The Clone Plugin If an SSL clause is not specified, the clone plugin attempts to establish an encrypted connection by default, falling back to an unencrypted connection if the encrypted connection attempt fails. If you are cloning encrypted data, an encrypted connection is required by default regardless of whether the  REQUIRE SSL  clause is specified. Using  REQUIRE NO SSL  causes an error if you attempt to clone encrypted data. Cloning of encrypted data is supported. The following requirements apply: For information about the data encryption feature, see Section 15.13, “InnoDB Data-at-Rest Encryption” . The  innodb_redo_log_encrypt  and  innodb_undo_log_encrypt  variable settings cannot be modified while a cloning operation is in progress. Cloning of page-compressed data is supported. The following requirements apply when cloning remote data: For information about the page compression feature, see Section 15.9.2, “InnoDB Page Compression” . The clone plugin supports replication. In addition to cloning data, a cloning operation extracts replication coordinates from the donor and transfers them to the recipient, which enables using the clone plugin for provisioning Group Replication members and replicas. Using the clone plugin for provisioning is considerably faster and more efficient than replicating a large number of transactions. Group Replication members can also be configured to use the clone plugin as an option for distributed recovery, in which case joining members automatically choose the most efficient way to retrieve group data from existing group members. For more information, see Section 18.5.3.2, “Cloning for Distributed Recovery” . 1119 •The recipient file system must support sparse files and hole punching for hole punching to occur on the recipient. •The donor and recipient file systems must have the same block size. If file system block sizes differ, an error similar to the following is reported:  ERROR 3868 (HY000): Clone Configuration FS Block Size: Donor value: 114688 is different from Recipient value: 4096 . •When cloning data to a remote data directory (the recipient directory) that uses a locally managed keyring, the recipient keyring must be used when starting the MySQL sever on the cloned directory. •When cloning data to a local data directory that uses a locally managed keyring, the same keyring must be used when starting the MySQL server on the clone directory. •A secure connection is required when cloning remote data to ensure safe transfer of unencrypted tablespace keys over the network. Tablespace keys are decrypted at the donor before transport and re- encrypted at the recipient using the recipient master key. An error is reported if an encrypted connection is not available or the  REQUIRE NO SSL  clause is used in the  CLONE INSTANCE  statement. For information about configuring an encrypted connection for cloning, see Configuring an Encrypted Connection for Cloning. Note 5.6.7.4 Cloning Encrypted Data Note 5.6.7.5 Cloning Compressed Data 5.6.7.6 Cloning for Replication