HELP, HELP! My Percona XtraDB Cluster version: 5.7.31-31. Single Node is stuck in a joined state.

I recently had the privilege to help a client with a fascinating issue.

NODE-B dropped out of the 3 node PXC cluster. It looked to be DISK IO that caused NODE-B to fall far behind and eventually be removed from the cluster. A restart of NODE-B allowed it to rejoin the cluster. NODE-B looked to have been down for about 4 hours. Once NODE-B was back as part of the cluster, it required a full SST.

When NODE-B stayed in a joint state for more than 12 hours, the client gave me a call. They were concerned that there was another issue with this cluster.

Before going forward, let’s make sure we know the CPU, RAM and Database Size.

• 8 CPU
• 32 GB RAM
• Database Size approx. 2.75TB

Let’s gather some base information.

I pulled the below data once I understood what was going on.

SHOW STATUS LIKE ‘wsrep_last%';
+----------------------+----------+
| Variable_name        | Value    |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_applied   |  9802457 |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_committed | 10103670 |
+----------------------+----------+
SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'wsrep_local_state_comment';

+---------------------------+--------+
| Variable_name             | Value  |
+---------------------------+--------+
| wsrep_local_state_comment | Joined |
+---------------------------+--------+

SHOW STATUS LIKE 'wsrep_cert_deps_distance';
+--------------------------+---------+
| Variable_name            | Value   |
+--------------------------+---------+
| wsrep_cert_deps_distance | 148.96  |
+--------------------------+---------+

Pulled the below stats about one hour later.

NODE-B
+----------------------+----------+
| Variable_name        | Value    |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_applied   | 11901100 |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_committed | 12801100 |
+----------------------+----------+

NODE-A
+----------------------+----------+
| Variable_name        | Value    |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_applied   | 32900981 |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_committed | 32901100 |
+----------------------+----------+

As we can see above, NODE-B is processing write sets, but very slowly. The gcache files were being consumed very quickly, but being only 128MB in size would be slow going to get in sync. At this time, NODE-A and NODE-B seqno’s were separated by 20,100,000.

Now we know NODE-B is working as it should. At this rate, it could be a day or more to catch up.

I did a quick review of the PXC settings and found:

1. The wsrep_slave_threads = 2
2. Many tables had no primary key. The mysql.log file was approx 500Mb in size. The gal-leria cache size was set at the default 128MB (Now I saw why NODE-B needed a fullSST)
3. The client had set the wsrep_doner_node to use NODE-C. NODE-C had a higher laten-cy to NODE-B than NODE-B had to NODE-A. I would prefer to have PXC choose the donor. Not have it set up to use NODE-C.

A scheduled 500 million row data extract started right about the time NODE-B re-joined the cluster. Now we have a large data load taking place plus a full SST to NODE-B.

Let’s now talk about how we helped to speed up NODE-B going from Joined to Synced.

We upped the slave threads from 2 to 8. This is equal to the number of CPU’s on the system. Exceeding 8 threads could cause performance impact.

set global wsrep_slave_threads=8;

Changed pxc_stright_mode from permissive too disabled. This was done to stop all PXC warnings being written to mysqld.log.

set global pxc_strick_mode = disabled;

Relaxed ACID compliance. I made these changes to help NODE-B get back into a sync status quicker. I don’t recommend relaxing ACID compliance. This change should only be made if the client fully understands the risk.

set global innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 2;
set global sync_binlog = 0;

We let these changes bake in for about 2 hours. The client did not want to stop the data extract just yet. They were very open to the idea and did not want to lose the work that had already been completed. This did not bother me because I know the NODE-B was working as it should be. We let these changes bake in for about two hours.

NODE-B

SHOW STATUS LIKE ‘wsrep_last%';
+----------------------+----------+
| Variable_name        | Value    |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_applied   | 32902200 |
+----------------------+----------+
| wsrep_last_committed | 40902100 |
+----------------------+----------+

SHOW STATUS LIKE 'wsrep_cert_deps_distance';
 +--------------------------+---------+
 | Variable_name            | Value   |
 +--------------------------+---------+
 | wsrep_cert_deps_distance | 86.81   |
 +--------------------------+---------+

 SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'wsrep_local_state_comment';
 +---------------------------+--------+
 | Variable_name             | Value  |
 +---------------------------+--------+
 | wsrep_local_state_comment | Joined |
 +---------------------------+--------+

Now let’s look at our primary read/write NODE-A:

 SHOW STATUS LIKE ‘wsrep_last%';
 +----------------------+----------+
 | Variable_name        | Value    |
 +----------------------+----------+
 | wsrep_last_applied   | 43900992 |
 +----------------------+----------+
 | wsrep_last_committed | 43902200 |
 +----------------------+----------+

As we can now see, NODE-B is catching up much faster than before. The committed seqno is only 3,000,100 apart now, where the seqno had been this far apart 20,100,000.

Clearly, we made some significant progress. The client still was concerned about only having 2 of the 3 nodes up. We had a couple of choices, one stops the data extract or be patient for a bit longer. Clients choose patience. After another 2.5 hours, NODE-B had caught up to its peers and switched to Synced.

NODE-B was stuck in a joined state due to a very undersized gcache; the default size had nev- er been changed.

• Review your Percona XtraDB Cluster setting; if you have an extensive data set, the default gcache size won’t be enough. Not sure how to best size the cache? Look here:• Miguel Angel Nieto wrote a great blog post to help size the galera cache.
• Give the cluster a regular health check. This is critical as your database grows.
• Make sure all your tables have Primary Keys. Without the use of primary keys on all tables;your performance will suffer.
• Make sure you are getting all the performance you can.• Useful link: Tips for MySQL 5.7 Database Tuning and Performance
• As you can see, adjusting the number of threads applying transactions can make a big dif-ference. Just don’t go overboard.
• If possible large data loads should be done in off-hours.