confusion is at the following command (printed as it is from the docs)
shell> mysqldump --single-transaction --flush-logs --master-data=2 \
--all-databases > backup_sunday_1_PM.sql
in the first command the author uses only --master-data and in the second command he/she uses --master-data=2. I don't understand the difference. Could you experts please help me out?
Does --master-data=2 indicate that it's an incremental backup of level 1? Does it indicate anything related to master-slave configuration? What command should I use to make incremental backups?
The second command again mentions backup of Sunday itself, that's why may be I am getting confused. The author uses Sunday as full backup (in the first command) and under incremental backup (for Monday) explanation (second command) also he uses Sunday in the dump file name.
Thanking you. Regards, Avinash
