[mysql] Run MySQLDump without Locking Tables

I want to copy a live production database into my local development database. Is there a way to do this without locking the production database?

I'm currently using:

mysqldump -u root --password=xxx -h xxx my_db1 | mysql -u root --password=xxx -h localhost my_db1

But it's locking each table as it runs.

This is about as late compared to the guy who said he was late as he was to the original answer, but in my case (MySQL via WAMP on Windows 7), I had to use:

--skip-lock-tables

    mysqldump -uuid -ppwd --skip-opt --single-transaction --max_allowed_packet=1G -q db |   mysql -u root --password=xxx -h localhost db

Due to https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/mysqldump.html#option_mysqldump_lock-tables :

Some options, such as --opt (which is enabled by default), automatically enable --lock-tables. If you want to override this, use --skip-lock-tables at the end of the option list.

If you use the Percona XtraDB Cluster - I found that adding --skip-add-locks
to the mysqldump command Allows the Percona XtraDB Cluster to run the dump file without an issue about LOCK TABLES commands in the dump file.

This is ages too late, but good for anyone that is searching the topic. If you're not innoDB, and you're not worried about locking while you dump simply use the option:

--lock-tables=false

Honestly, I would setup replication for this, as if you don't lock tables you will get inconsistent data out of the dump.

If the dump takes longer time, tables which were already dumped might have changed along with some table which is only about to be dumped.

So either lock the tables or use replication.

When using MySQL Workbench, at Data Export, click in Advanced Options and uncheck the "lock-tables" options.

The answer varies depending on what storage engine you're using. The ideal scenario is if you're using InnoDB. In that case you can use the --single-transaction flag, which will give you a coherent snapshot of the database at the time that the dump begins.

To dump large tables, you should combine the --single-transaction option with --quick.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqldump.html#option_mysqldump_single-transaction

--skip-add-locks helped for me

As none of these approaches worked for me, I simply did a:

mysqldump [...] | grep -v "LOCK TABLE" | mysql [...]

It will exclude both LOCK TABLE <x> and UNLOCK TABLES commands.

Note: Hopefully your data doesn't contain that string in it!

Another late answer:

If you are trying to make a hot copy of server database (in a linux environment) and the database engine of all tables is MyISAM you should use mysqlhotcopy.

Acordingly to documentation:

It uses FLUSH TABLES, LOCK TABLES, and cp or scp to make a database backup. It is a fast way to make a backup of the database or single tables, but it can be run only on the same machine where the database directories are located. mysqlhotcopy works only for backing up MyISAM and ARCHIVE tables.

The LOCK TABLES time depends of the time the server can copy MySQL files (it doesn't make a dump).

For InnoDB tables use flag --single-transaction

it dumps the consistent state of the database at the time when BEGIN was issued without blocking any applications

MySQL DOCS

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqldump.html#option_mysqldump_single-transaction