4.4.7 mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables

Each time you upgrade MySQL, you should execute mysql_upgrade, which looks for incompatibilities with the upgraded MySQL server:

• It upgrades the system tables in the mysql schema so that you can take advantage of new privileges or capabilities that might have been added.

• It upgrades the Performance Schema and sys schema.

• It examines user schemas.

If mysql_upgrade finds that a table has a possible incompatibility, it performs a table check and, if problems are found, attempts a table repair. If the table cannot be repaired, see Section 2.10.12, “Rebuilding or Repairing Tables or Indexes” for manual table repair strategies.

mysql_upgrade communicates directly with the MySQL server, sending it the SQL statements required to perform an upgrade.

Important

In MySQL 5.7.11, the default --early-plugin-load value is the name of the keyring_file plugin library file, causing that plugin to be loaded by default. In MySQL 5.7.12 and higher, the default --early-plugin-load value is empty; to load the keyring_file plugin, you must explicitly specify the option with a value naming the keyring_file plugin library file.

InnoDB tablespace encryption requires that the keyring plugin to be used be loaded prior to InnoDB initialization, so this change of default --early-plugin-load value introduces an incompatibility for upgrades from 5.7.11 to 5.7.12 or higher. Administrators who have encrypted InnoDB tablespaces must take explicit action to ensure continued loading of the keyring plugin: Start the server with an --early-plugin-load option that names the plugin library file. For additional information, see Section 6.4.4.1, “Keyring Plugin Installation”.

Important

If you upgrade to MySQL 5.7.2 or later from a version older than 5.7.2, a change to the mysql.user table requires a special sequence of steps to perform an upgrade using mysql_upgrade. For details, see Section 2.10.3, “Changes in MySQL 5.7”.

Note

On Windows, you must run mysql_upgrade with administrator privileges. You can do this by running a Command Prompt as Administrator and running the command. Failure to do so may result in the upgrade failing to execute correctly.

Caution

You should always back up your current MySQL installation before performing an upgrade. See Section 7.2, “Database Backup Methods”.

Some upgrade incompatibilities may require special handling before upgrading your MySQL installation and running mysql_upgrade. See Section 2.10, “Upgrading MySQL”, for instructions on determining whether any such incompatibilities apply to your installation and how to handle them.

Use mysql_upgrade like this:

1. Ensure that the server is running.

2. Invoke mysql_upgrade to upgrade the system tables in the mysql schema and check and repair tables in other schemas:

   mysql_upgrade [options]

3. Stop the server and restart it so that any system table changes take effect.

If you have multiple MySQL server instances to upgrade, invoke mysql_upgrade with connection parameters appropriate for connecting to each of the desired servers. For example, with servers running on the local host on parts 3306 through 3308, upgrade each of them by connecting to the appropriate port:

mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3306 [other_options]
mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3307 [other_options]
mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3308 [other_options]

For local host connections on Unix, the --protocol=tcp option forces a connection using TCP/IP rather than the Unix socket file.

By default, mysql_upgrade runs as the MySQL root user. If the root password is expired when you run mysql_upgrade, it displays a message telling you that your password is expired and that mysql_upgrade failed as a result. To correct this, reset the root password to unexpire it and run mysql_upgrade again. First, connect to the server as root:

$> mysql -u root -p
Enter password: ****  <- enter root password here

Reset the password using ALTER USER:

mysql> ALTER USER USER() IDENTIFIED BY 'root-password';

Then exit mysql and run mysql_upgrade again:

$> mysql_upgrade [options]

Note

If you run the server with the disabled_storage_engines system variable set to disable certain storage engines (for example, MyISAM), mysql_upgrade might fail with an error like this:

mysql_upgrade: [ERROR] 3161: Storage engine MyISAM is disabled
(Table creation is disallowed).

To handle this, restart the server with disabled_storage_engines disabled. Then you should be able to run mysql_upgrade successfully. After that, restart the server with disabled_storage_engines set to its original value.

Unless invoked with the --upgrade-system-tables option, mysql_upgrade processes all tables in all user schemas as necessary. Table checking might take a long time to complete. Each table is locked and therefore unavailable to other sessions while it is being processed. Check and repair operations can be time-consuming, particularly for large tables. Table checking uses the FOR UPGRADE option of the CHECK TABLE statement. For details about what this option entails, see Section 13.7.2.2, “CHECK TABLE Statement”.

mysql_upgrade marks all checked and repaired tables with the current MySQL version number. This ensures that the next time you run mysql_upgrade with the same version of the server, it can be determined whether there is any need to check or repair a given table again.

mysql_upgrade saves the MySQL version number in a file named mysql_upgrade_info in the data directory. This is used to quickly check whether all tables have been checked for this release so that table-checking can be skipped. To ignore this file and perform the check regardless, use the --force option.

mysql_upgrade checks mysql.user system table rows and, for any row with an empty plugin column, sets that column to 'mysql_native_password' or 'mysql_old_password' depending on the hash format of the Password column value.

Support for pre-4.1 password hashing and mysql_old_password has been removed, so mysql_upgrade sets empty plugin values to 'mysql_native_password' if the credentials use a hash format compatible with that plugin. Rows with a pre-4.1 password hash must be upgraded manually. For account upgrade instructions, see Section 6.4.1.3, “Migrating Away from Pre-4.1 Password Hashing and the mysql_old_password Plugin”.

mysql_upgrade does not upgrade the contents of the time zone tables or help tables. For upgrade instructions, see Section 5.1.13, “MySQL Server Time Zone Support”, and Section 5.1.14, “Server-Side Help Support”.

Unless invoked with the --skip-sys-schema option, mysql_upgrade installs the sys schema if it is not installed, and upgrades it to the current version otherwise. An error occurs if a sys schema exists but has no version view, on the assumption that its absence indicates a user-created schema:

A sys schema exists with no sys.version view. If
you have a user created sys schema, this must be renamed for the
upgrade to succeed.

To upgrade in this case, remove or rename the existing sys schema first.

mysql_upgrade checks for partitioned InnoDB tables that were created using the generic partitioning handler and attempts to upgrade them to InnoDB native partitioning. (Bug #76734, Bug #20727344) You can upgrade such tables individually in the mysql client using the ALTER TABLE ... UPGRADE PARTITIONING SQL statement.

mysql_upgrade supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysql_upgrade] and [client] groups of an option file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”.

Table 4.12 mysql_upgrade Options

Option Name	Description	Introduced
--bind-address	Use specified network interface to connect to MySQL Server
--character-sets-dir	Directory where character sets are installed
--compress	Compress all information sent between client and server
--debug	Write debugging log
--debug-check	Print debugging information when program exits
--debug-info	Print debugging information, memory, and CPU statistics when program exits
--default-auth	Authentication plugin to use
--default-character-set	Specify default character set
--defaults-extra-file	Read named option file in addition to usual option files
--defaults-file	Read only named option file
--defaults-group-suffix	Option group suffix value
--force	Force execution even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for current MySQL version
--help	Display help message and exit
--host	Host on which MySQL server is located
--login-path	Read login path options from .mylogin.cnf
--max-allowed-packet	Maximum packet length to send to or receive from server
--net-buffer-length	Buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication
--no-defaults	Read no option files
--password	Password to use when connecting to server
--pipe	Connect to server using named pipe (Windows only)
--plugin-dir	Directory where plugins are installed
--port	TCP/IP port number for connection
--print-defaults	Print default options
--protocol	Transport protocol to use
--shared-memory-base-name	Shared-memory name for shared-memory connections (Windows only)
--skip-sys-schema	Do not install or upgrade sys schema
--socket	Unix socket file or Windows named pipe to use
--ssl	Enable connection encryption
--ssl-ca	File that contains list of trusted SSL Certificate Authorities
--ssl-capath	Directory that contains trusted SSL Certificate Authority certificate files
--ssl-cert	File that contains X.509 certificate
--ssl-cipher	Permissible ciphers for connection encryption
--ssl-crl	File that contains certificate revocation lists
--ssl-crlpath	Directory that contains certificate revocation-list files
--ssl-key	File that contains X.509 key
--ssl-mode	Desired security state of connection to server	5.7.11
--ssl-verify-server-cert	Verify host name against server certificate Common Name identity
--tls-version	Permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections	5.7.10
--upgrade-system-tables	Update only system tables, not user schemas
--user	MySQL user name to use when connecting to server
--verbose	Verbose mode
--version-check	Check for proper server version
--write-binlog	Write all statements to binary log

• --help

  Command-Line Format	--help

  Display a short help message and exit.

• --bind-address=ip_address

  Command-Line Format	--bind-address=ip_address

  On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.

• --character-sets-dir=dir_name

  Command-Line Format	--character-sets-dir=dir_name
  Type	Directory name

  The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

• --compress, -C

  Command-Line Format	--compress[={OFF|ON}]
  Type	Boolean
  Default Value	OFF

  Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 4.2.6, “Connection Compression Control”.

• --debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

  Command-Line Format	--debug[=#]
  Type	String
  Default Value	d:t:O,/tmp/mysql_upgrade.trace

  Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:O,/tmp/mysql_upgrade.trace.

• --debug-check

  Command-Line Format	--debug-check
  Type	Boolean

  Print some debugging information when the program exits.

• --debug-info, -T

  Command-Line Format	--debug-info
  Type	Boolean
  Default Value	FALSE

  Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

• --default-auth=plugin

  Command-Line Format	--default-auth=plugin
  Type	String

  A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

• --default-character-set=charset_name

  Command-Line Format	--default-character-set=name
  Type	String

  Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

• --defaults-extra-file=file_name

  Command-Line Format	--defaults-extra-file=file_name
  Type	File name

  Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --defaults-file=file_name

  Command-Line Format	--defaults-file=file_name
  Type	File name

  Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --defaults-group-suffix=str

  Command-Line Format	--defaults-group-suffix=str
  Type	String

  Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysql_upgrade normally reads the [client] and [mysql_upgrade] groups. If this option is given as --defaults-group-suffix=_other, mysql_upgrade also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_upgrade_other] groups.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --force

  Command-Line Format	--force
  Type	Boolean

  Ignore the mysql_upgrade_info file and force execution even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for the current version of MySQL.

• --host=host_name, -h host_name

  Command-Line Format	--host=name
  Type	String

  Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

• --login-path=name

  Command-Line Format	--login-path=name
  Type	String

  Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --max-allowed-packet=value

  Command-Line Format	--max-allowed-packet=value
  Type	Integer
  Default Value	25165824
  Minimum Value	4096
  Maximum Value	2147483648

  The maximum size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default value is 24MB. The minimum and maximum values are 4KB and 2GB.

• --net-buffer-length=value

  Command-Line Format	--net-buffer-length=value
  Type	Integer
  Default Value	1047552
  Minimum Value	4096
  Maximum Value	16777216

  The initial size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default value is 1MB − 1KB. The minimum and maximum values are 4KB and 16MB.

• --no-defaults

  Command-Line Format	--no-defaults

  Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

  The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file is read in all cases, if it exists. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. To create .mylogin.cnf, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --password[=password], -p[password]

  Command-Line Format	--password[=name]
  Type	String

  The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysql_upgrade prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

  Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

  To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysql_upgrade should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

• --pipe, -W

  Command-Line Format	--pipe
  Type	String

  On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

• --plugin-dir=dir_name

  Command-Line Format	--plugin-dir=dir_name
  Type	Directory name

  The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysql_upgrade does not find it. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

• --port=port_num, -P port_num

  Command-Line Format	--port=#
  Type	Numeric

  For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

• --print-defaults

  Command-Line Format	--print-defaults

  Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

• --protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

  Command-Line Format	--protocol=name
  Type	String

  The transport protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.5, “Connection Transport Protocols”.

• --shared-memory-base-name=name

  Command-Line Format	--shared-memory-base-name=name
  Platform Specific	Windows

  On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

  This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

• --skip-sys-schema

  Command-Line Format	--skip-sys-schema
  Type	Boolean
  Default Value	FALSE

  By default, mysql_upgrade installs the sys schema if it is not installed, and upgrades it to the current version otherwise. The --skip-sys-schema option suppresses this behavior.

• --socket=path, -S path

  Command-Line Format	--socket={file_name|pipe_name}
  Type	String

  For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

  On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

• --ssl*

  Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using encryption and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

• --tls-version=protocol_list

  Command-Line Format	--tls-version=protocol_list
  Introduced	5.7.10
  Type	String
  Default Value (≥ 5.7.28)	TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2
  Default Value (≤ 5.7.27)	TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 (OpenSSL) TLSv1,TLSv1.1 (yaSSL)

  The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

  This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

• --upgrade-system-tables, -s

  Command-Line Format	--upgrade-system-tables
  Type	Boolean

  Upgrade only the system tables in the mysql schema, do not upgrade user schemas.

• --user=user_name, -u user_name

  Command-Line Format	--user=name
  Type	String

  The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server. The default user name is root.

• --verbose

  Command-Line Format	--verbose
  Type	Boolean

  Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

• --version-check, -k

  Command-Line Format	--version-check
  Type	Boolean

  Check the version of the server to which mysql_upgrade is connecting to verify that it is the same as the version for which mysql_upgrade was built. If not, mysql_upgrade exits. This option is enabled by default; to disable the check, use --skip-version-check.

• --write-binlog

  Command-Line Format	--write-binlog
  Type	Boolean
  Default Value	OFF

  By default, binary logging by mysql_upgrade is disabled. Invoke the program with --write-binlog if you want its actions to be written to the binary log.

  When the server is running with global transaction identifiers (GTIDs) enabled (gtid_mode=ON), do not enable binary logging by mysql_upgrade.