Setting Up Binary Log File Position Based Replication Warning 17.1.2.5 Choosing a Method for Data Snapshots 3442 •Use MySQL Server’s clone plugin to transfer all the data from an existing replica to a clone. For instructions to use this method, see Section 5.6.7.6, “Cloning for Replication” . •If your database is stored in binary portable files, you can copy the raw data files to a replica. This can be more efficient than using  mysqldump  and importing the file on each replica, because it skips the overhead of updating indexes as the  INSERT  statements are replayed. With storage engines such as InnoDB  this is not recommended. •Use the  mysqldump  tool to create a dump of all the databases you want to replicate. This is the recommended method, especially when using  InnoDB . •If you are setting up a new source and replica combination, you can exit the first session to release the read lock. See Setting Up Replication with New Source and Replicas for how to proceed. •If you have existing data that needs be to synchronized with the replica before you start replication, leave the client running so that the lock remains in place. This prevents any further changes being made, so that the data copied to the replica is in synchrony with the source. Proceed to Section 17.1.2.5, “Choosing a Method for Data Snapshots” . 2. In a different session on the source, use the  SHOW MASTER STATUS  statement to determine the current binary log file name and position: Leave the client from which you issued the  FLUSH TABLES  statement running so that the read lock remains in effect. If you exit the client, the lock is released. The  File  column shows the name of the log file and the  Position  column shows the position within the file. In this example, the binary log file is  mysql-bin.000003  and the position is 73. Record these values. You need them later when you are setting up the replica. They represent the replication coordinates at which the replica should begin processing new updates from the source. If the source has been running previously with binary logging disabled, the log file name and position values displayed by  SHOW MASTER STATUS  or  mysqldump --master-data  are empty. In that case, the values that you need to use later when specifying the source’s binary log file and position are the empty string ( ’’ ) and  4 . You now have the information you need to enable the replica to start reading from the source’s binary log in the correct place to start replication. The next step depends on whether you have existing data on the source. Choose one of the following options: If the source database contains existing data it is necessary to copy this data to each replica. There are different ways to dump the data from the source database. The following sections describe possible options. To select the appropriate method of dumping the database, choose between these options: mysql >  SHOW MASTER STATUS; +------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+ | File | Position | Binlog_Do_DB | Binlog_Ignore_DB | +------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+ | mysql-bin.000003 | 73 | test | manual,mysql | +------------------+----------+--------------+------------------+