MySQL MAR Management

NOTE: We wrote this article before we changed our pricing model on February 1, 2022. If you signed up for a new Fivetran account or renewed your existing account after January 31, 2022, you have an unlimited number of free customer-triggered re-syncs per connector each month. For more information about MAR usage, see our pricing documentation.

Use Case

You want to understand how the functioning of MySQL database connectors affects Monthly Active Rows (MAR).

Environment

MySQL database connectors

Connector Overview

The initial sync (first-ever historical sync) syncs the selected MySQL tables to your destination using SELECT statements. Subsequent incremental syncs use MySQL binary logs to replicate changes.

Contributing factors

The following primary actions contribute to MAR:

• A new row is added to an existing table
• A value is updated for an existing row in a table
• A value is deleted within a table
• A new column (with values) is added to a table
• A manual or automatic re-sync is triggered

Managing MAR

• If the binlog retention period expires before Fivetran can sync your data, we require a full re-sync, which increases MAR.
• Column blocking to reduce MAR is only applicable to tables that do not have primary keys in MySQL. This is because we create a synthetic primary key based on a commonly changing column and other unique keys. Blocking the commonly changing column reduces MAR.
• The following data definition language (DDL) statements require a full table re-sync:
  • Creating, deleting, or changing the position of a column
  • Changing the column definition for ENUM type columns
• We recommend that you not pause the connector for a long period of time. If your binlogs have expired when you reactivate your connectors, we need to perform a full re-sync.