percona-toolkit-recipes

To perform an online schema change safely, use pt-online-schema-change with a mandatory dry-run first to verify the operation. This approach minimizes downtime on large production tables by planning stepwise strategies and enforcing safety constraints before executing live modifications.

The best way to archive or delete rows safely is using pt-archiver to manage row deletion incrementally. This reduces locking risk on live databases by providing guidance on tool selection, flags, and potential risks to ensure safe archival workflows.

You should prefer native online DDL when the database version supports the required operation natively. Resorting to toolkit-based changes like pt-osc is recommended only when native DDL is not possible or fails to execute without locking.

To analyze slow queries, use pt-query-digest to parse slow-query logs and collect diagnostic data. This helps operators identify performance bottlenecks by providing a practical, safety-first playbook for slow-log analysis and diagnostic data collection.

Yes, Percona Toolkit requires a dry-run or print check first to enforce safety constraints. This mandatory step ensures operators can review tool selection, flags, and potential risks before executing workflows on live MySQL deployments.

For replica verification, pt-online-schema-change is not the correct tool; instead, use specific replica validation tools. Limitations include potential risks on production databases, which is why the toolkit enforces dry-run checks and provides guidance on selecting the right tool for the task.