To capture from the MySQL transaction logs, the Oracle GoldenGate Extract process must be able to find the index file, which contains the paths of all binary log files.

Extract expects that all of the table columns are in the binary log. As a result, binlog_row_image set as full is supported and this is the default. Other values of binlog_row_image are not supported.

In MySQL 5.7, the server_id option must be specified along with log-bin, otherwise the server will not start. For MySQL 8.0, the server_id is enabled by default.

Extract checks the following parameter settings to get this index file path:

1. Extract TRANLOGOPTIONS parameter with the ALTLOGDEST option. If this parameter specifies a location for the log index file, Extract accepts this location over any default that is specified in the MySQL Server configuration file. When ALTLOGDEST is used, the binary log index file must also be stored in the specified directory. This parameter should be used if the MySQL configuration file does not specify the full index file path name, specifies an incorrect location, or if there are multiple installations of MySQL on the same machine. From Oracle GoldenGate 21c onwards, ALTLOGDEST parameter is optional for local Extract, however, for remote Extract this parameter is mandatory. When ALTLOGDEST is not specified, the binary log index and binary log filepaths will be fetched from the database directly. The paths thus fetched are also subject to same accessibilitychecks as in the existing process.

   To specify the index file path using TRANLOGOPTIONS with ALTLOGDEST, use a command similar to the following:

   TRANLOGOPTIONS ALTLOGDEST "/mnt/rdbms/mysql/data/logs/binlog.index"

   To capture from a remote server or in case of remote capture, you only need to specify the REMOTE option instead of the index file path on the remote server. For remote capture, specify the following in the Extract parameter file:

   TRANLOGOPTIONS ALTLOGDEST REMOTE

2. The MySQL Server configuration file: The configuration file stores default startup options for the MySQL server and clients. On Windows, the name of the configuration file is my.ini. On other platforms, it is my.cnf. In the absence of TRANLOGOPTIONS with ALTLOGDEST, Extract gets information about the location of the log files from the configuration file. However, even with ALTLOGDEST, these Extract parameters must be set correctly:

   • binlog-ignore-db=oggddl: This prevents DDL logging history table entries in the binlog and is set in the my.cnf or my.ini file.

   • log-bin: This parameter is used to enable binary logging. This parameter also specifies the location of the binary log index file and is a required parameter for Oracle GoldenGate, even if ALTLOGDEST is used. If log-bin is not specified, binary logging will be disabled and Extract returns an error.

   • log-bin-index: This parameter specifies the location of the binary log index. If it is not used, Extract assumes that the index file is in the same location as the log files. If this parameter is used and specifies a different directory from the one that contains the binary logs, the binary logs must not be moved once Extract is started.

   • max_binlog_size: This parameter specifies the size, in bytes, of the binary log file.

     Note:

     The server creates a new binary log file automatically when the size of the current log reaches the max_binlog_size value, unless it must finish recording a transaction before rolling over to a new file.

   • binlog_format: This parameter sets the format of the logs. It must be set to the value of ROW, which directs the database to log DML statements in binary format. Extract silently ignores the binlog events that are not written in the ROW format instead of abending when it detects a binlog_format other than ROW.

     Note:

     MySQL binary logging does not allow logging to be enabled or disabled for specific tables. It applies globally to all tables in the database.

   • mysql.rds_set_configuration: When capturing from MySQL Amazon RDS instance, you need to call the mysql.rds_set_configuraton stored procedure on MySQL command line, to retain the binary logs for a specific duration. By default, the default value of binlog_retention_hours for MySQL Amazon RDS is set to NULL, which implies that the binary logs are not retained.

     The following example shows the command to preserve the binary log for 24 hours:

     mysql > call mysql.rds_set_configuration('binlog retention hours', 24);

   To locate the configuration file, Extract checks the MYSQL_HOME environment variable: If MYSQL_HOME is set, Extract uses the configuration file in the specified directory. If MYSQL_HOME is not set, Extract queries the information_schema.global_variables table to determine the MySQL installation directory. If a configuration file exists in that directory, Extract uses it.

3. For MariaDB version 10.2 and later, Oracle GoldenGate works in the same way as for MySQL but a new variable needs to be configured in the my.cnf or my.ini file. The variable that needs to be added is "binlog-annotate-row-events=OFF". Restart MariaDB after configuring this variable and then start the Extract process.