


Can MySQL Perform ALTER TABLE Operations Without Locking the Entire Table?
Dec 21, 2024 pm 02:37 PMALTER TABLE without Table Lock: A Comprehensive Discussion
In MySQL, executing an ALTER TABLE statement incurs a read-lock on the entire table. While this allows for concurrent reads, write operations are blocked. For large tables, this can lead to significant delays in INSERT or UPDATE statements. To avoid this downtime, the question arises: is there a method to perform a "hot alter" that maintains table updatability during the process?
MySQL's Limitations
Unfortunately, MySQL does not offer a native solution for hot alters like adding a table column without locking the table. The traditional approach is to resort to a manual workaround.
Manual Solution
The alternative to a hot alter is a manual process:
- Create a New Table: Create a new table with the desired added column.
- Copy Data Chunk by Chunk: Gradually transfer data from the old table to the new one, while monitoring for any concurrent INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations on the source table.
- Rename Tables: Change the names of the source and new tables to facilitate their usage in the production environment.
- Recompile Procedures: Update any stored procedures or other database objects that reference the affected table.
Underlying Reasons for the Limitation
It is important to understand why MySQL does not support hot alters directly:
- Resemblance to Mass Update: Adding a column effectively updates all rows in the table with a new value.
- Physical Structure Modification: The alteration physically changes the storage structure of the table, requiring the movement of every record.
These factors make it difficult to implement field-level locking or perform hot alters without incurring some form of table lock.
Conclusion
While MySQL does not provide a built-in solution for hot alters, the manual workaround described above offers a viable alternative. It allows database administrators to avoid downtime during schema changes, ensuring uninterrupted access to the table throughout the process.
The above is the detailed content of Can MySQL Perform ALTER TABLE Operations Without Locking the Entire Table?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics

MySQL transactions follow ACID characteristics to ensure the reliability and consistency of database transactions. First, atomicity ensures that transactions are executed as an indivisible whole, either all succeed or all fail to roll back. For example, withdrawals and deposits must be completed or not occur at the same time in the transfer operation; second, consistency ensures that transactions transition the database from one valid state to another, and maintains the correct data logic through mechanisms such as constraints and triggers; third, isolation controls the visibility of multiple transactions when concurrent execution, prevents dirty reading, non-repeatable reading and fantasy reading. MySQL supports ReadUncommitted and ReadCommi.

To add MySQL's bin directory to the system PATH, it needs to be configured according to the different operating systems. 1. Windows system: Find the bin folder in the MySQL installation directory (the default path is usually C:\ProgramFiles\MySQL\MySQLServerX.X\bin), right-click "This Computer" → "Properties" → "Advanced System Settings" → "Environment Variables", select Path in "System Variables" and edit it, add the MySQLbin path, save it and restart the command prompt and enter mysql--version verification; 2.macOS and Linux systems: Bash users edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_

MySQL's default transaction isolation level is RepeatableRead, which prevents dirty reads and non-repeatable reads through MVCC and gap locks, and avoids phantom reading in most cases; other major levels include read uncommitted (ReadUncommitted), allowing dirty reads but the fastest performance, 1. Read Committed (ReadCommitted) ensures that the submitted data is read but may encounter non-repeatable reads and phantom readings, 2. RepeatableRead default level ensures that multiple reads within the transaction are consistent, 3. Serialization (Serializable) the highest level, prevents other transactions from modifying data through locks, ensuring data integrity but sacrificing performance;

TosecurelyconnecttoaremoteMySQLserver,useSSHtunneling,configureMySQLforremoteaccess,setfirewallrules,andconsiderSSLencryption.First,establishanSSHtunnelwithssh-L3307:localhost:3306user@remote-server-Nandconnectviamysql-h127.0.0.1-P3307.Second,editMyS

MySQLWorkbench stores connection information in the system configuration file. The specific path varies according to the operating system: 1. It is located in %APPDATA%\MySQL\Workbench\connections.xml in Windows system; 2. It is located in ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/MySQL/Workbench/connections.xml in macOS system; 3. It is usually located in ~/.mysql/workbench/connections.xml in Linux system or ~/.local/share/data/MySQL/Wor

Aconnectionpoolisacacheofdatabaseconnectionsthatarekeptopenandreusedtoimproveefficiency.Insteadofopeningandclosingconnectionsforeachrequest,theapplicationborrowsaconnectionfromthepool,usesit,andthenreturnsit,reducingoverheadandimprovingperformance.Co

Turn on MySQL slow query logs and analyze locationable performance issues. 1. Edit the configuration file or dynamically set slow_query_log and long_query_time; 2. The log contains key fields such as Query_time, Lock_time, Rows_examined to assist in judging efficiency bottlenecks; 3. Use mysqldumpslow or pt-query-digest tools to efficiently analyze logs; 4. Optimization suggestions include adding indexes, avoiding SELECT*, splitting complex queries, etc. For example, adding an index to user_id can significantly reduce the number of scanned rows and improve query efficiency.

mysqldump is a common tool for performing logical backups of MySQL databases. It generates SQL files containing CREATE and INSERT statements to rebuild the database. 1. It does not back up the original file, but converts the database structure and content into portable SQL commands; 2. It is suitable for small databases or selective recovery, and is not suitable for fast recovery of TB-level data; 3. Common options include --single-transaction, --databases, --all-databases, --routines, etc.; 4. Use mysql command to import during recovery, and can turn off foreign key checks to improve speed; 5. It is recommended to test backup regularly, use compression, and automatic adjustment.
