thoraddict Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hi, I am using mysql 4.0.2 on Solaris and I have a question about some files in the mysql /data directory. When I inherited this web server the first thing I noticed is there wasn't much disk space so I began looking for large directories and sure enough this /data directly was off the charts. I have no idea what this sequentially named file is, when I open it I see mostly garbage text. Is there anyway to find what is writing to this directory? Each file tops out at 1gb, it has the name ****-bin.038, ****-bin.039...etc I thought there might be a mysql scheduled task someone could help me find or maybe there is a backup job? Thanks, Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/99387-mysql-data-directory/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 The mysql data directory contains the data belonging to your mysql databases. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/99387-mysql-data-directory/#findComment-508548 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thoraddict Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 So its just general data about all the DB's? It seemed like a little more...ie, where is it set to only create files no larger then 1gb? Why does it write a file every so many days...? Is there more details I can find out? Thanks, Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/99387-mysql-data-directory/#findComment-508814 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmythe Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 The *.bin files are the MySQL binary log used for Replication. It records the queries executed on the server which change the data, and generally creates a new file every time the server is restarted. In a replication environment, these logs would be transmitted to a separate MySQL server, which would replay the queries on it's own database, thereby re-creating an exact replica of the original database. For data recovery, suppose you made a backup at 1:00am and the server crashed at 7:00pm that evening. Without the bin logs you would only be able to restore your data to 1:00am. With the bin logs, you would be able to restore the database to 1:00am, and then replay the queries executed between 1:00am and 7:00pm to bring the database back to the state it was in before the crash. If you don't replicate, and you don't care about potentially losing data after a crash, then by all means delete all but the most current *.bin file. This is also most likely set in your configuration file (usually /etc/my.cnf) with a flag like "log-bin" that you can comment or remove to stop it. I wouldn't do it - but then again I wouldn't want to lose any data. If my data didn't change often I probably wouldn't care too much. It's also fairly safe to delete the old *.bin files after you make a backup, so long as you're sure you have a valid backup. You won't need to replay queries that happened before you made a backup, because they would already be in your backup. -Dan- Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/99387-mysql-data-directory/#findComment-515658 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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