MySQL Packets

If a MySQL client or server wants to send data, it:

• Splits the data into packets of size 2²⁴ bytes
• Prepends to each chunk a packet header

Protocol::Packet

Data between client and server is exchanged in packets of max 16MByte size.

Payload

Type	Name	Description
int<3>	payload_length	Length of the payload. The number of bytes in the packet beyond the initial 4 bytes that make up the packet header.
int<1>	sequence_id	Sequence ID
string<var>	payload	payload of the packet

Example:

01 00 00 00 01

length: 1 sequence_id: x00 payload: 0x01

See also

my_net_write(), net_write_command(), net_write_buff(), my_net_read(), net_send_ok()

Sending More Than 16Mb

If the payload is larger than or equal to 2²⁴-1 bytes the length is set to 2²⁴-1 (ff ff ff) and a additional packets are sent with the rest of the payload until the payload of a packet is less than 2²⁴-1 bytes.

Sending a payload of 16 777 215 (2²⁴-1) bytes looks like:

ff ff ff 00 ...
00 00 00 01

Sequence ID

The sequence-id is incremented with each packet and may wrap around. It starts at 0 and is reset to 0 when a new command begins in the Command Phase.

Describing Packets

In this document we describe each packet by first defining its payload and provide an example showing each packet that is sent, including its packet header:

<packetname>
  <description>

  direction: client -> server
  response: <response>

  payload:
    <type>        <description>

Example:

01 00 00 00 01

Note

Some packets have optional fields or a different layout depending on the Capabilities Flags.

If a field has a fixed value, its description shows it as a hex value in brackets like this: [00]