MYSQLSLAP

Invoke mysqlslap like this:

mysqlslap [options]

Some options such as --create or --query enable you to specify a string containing an SQL statement or a file containing statements. If you specify a file, by default it must contain one statement per line. (That is, the implicit statement delimiter is the newline character.) Use the --delimiter option to specify a different delimiter, which enables you to specify statements that span multiple lines or place multiple statements on a single line. You cannot include comments in a file; mysqlslap does not understand them.

mysqlslap runs in three stages:

1. Create schema, table, and optionally any stored programs or data to use for the test. This stage uses a single client connection.

2. Run the load test. This stage can use many client connections.

3. Clean up (disconnect, drop table if specified). This stage uses a single client connection.

Examples:

Supply your own create and query SQL statements, with 50 clients querying and 200 selects for each (enter the command on a single line):

mysqlslap --delimiter=";"
  --create="CREATE TABLE a (b int);INSERT INTO a VALUES (23)"
  --query="SELECT * FROM a" --concurrency=50 --iterations=200

Let mysqlslap build the query SQL statement with a table of two INT columns and three VARCHAR columns. Use five clients querying 20 times each. Do not create the table or insert the data (that is, use the previous test's schema and data):

mysqlslap --concurrency=5 --iterations=20
  --number-int-cols=2 --number-char-cols=3
  --auto-generate-sql

Tell the program to load the create, insert, and query SQL statements from the specified files, where the create.sql file has multiple table creation statements delimited by ';' and multiple insert statements delimited by ';'. The --query file should contain multiple queries delimited by ';'. Run all the load statements, then run all the queries in the query file with five clients (five times each):

mysqlslap --concurrency=5
  --iterations=5 --query=query.sql --create=create.sql
  --delimiter=";"

mysqlslap supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysqlslap] and [client] groups of an option file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see Section 6.2.2.2, lqUsing Option Filesrq.

* --help, -?

Comman-Line Format

-help

Display a help message and exit.

* --auto-generate-sql, -a

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sql
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Generate SQL statements automatically when they are not supplied in files or using command options.

* --auto-generate-sql-add-autoincrement

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-ad-autoincrement
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Add an AUTO_INCREMENT column to automatically generated tables.

* --auto-generate-sql-execute-number=N

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-execut-number=#
Type	Numeric

Specify how many queries to generate automatically.

* --auto-generate-sql-guid-primary

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-gui-primary
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Add a GUID-based primary key to automatically generated tables.

* --auto-generate-sql-load-type=type

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-loa-type=type
Type	Enumeration
Default Value	mixed
Valid Values	read write key update mixed

Specify the test load type. The permissible values are read (scan tables), write (insert into tables), key (read primary keys), update (update primary keys), or mixed (half inserts, half scanning selects). The default is mixed.

* --auto-generate-sql-secondary-indexes=N

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-secondar-indexes=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	0

Specify how many secondary indexes to add to automatically generated tables. By default, none are added.

* --auto-generate-sql-unique-query-number=N

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-uniqu-quer-number=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	10

How many different queries to generate for automatic tests. For example, if you run a key test that performs 1000 selects, you can use this option with a value of 1000 to run 1000 unique queries, or with a value of 50 to perform 50 different selects. The default is 10.

* --auto-generate-sql-unique-write-number=N

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-uniqu-writ-number=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	10

How many different queries to generate for --auto-generate-sql-write-number. The default is 10.

* --auto-generate-sql-write-number=N

Comman-Line Format	-aut-generat-sq-writ-number=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	100

How many row inserts to perform. The default is 100.

* --commit=N

Comman-Line Format	-commit=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	0

How many statements to execute before committing. The default is 0 (no commits are done).

* --compress, -C

Comman-Line Format	-compress[={OFF|ON}]
Deprecated	8.0.18
Type	Boolean
Default Value	OFF

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 6.2.8, lqConnection Compression Controlrq.

As of MySQL 8.0.18, this option is deprecated. Expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL. See the section called lqConfiguring Legacy Connection Compressionrq.

* --compression-algorithms=value

Comman-Line Format	-compressio-algorithms=value
Introduced	8.0.18
Type	Set
Default Value	uncompressed
Valid Values	zlib zstd uncompressed

The permitted compression algorithms for connections to the server. The available algorithms are the same as for the protocol_compression_algorithms system variable. The default value is uncompressed.

For more information, see Section 6.2.8, lqConnection Compression Controlrq.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.18.

* --concurrency=N, -c N

Comman-Line Format	-concurrency=#
Type	Numeric

The number of parallel clients to simulate.

* --create=value

Comman-Line Format	-create=value
Type	String

The file or string containing the statement to use for creating the table.

* --create-schema=value

Comman-Line Format	-creat-schema=value
Type	String

The schema in which to run the tests.

Note
If the --auto-generate-sql option is also given, mysqlslap drops the schema at the end of the test run. To avoid this, use the --no-drop option as well.

* --csv[=file_name]

Comman-Line Format	-csv=[file]
Type	File name

Generate output in comma-separated values format. The output goes to the named file, or to the standard output if no file is given.

* --debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

Comman-Line Format	-debug[=debug_options]
Type	String
Default Value	d:t:o,/tmp/mysqlslap.trace

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:o,/tmp/mysqlslap.trace.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

* --debug-check

Comman-Line Format	-debu-check
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

* --debug-info, -T

Comman-Line Format	-debu-info
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG. MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this option.

* --default-auth=plugin

Comman-Line Format	-defaul-auth=plugin
Type	String

A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 8.2.17, lqPluggable Authenticationrq.

* --defaults-extra-file=file_name

Comman-Line Format	-default-extr-file=file_name
Type	File name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --defaults-file=file_name

Comman-Line Format	-default-file=file_name
Type	File name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

Exception: Even with --defaults-file, client programs read .mylogin.cnf.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --defaults-group-suffix=str

Comman-Line Format	-default-grou-suffix=str
Type	String

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysqlslap normally reads the [client] and [mysqlslap] groups. If this option is given as --defaults-group-suffix=_other, mysqlslap also reads the [client_other] and [mysqlslap_other] groups.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --delimiter=str, -F str

Comman-Line Format	-delimiter=str
Type	String

The delimiter to use in SQL statements supplied in files or using command options.

* --detach=N

Comman-Line Format	-detach=#
Type	Numeric
Default Value	0

Detach (close and reopen) each connection after each N statements. The default is 0 (connections are not detached).

* --enable-cleartext-plugin

Comman-Line Format	-enabl-cleartex-plugin
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Enable the mysql_clear_password cleartext authentication plugin. (See Section 8.4.1.4, lqClien-Side Cleartext Pluggable Authenticationrq.)

* --engine=engine_name, -e engine_name

Comman-Line Format	-engine=engine_name
Type	String

The storage engine to use for creating tables.

* --get-server-public-key

Comman-Line Format	-ge-serve-publi-key
Type	Boolean

Request from the server the RSA public key that it uses for key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that connect to the server using an account that authenticates with the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. For connections by such accounts, the server does not send the public key to the client unless requested. The option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with that plugin. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not needed, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For information about the caching_sha2_password plugin, see Section 8.4.1.2, lqCaching SH-2 Pluggable Authenticationrq.

* --host=host_name, -h host_name

Comman-Line Format	-host=host_name
Type	String
Default Value	localhost

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

* --iterations=N, -i N

Comman-Line Format	-iterations=#
Type	Numeric

The number of times to run the tests.

* --login-path=name

Comman-Line Format	-logi-path=name
Type	String

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A lqlogin pathrq is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --no-drop

Comman-Line Format	-n-drop
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Prevent mysqlslap from dropping any schema it creates during the test run.

* --no-defaults

Comman-Line Format

-n-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file is read in all cases, if it exists. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. To create .mylogin.cnf, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See mysql_config_editor(1).

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --number-char-cols=N, -x N

Comman-Line Format	-numbe-cha-cols=#
Type	Numeric

The number of VARCHAR columns to use if --auto-generate-sql is specified.

* --number-int-cols=N, -y N

Comman-Line Format	-numbe-in-cols=#
Type	Numeric

The number of INT columns to use if --auto-generate-sql is specified.

* --number-of-queries=N

Comman-Line Format	-numbe-o-queries=#
Type	Numeric

Limit each client to approximately this many queries. Query counting takes into account the statement delimiter. For example, if you invoke mysqlslap as follows, the ; delimiter is recognized so that each instance of the query string counts as two queries. As a result, 5 rows (not 10) are inserted.

mysqlslap --delimiter=";" --number-of-queries=10
          --query="use test;insert into t values(null)"

* --only-print

Comman-Line Format	-onl-print
Type	Boolean
Default Value	FALSE

Do not connect to databases. mysqlslap only prints what it would have done.

* --password[=password], -p[password]

Comman-Line Format	-password[=password]
Type	String

The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysqlslap prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 8.1.2.1, lqEn-User Guidelines for Password Securityrq.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysqlslap should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

* --password1[=pass_val] The password for multifactor authentication factor 1 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysqlslap prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password1= and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 8.1.2.1, lqEn-User Guidelines for Password Securityrq.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysqlslap should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password1 option.

--password1 and --password are synonymous, as are --skip-password1 and --skip-password.

* --password2[=pass_val] The password for multifactor authentication factor 2 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The semantics of this option are similar to the semantics for --password1; see the description of that option for details.

* --password3[=pass_val] The password for multifactor authentication factor 3 of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The semantics of this option are similar to the semantics for --password1; see the description of that option for details.

* --pipe, -W

Comman-Line Format	-pipe
Type	String

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

* --plugin-dir=dir_name

Comman-Line Format	-plugi-dir=dir_name
Type	Directory name

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysqlslap does not find it. See Section 8.2.17, lqPluggable Authenticationrq.

* --port=port_num, -P port_num

Comman-Line Format	-port=port_num
Type	Numeric
Default Value	3306

For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

* --post-query=value

Comman-Line Format	-pos-query=value
Type	String

The file or string containing the statement to execute after the tests have completed. This execution is not counted for timing purposes.

* --post-system=str

Comman-Line Format	-pos-system=str
Type	String

The string to execute using system() after the tests have completed. This execution is not counted for timing purposes.

* --pre-query=value

Comman-Line Format	-pr-query=value
Type	String

The file or string containing the statement to execute before running the tests. This execution is not counted for timing purposes.

* --pre-system=str

Comman-Line Format	-pr-system=str
Type	String

The string to execute using system() before running the tests. This execution is not counted for timing purposes.

* --print-defaults

Comman-Line Format

-prin-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 6.2.2.3, lqComman-Line Options that Affect Optio-File Handlingrq.

* --protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

Comman-Line Format	-protocol=type
Type	String
Default Value	[see text]
Valid Values	TCP SOCKET PIPE MEMORY

The transport protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 6.2.7, lqConnection Transport Protocolsrq.

* --query=value, -q value

Comman-Line Format	-query=value
Type	String

The file or string containing the SELECT statement to use for retrieving data.

* --server-public-key-path=file_name

Comman-Line Format	-serve-publi-ke-path=file_name
Type	File name

The path name to a file in PEM format containing a client-side copy of the public key required by the server for RSA key pair-based password exchange. This option applies to clients that authenticate with the sha256_password or caching_sha2_password authentication plugin. This option is ignored for accounts that do not authenticate with one of those plugins. It is also ignored if RSA-based password exchange is not used, as is the case when the client connects to the server using a secure connection.

If --server-public-key-path=file_name is given and specifies a valid public key file, it takes precedence over --get-server-public-key.

For sha256_password, this option applies only if MySQL was built using OpenSSL.

For information about the sha256_password and caching_sha2_password plugins, see Section 8.4.1.3, lqSH-256 Pluggable Authenticationrq, and Section 8.4.1.2, lqCaching SH-2 Pluggable Authenticationrq.

* --shared-memory-base-name=name

Comman-Line Format	-share-memor-bas-name=name
Platform Specific	Windows

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

* --silent, -s

Comman-Line Format

-silent

Silent mode. No output.

* --socket=path, -S path

Comman-Line Format	-socket={file_name|pipe_name}
Type	String

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

* --sql-mode=mode

Comman-Line Format	-sq-mode=mode
Type	String

Set the SQL mode for the client session.

* --ssl* Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using encryption and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See the section called lqCommand Options for Encrypted Connectionsrq.

* --ssl-fips-mode={OFF|ON|STRICT}

Comman-Line Format	-ss-fip-mode={OFF|ON|STRICT}
Deprecated	8.0.34
Type	Enumeration
Default Value	OFF
Valid Values	OFF ON STRICT

Controls whether to enable FIPS mode on the client side. The --ssl-fips-mode option differs from other --ssl-xxx options in that it is not used to establish encrypted connections, but rather to affect which cryptographic operations to permit. See Section 8.8, lqFIPS Supportrq.

These --ssl-fips-mode values are permitted:

* OFF: Disable FIPS mode.

* ON: Enable FIPS mode.

* STRICT: Enable lqstrictrq FIPS mode.

Note
If the OpenSSL FIPS Object Module is not available, the only permitted value for --ssl-fips-mode is OFF. In this case, setting --ssl-fips-mode to ON or STRICT causes the client to produce a warning at startup and to operate in non-FIPS mode.

As of MySQL 8.0.34, this option is deprecated. Expect it to be removed in a future version of MySQL.

* --tls-ciphersuites=ciphersuite_list

Comman-Line Format	-tl-ciphersuites=ciphersuite_list
Introduced	8.0.16
Type	String

The permissible ciphersuites for encrypted connections that use TLSv1.3. The value is a list of one or more colon-separated ciphersuite names. The ciphersuites that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 8.3.2, lqEncrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphersrq.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.16.

* --tls-version=protocol_list

Comman-Line Format	-tl-version=protocol_list
Type	String
Default Value (≥ 8.0.16)	TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3 (OpenSSL 1.1.1 or higher) TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 (otherwise)
Default Value (≤ 8.0.15)	TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2

The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 8.3.2, lqEncrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphersrq.

* --user=user_name, -u user_name

Comman-Line Format	-user=user_name,
Type	String

The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server.

* --verbose, -v

Comman-Line Format

-verbose

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. This option can be used multiple times to increase the amount of information.

* --version, -V

Comman-Line Format

-version

Display version information and exit.

* --zstd-compression-level=level

Comman-Line Format	-zst-compressio-level=#
Introduced	8.0.18
Type	Integer

The compression level to use for connections to the server that use the zstd compression algorithm. The permitted levels are from 1 to 22, with larger values indicating increasing levels of compression. The default zstd compression level is 3. The compression level setting has no effect on connections that do not use zstd compression.

For more information, see Section 6.2.8, lqConnection Compression Controlrq.

This option was added in MySQL 8.0.18.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 1997, 2025, Oracle and/or its affiliates.

This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 0211-1301 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

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AUTHOR

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

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SEE ALSO

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