Chapter 6 Working with Encrypted InnoDB Tablespaces

MySQL Enterprise Backup supports encrypted InnoDB tablespaces. For details on how the MySQL server encrypts and decrypts InnoDB tablespaces, see InnoDB Data-at-Rest Encryption—it explains concepts like master key and tablespace keys, which are important for understanding how MySQL Enterprise Backup works with encrypted InnoDB tablespaces.

When InnoDB tablespace encryption uses a centralized key management solution, the feature is referred to as “MySQL Enterprise Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).”

The following is a brief description on how encrypted InnoDB tablespaces are handled by MySQL Enterprise Backup in backup, restore, and apply-log operations.

Notes

Since the keyring_file and the keyring_encrypted_file plugins have been removed from the MySQL Server since release 8.4.0, they are no longer supported by MySQL Enterprise Backup.

Encrypted InnoDB undo logs and Encrypted InnoDB redo logs are supported by MySQL Enterprise Backup. The encrypted undo and redo tablespaces are handled the same way as the encrypted tablespaces for InnoDB tables.

Backing up a database server with encrypted InnoDB tablespaces. 

Important

For MySQL Enterprise Backup to backup encrypted InnoDB tablespaces, the operating system user that runs MySQL Enterprise Backup must have write permission for the keyring file on the server if the keyring_aws plugin is used on it.

When the database server uses encrypted InnoDB tablespaces, MySQL Enterprise Backup always stores the master key for encryption in an encrypted file inside the backup, irrespective of the kind of keyring plugin or component the server uses. The following is a typical command for backing up a database server containing encrypted InnoDB tablespaces:

$ mysqlbackup --defaults-file=/home/dbadmin/my.cnf --backup-image=/home/admin/backups/my.mbi \
  --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup-tmp --encrypt-password="password" backup-to-image

During the backup operation, mysqlbackup copies the encrypted InnoDB tablespace files into the backup, and also performs the following actions:

• mysqlbackup contacts the MySQL server to determine the keyring plugin or component the server is using.

• If the server is using the component_keyring_encrypted_file component, the user must use the option --encrypt-password to supply to mysqlbackup the keyring file encryption password that has been set on the server with the component_keyring_encrypted_file.cnf file. mysqlbackup then copies over from the server the encrypted keyring data file, which contains the master key used to encrypt all the tablespace keys, into the meta folder in the backup and names the file keyring_kef; the file is encrypted with the password supplied with the option --encrypt-password. The encrypted tablespace files are also copied into the backup.

• If the server uses a keyring plugin or component other than component_keyring_encrypted_file, mysqlbackup accesses the keyring to obtain the master key and uses it to decrypt the encrypted tablespace keys, which were used to encrypt the InnoDB tablespaces on the server. The master key is then put into a keyring data file named keyring_kef and saved in the meta folder in the backup; the file is encrypted with the user password supplied with the option --encrypt-password.

  Notes

  • Backing up a server that uses a keyring plugin or component other than component_keyring_encrypted_file is only supported for servers that allow socket connections or TCP/IP connections using TLS; it is, therefore, not supported when, for example, the server is running on a Windows platform and only allows shared memory connections.

  • Users who do not want to supply the password on the command line or in a defaults file may use the --encrypt-password option without specifying any value; mysqlbackup then asks the user to type in the password before the operation starts. This applies to all commands that use the --encrypt-password option.

  • If the server uses the keyring_hashicorp plugin, use the --encrypt-password to supply the HashiCorp Vault AppRole authentication secret ID, which was the value of keyring_hashicorp_secret_id on the server to be backed up.

An extract or image-to-backup-dir command for an image backup containing encrypted InnoDB tablespaces does not require the --encrypt-password option.

Restoring a backup with encrypted InnoDB tablespaces.  The following is a typical command for restoring a single-file backup containing encrypted InnoDB tablespaces:

$ mysqlbackup  --defaults-file=/usr/local/mysql/my.cnf  --backup-image=/home/admin/backups/my.mbi \
    --backup-dir=/home/admin/restore-tmp --encrypt-password="password" copy-back-and-apply-log

The same password used for backing up the database server must be supplied with the --encrypt-password option for a restore operation. During a restore, mysqlbackup copies the encrypted InnoDB tablespace files onto the server. It also performs the following actions:

• When the component_keyring_encrypted_file keyring component was used on the backed-up server, mysqlbackup restores the encrypted keyring data file to its proper location on the server, and also creates a manifest file and the configuration file component_keyring_encrypted_file.cnf (which contains the password used with the --encrypt-password option during the restore) on the restored server, so that the server will load component_keyring_encrypted_file when it restarts.

• When the component_keyring_file keyring component was used on the backed-up server, mysqlbackup uses the password supplied with the --encrypt-password option to decrypt the keyring data file and then restores it to the proper location on the server. It also creates a manifest file and the configuration file component_keyring_file.cnf on the restored server, so that the server will load the component_keyring_file component when it restarts.

• When any keyring plugin was used on the backed-up server, mysqlbackup restores the encrypted keyring data file to its proper location on the server. The restored server has to be started with component_keyring_encrypted_file. mysqlbackup creates a manifest file and the configuration file component_keyring_encrypted_file.cnf (which contains the password used with the --encrypt-password option during the restore) on the restored server, so that the server will load component_keyring_encrypted_file when it restarts.

Take these additional steps after the restore operation is finished:

• To use global manifest and configuration file for starting the keyring component:

  • Copy the manifest file from restored data directory to the folder where the mysqld binary resides.

  • Copy the configuration file component_keyring_encrypted_file.cnf or component_keyring_file.cnf (depending on how your backup is being restored; see the discussion above) from the restore data directory to the folder where the component binary resides.

• To use local manifest and configuration file for starting the keyring component:

  • Create a new manifest file with following contents in the folder where the mysqld binary resides

    { "read_local_manifest": true }

  • Create a new configuration file component_keyring_encrypted_file.cnf or component_keyring_file.cnf (depending on how your backup is being restored; see the discussion above) with following contents in the folder where the component binary resides :

    { "read_local_config": true }

If you want to use another keyring plugin or component (for example, the backed-up server was using keyring_aws and you want the restored server to use it too, or you simply want to switch to a new component or plugin), a keyring migration can be performed.

For Incremental Backups.  For a series of incremental backups, if a component other than component_keyring_encrypted_file is being used on the server, users can provide a different value for --encrypt-password for any of the full or incremental backup in the backup sequence. However, the same password used to make the specific full or incremental backup must be provided to restore that backup, and, if any keyring plugin is used, when starting the server after restoring a series of incremental backups, the password used for the restore of the last incremental backup should be supplied to the server.

Advanced: Creating and Restoring a directory backup with encrypted InnoDB tablespaces.  The following is a typical command for creating a directory backup containing encrypted InnoDB tablespaces:

$ mysqlbackup --defaults-file=/home/dbadmin/my.cnf --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup \
    --encrypt-password="password" backup

The following is a typical command for preparing the backup with the apply-log command:

$ mysqlbackup --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup  --encrypt-password="password" apply-log

Notice that the user password supplied during the backup must be supplied with the --encrypt-password option, as the tablespace keys and then the tablespaces must be decrypted before the log can be applied. The same requirement applies when you try to update an encrypted backup with an encrypted incremental backup using the apply-incremental-backup command:

$ mysqlbackup  --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup --incremental-backup-dir=/home/admin/backup-in \
    --encrypt-password="password" apply-incremental-backup

If you used different values for --encrypt-password for the full or incremental backups in the backup sequence, make sure you supply the very password you used to create the individual backup when you perform an apply-log or apply-incremental-backup operation with it.

Next, a copy-back command restores the prepared backup onto the server:

$ mysqlbackup  --defaults-file=/usr/local/mysql/my.cnf  --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup copy-back

Notice that the --encrypt-password option is not required for this step.

You can combine the two steps of apply-log and copy-back into one by running the copy-back-and-apply-log command, for which the --encrypt-password option is required:

$ mysqlbackup  --defaults-file=/usr/local/mysql/my.cnf  --backup-dir=/home/admin/backup \ 
  --encrypt-password="password" copy-back-and-apply-log

Limitations.  Certain limitations apply when MySQL Enterprise Backup works with encrypted InnoDB tablespaces:

• For partial backups using transportable table spaces (that is, when the --use-tts option is used), encrypted InnoDB tables are never included in a backup. A warning is issued in the log file whenever an encrypted InnoDB table that matches the table selection criteria has been skipped over.

• The --skip-unused-pages option has no effect on encrypted InnoDB tables during a backup (that is, empty pages for those tables are not skipped).

• If the server performs a master key rotation when a backup is running, the resulting backup might become corrupted.