Configure an Amazon RDS MySQL database

The following sections cover how to configure CDC for an Amazon RDS for MySQL database.

Create a parameter group

1. Launch your Amazon RDS Dashboard.
2. In the Navigation Drawer, click Parameter Groups, and then click Create Parameter Group. The Create Parameter Group page appears.
3. Select the database family that matches your database, provide a name and description for the parameter group, and then click Create.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of your newly created parameter group, and then, under Parameter group actions, click Edit.
5. Use the following table to set the parameters for your group.

   Parameter	Value
   binlog_format	ROW
   log_bin_use_v1_row_events	1
   read_only	0
   net_read_timeout	3600
   net_write_timeout	3600
   wait_timeout	86400

6. Click Save Changes.

Create a read replica

Although this is officially an optional step, we highly recommend using a read replica because it will lessen the load of replication on your MySQL database significantly.

If you choose to replicate directly from the main server, then follow the instructions in Configure the read replica (or source database).

1. Launch your Amazon RDS Dashboard.
2. In the Navigation Drawer, click Databases.
3. Select the main database instance to which you want Datastream to connect.
4. Expand the Actions button, and then click Create read replica.
5. Configure the read replica, as necessary.
6. Click Create read replica.

Configure the read replica (or source database)

1. Launch your Amazon RDS Dashboard.
2. In the Navigation Drawer, click Databases.
3. Select the read replica that you created, and then click Modify.
4. Go to the Additional configuration section.
5. Select the parameter group that you created.
6. Set the Backup retention period to 7 days.
7. Click Continue.
8. Under Scheduling of modifications, select Apply immediately.

Because you modified your read replica, you must wait until the changes to your parameter group are applied before proceeding.

Verify that the parameter group is assigned to the database instance

1. Launch your Amazon RDS Dashboard.

2. In the Navigation Drawer, click Databases, and then select your database instance.

3. Click the Configurations tab.

4. Verify that you see the parameter group that you created, and that its status is pending-reboot.

5. Reboot your database instance to complete the configuration. To reboot the instance:

   1. In the Navigation Drawer, click Instances.
   2. Select your database instance.
   3. From the Instance Actions menu, select Reboot.
   After you reboot your database instance, its status changes to in-sync.

Set the binary log retention period

1. Enter the following MySQL command:

   call mysql.rds_set_configuration('binlog retention hours', 168);

   You're entering this command because you want to ensure proper replication by configuring your system to retain binary logs for a minimum of 7 days (or 168 hours).

2. Restart your MySQL server so that the changes you made can take effect.

Create a Datastream user

1. To create a Datastream user, enter the following MySQL commands:

   CREATE USER 'datastream'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_PASSWORD';
   GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE, SELECT, REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* TO 'datastream'@'%';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;