6.8.2 Managing Sandbox Instances

Once a sandbox instance is running, it is possible to change its status at any time using the following commands. Specify the port number for the instance to identify it:

• To stop a sandbox instance using JavaScript, issue dba.stopSandboxInstance(instance). This stops the instance gracefully, unlike dba.killSandboxInstance(instance).

• To stop a sandbox instance using Python, issue: dba.stop_sandbox_instance(instance). This stops the instance gracefully, unlike dba.kill_sandbox_instance(instance).

• To start a sandbox instance using JavaScript, issue: dba.startSandboxInstance(instance).

• To start a sandbox instance using Python, issue: dba.start_sandbox_instance(instance).

• To kill a sandbox instance using JavaScript, issue: dba.killSandboxInstance(instance). This stops the instance without gracefully stopping it and is useful in simulating unexpected halts.

• To kill a sandbox instance using Python, issue: dba.kill_sandbox_instance(instance). This stops the instance without gracefully stopping it and is useful in simulating unexpected halts.

• To delete a sandbox instance using JavaScript, issue: dba.deleteSandboxInstance(instance). This completely removes the sandbox instance from your file system.

• To delete a sandbox instance using Python, issue: dba.delete_sandbox_instance(instance). This completely removes the sandbox instance from your file system.

Sandbox instances are considered to be transient and are not designed for production use. They are therefore not supported for version upgrades. In a sandbox deployment, each sandbox instance uses a copy of the mysqld binary found in the $PATH in the local mysql-sandboxes directory. If the version of mysqld changes, for example after an upgrade, sandboxes based on the previous version fail to start. This is because the sandbox binary is outdated compared to the dependencies found under the basedir.

If you do want to retain a sandbox instance after an upgrade, a workaround is to manually copy the upgraded mysqld binary into the bin directory of each sandbox. Then start the sandbox by issuing dba.startSandboxInstance(). The operation fails with a timeout, and the error log contains:

2020-03-26T11:43:12.969131Z 5 [System] [MY-013381] [Server] Server upgrade
from '80019' to '80020' started.
2020-03-26T11:44:03.543082Z 5 [System] [MY-013381] [Server] Server upgrade
from '80019' to '80020' completed.

Although the operation seems to fail with a timeout, the sandbox has started successfully.