Configure Cloud SQL and the external server for replication

This page describes how to configure your external server for replication to Cloud SQL, create a source representation instance on Cloud SQL, and replicate the data to Cloud SQL. You need to go through all the steps on this page before proceeding to the replication steps.

An alternative to the steps described on this page is the Database Migration Service, which offers continuous replication or one-time database migration from an external server to Cloud SQL.

Before you begin

Terminology

  • External server. The MySQL server external to Cloud SQL that you want to replicate data from. It's also referred to as the source database or the external database server. It can be another Cloud SQL instance or any other database server, such as on-premises, Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), and so on.

  • Source representation instance. A mock of a Cloud SQL instance that represents the external server to the Cloud SQL replica. It's visible in the Google Cloud console and appears like a regular Cloud SQL instance, but it doesn't contain data, require configuration or maintenance, or affect billing.

  • Cloud SQL replica. The Cloud SQL instance that replicates from the external server. Also known as the external primary read replica.

  • Replication user account. The MySQL user account on the external server with sufficient permissions to allow replication between the external server and the Cloud SQL replica.

  • Managed import. The process of importing data directly from the external server to the Cloud SQL replica. In this situation, Cloud SQL connects to the external server using the replication user account and runs the data dump directly on the external server to import data to the Cloud SQL replica.

Set up a Google Cloud project

  1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

  2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Roles required to select or create a project

    • Select a project: Selecting a project doesn't require a specific IAM role—you can select any project that you've been granted a role on.
    • Create a project: To create a project, you need the Project Creator (roles/resourcemanager.projectCreator), which contains the resourcemanager.projects.create permission. Learn how to grant roles.

    Go to project selector

  3. Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  4. Enable the Cloud SQL Admin API.

    Roles required to enable APIs

    To enable APIs, you need the Service Usage Admin IAM role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin), which contains the serviceusage.services.enable permission. Learn how to grant roles.

    Enable the API

  5. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Roles required to select or create a project

    • Select a project: Selecting a project doesn't require a specific IAM role—you can select any project that you've been granted a role on.
    • Create a project: To create a project, you need the Project Creator (roles/resourcemanager.projectCreator), which contains the resourcemanager.projects.create permission. Learn how to grant roles.

    Go to project selector

  6. Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  7. Enable the Cloud SQL Admin API.

    Roles required to enable APIs

    To enable APIs, you need the Service Usage Admin IAM role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin), which contains the serviceusage.services.enable permission. Learn how to grant roles.

    Enable the API

    8.

  8. Make sure you have the Cloud SQL Admin, Storage Admin, and Compute Viewer roles on your user account.

    Go to the IAM page

Install the Google Cloud SDK

To configure replication, install Google Cloud SDK for your external server. You might want to install the SDK on your external server unless it's already installed elsewhere.

Set up the external server for replication

External server checklist

  • Ensure that MySQL 5.7, 8.0, or 8.4 is installed on your external server. MySQL Community Edition, Cloud SQL for MySQL, Amazon Aurora, MySQL on Amazon RDS, and Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server are supported.

    • You must use a major version of MySQL on your Cloud SQL replica that is the same as or greater than the version of MySQL running on your external server.
    • If MySQL 5.5 is installed on the external server, then GTID isn't supported.

  • Ensure that binary logs are enabled and that:

  • Take note of whether your external server has GTID enabled. This affects the steps you need to take to set up replication.

  • Take note of whether your external server has global read-lock permissions. This affects the steps you need to take to set up replication.

  • If the Cloud SQL replica is enabled with a private IP address because the outgoing private IP address isn't static, configure the external server's firewall to allow the internal IP range allocated for the