Ibdata1

We see sometimes at customers that they have very big InnoDB system tablespace files (ibdata1) although they have set innodb_file_per_table = 1.

So we want to know what else is stored in the InnoDB system tablespace file ibdata1 to see what we can do against this unexpected growth.

First let us check the size of the ibdata1 file:

# ll ibdata1 
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql 109064486912 Dez  5 19:10 ibdata1

The InnoDB system tablespace is about 101.6 Gibyte in size. This is exactly 6'656'768 InnoDB blocks of 16 …

Sometimes, MySQL tablespace file(s) might be deleted by mistake, e.g. delete the shared tablespace (ibdata1) or an individual tablespace (table_name.ibd).

In this post I will show you how to recover those files (on Linux OS) having only one condition, MySQL service should still be running. If MySQL service stopped after deleting that file, this method will not work, so it is extremely important to act as quick as possible to avoid data loss.

The following is a simple table creation (innodb_file_per_table is …

In this weeks MySQL workshop we were discussing, beside other things, about the innodb_file_per_table parameter and its advantages of enabling it. In addition there was a discussion if the InnoDB system tablespace file can be shrinked once it has been grown very large or not. We all know the answer: The InnoDB system tablespace file does never shrink again.

But why should it not be possible? Other databases like for example Oracle can shrink or even get rid of tablespace files… After some …

Recently I found in a forum the following request for help:

My MySQL instance crashed because of free disk space fault. I saw in /var/lib/mysql all the files: ibdata1, ib_logfile* and all the folders containing frm files. Well, when i solved the problem and run successfully the instance, some databases disappeared. One of those is the most important, and i don’t know how many tables had and their structures. Is there any way for recover the entire lost database (structure and data) only having the …