MySQL Bugs: #3523: What's the best way to align master and slave before starting replication?

Bug #3523	What's the best way to align master and slave before starting replication?
Submitted:	21 Apr 2004 7:07	Modified:	21 Apr 2004 10:35
Reporter:	[ name withheld ]	Email Updates:
Status:	Not a Bug	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	4.1	OS:	HP/UX (HP UX)
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
I want to set up a  replication schema on MySQL (ISAM and InnoDB tables).
I then have to align the databases before starting the replication.

I would like to NOT stop the database to do the alignment because
the application needs a lot of time to startup (1 hour)  and I may have
to start and stop the replication several times during the application life
(don't care about binary logs, they are always enabled!)

My database is composed by several databases ...

What is the best way to perform the alignment including the costs Vs. benefits?

* tar cvf of the datafiles? Is it absolutely needed to shutdown the database?

* mysqlhotcopy? can I keep ON the application?

* mysqldump? How can I to lock all the database structures? what's about the application
transactions? are they frozen on the COMMIT until the tables are unlocked?

How to repeat:
I simply need some suggestions.

Hi!
This bug system is only for reporting bugs.
For your questions, please refer to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Replication_HOWTO.html
For further help, you can buy a support contract from us or try the MySQL mailing lists (see the manual for guidance).

One additional note:
If you are a customer of MySQL with a valid support contract, please use our Support interface instead of this bugs system; you will get timely responses to all your questions; the adress is
http://support.mysql.com
Thank you!