How to shrink/purge ibdata1 file in MySQL

manpreet Best Answer 3 years ago

I am using MySQL in localhost as a "query tool" for performing statistics in R, that is, everytime I run a R script, I create a new database (A), create a new table (B), import the data into B, submit a query to get what I need, and then I drop B and drop A.

It's working fine for me, but I realize that the ibdata file size is increasing rapidly, I stored nothing in MySQL, but the ibdata1 file already exceeded 100 MB.

I am using more or less default MySQL setting for the setup, is there a way for I can automatically shrink/purge the ibdata1 file after a fixed period of time?

manpreet 3 years ago

Quickly scripted the accepted answer's procedure in bash:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
DATABASES="$(mysql -e 'show databases \G' | grep "^Database" | grep -v '^Database: mysql$\|^Database: binlog$\|^Database: performance_schema\|^Database: information_schema' | sed 's/^Database: //g')"
mysqldump --databases $DATABASES -r alldatabases.sql && echo "$DATABASES" | while read -r DB; do
    mysql -e "drop database \`$DB\`"
done && \
    /etc/init.d/mysql stop && \
    find /var/lib/mysql -maxdepth 1 -type f \( -name 'ibdata1' -or -name 'ib_logfile*' \) -delete && \
    /etc/init.d/mysql start && \
    mysql < alldatabases.sql && \
    rm -f alldatabases.sql

Save as purge_binlogs.sh and run as root.

Excludes mysql, information_schema, performance_schema (and binlog directory).

Assumes you have administrator credendials in /root/.my.cnf and that your database lives in default /var/lib/mysql directory.

You can also purge binary logs after running this script to regain more disk space with:

PURGE BINARY LOGS BEFORE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;