14.21.7 InnoDB memcached Plugin Internals

InnoDB API for the InnoDB memcached Plugin

The InnoDB memcached engine accesses InnoDB through InnoDB APIs, most of which are directly adopted from embedded InnoDB. InnoDB API functions are passed to the InnoDB memcached engine as callback functions. InnoDB API functions access the InnoDB tables directly, and are mostly DML operations with the exception of TRUNCATE TABLE.

memcached commands are implemented through the InnoDB memcached API. The following table outlines how memcached commands are mapped to DML or DDL operations.

Table 14.21 memcached Commands and Associated DML or DDL Operations

Table 14.21 memcached Commands and Associated DML or DDL Operations
memcached Command	DML or DDL Operations
`get`	a read/fetch command
`set`	a search followed by an `INSERT` or `UPDATE` (depending on whether or not a key exists)
`add`	a search followed by an `INSERT` or `UPDATE`
`replace`	a search followed by an `UPDATE`
`append`	a search followed by an `UPDATE` (appends data to the result before `UPDATE`)
`prepend`	a search followed by an `UPDATE` (prepends data to the result before `UPDATE`)
`incr`	a search followed by an `UPDATE`
`decr`	a search followed by an `UPDATE`
`delete`	a search followed by a `DELETE`
`flush_all`	`TRUNCATE TABLE` (DDL)

InnoDB memcached Plugin Configuration Tables

This section describes configuration tables used by the daemon_memcached plugin. The cache_policies table, config_options table, and containers table are created by the innodb_memcached_config.sql configuration script in the innodb_memcache database.

mysql> USE innodb_memcache;
Database changed
mysql> SHOW TABLES;
+---------------------------+
| Tables_in_innodb_memcache |
+---------------------------+
| cache_policies            |
| config_options            |
| containers                |
+---------------------------+

cache_policies Table

The cache_policies table defines a cache policy for the InnoDB memcached installation. You can specify individual policies for get, set, delete, and flush operations, within a single cache policy. The default setting for all operations is innodb_only.

innodb_only: Use InnoDB as the data store.
cache_only: Use the memcached engine as the data store.
caching: Use both InnoDB and the memcached engine as data stores. In this case, if memcached cannot find a key in memory, it searches for the value in an InnoDB table.
disable: Disable caching.

Table 14.22 cache_policies Columns

Table 14.22 cache_policies Columns
Column	Description
`policy_name`	Name of the cache policy. The default cache policy name is `cache_policy`.
`get_policy`	The cache policy for get operations. Valid values are `innodb_only`, `cache_only`, `caching`, or `disabled`. The default setting is `innodb_only`.
`set_policy`	The cache policy for set operations. Valid values are `innodb_only`, `cache_only`, `caching`, or `disabled`. The default setting is `innodb_only`.
`delete_policy`	The cache policy for delete operations. Valid values are `innodb_only`, `cache_only`, `caching`, or `disabled`. The default setting is `innodb_only`.
`flush_policy`	The cache policy for flush operations. Valid values are `innodb_only`, `cache_only`, `caching`, or `disabled`. The default setting is `innodb_only`.

config_options Table

The config_options table stores memcached-related settings that can be changed at runtime using SQL. Supported configuration options are separator and table_map_delimiter.

Table 14.23 config_options Columns

Table 14.23 config_options Columns
Column	Description
`Name`	Name of the memcached-related configuration option. The following configuration options are supported by the `config_options` table: `separator`: Used to separate values of a long string into separate values when there are multiple `value_columns` defined. By default, the `separator` is a `\|` character. For example, if you define `col1, col2` as value columns, and you define `\|` as the separator, you can issue the following memcached command to insert values into `col1` and `col2`, respectively: set keyx 10 0 19 valuecolx\|valuecoly `valuecol1x` is stored in `col1` and `valuecoly` is stored in `col2`. `table_map_delimiter`: The character separating the schema name and the table name when you use the `@@` notation in a key name to access a key in a specific table. For example, `@@t1.some_key` and `@@t2.some_key` have the same key value, but are stored in different tables.
`Value`	The value assigned to the memcached-related configuration option.

containers Table

The containers table is the most important of the three configuration tables. Each InnoDB table that is used to store memcached values must have an entry in the containers table. The entry provides a mapping between InnoDB table columns and container table columns, which is required for memcached to work with InnoDB tables.

The containers table contains a default entry for the test.demo_test table, which is created by the innodb_memcached_config.sql configuration script. To use the daemon_memcached plugin with your own InnoDB table, you must create an entry in the containers table.

Table 14.24 containers Columns

Table 14.24 containers Columns
Column	Description
`name`	The name given to the container. If an `InnoDB` table is not requested by name using `@@` notation, the `daemon_memcached` plugin uses the `InnoDB` table with a `containers.name` value of `default`. If there is no such entry, the first entry in the `containers` table, ordered alphabetically by `name` (ascending), determines the default `InnoDB` table.
`db_schema`	The name of the database where the `InnoDB` table resides. This is a required value.
`db_table`	The name of the `InnoDB` table that stores memcached values. This is a required value.
`key_columns`	The column in the `InnoDB` table that contains lookup key values for memcached operations. This is a required value.
`value_columns`	The `InnoDB` table columns (one or more) that store `memcached` data. Multiple columns can be specified using the separator character specified in the `innodb_memcached.config_options` table. By default, the separator is a pipe character (“\|”). To specify multiple columns, separate them with the defined separator character. For example: `col1\|col2\|col3`. This is a required value.
`flags`	The `InnoDB` table columns that are used as flags (a user-defined numeric value that is stored and retrieved along with the main value) for memcached. A flag value can be used as a column specifier for some operations (such as `incr`, `prepend`) if a memcached value is mapped to multiple columns, so that an operation is performed on a specified column. For example, if you have mapped a `value_columns` to three `InnoDB` table columns, and only want the increment operation performed on one columns, use the `flags` column to specify the column. If you do not use the `flags` column, set a value of `0` to indicate that it is unused.
`cas_column`	The `InnoDB` table column that stores compare-and-swap (cas) values. The `cas_column` value is related to the way memcached hashes requests to different servers and caches data in memory. Because the `InnoDB` memcached plugin is tightly integrated with a single memcached daemon, and the in-memory caching mechanism is handled by MySQL and the , this column is rarely needed. If you do not use this column, set a value of `0` to indicate that it is unused.
`expire_time_column`	The `InnoDB` table column that stores expiration values. The `expire_time_column` value is related to the way memcached hashes requests to different servers and caches data in memory. Because the `InnoDB` memcached plugin is tightly integrated with a single memcached daemon, and the in-memory caching mechanism is handled by MySQL and the , this column is rarely needed. If you do not use this column, set a value of `0` to indicate that the column is unused. The maximum expire time is defined as `INT_MAX32` or 2147483647 seconds (approximately 68 years).
`unique_idx_name_on_key`	The name of the index on the key column. It must be a unique index. It can be the or a . Preferably, use the primary key of the `InnoDB` table. Using the primary key avoids a lookup that is performed when using a secondary index. You cannot make a for memcached lookups; `InnoDB` returns an error if you try to define a composite secondary index over both the key and value columns.

containers Table Column Constraints

You must supply a value for db_schema, db_name, key_columns, value_columns and unique_idx_name_on_key. Specify 0 for flags, cas_column, and expire_time_column if they are unused. Failing to do so could cause your setup to fail.
key_columns: The maximum limit for a memcached key is 250 characters, which is enforced by memcached. The mapped key must be a non-Null CHAR or VARCHAR type.
value_columns: Must be mapped to a CHAR, VARCHAR, or BLOB column. There is no length restriction and the value can be NULL.
cas_column: The cas value is a 64 bit integer. It must be mapped to a BIGINT of at least 8 bytes. If you do not use this column, set a value of 0 to indicate that it is unused.
expiration_time_column: Must mapped to an INTEGER of at least 4 bytes. Expiration time is defined as a 32-bit integer for Unix time (the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, as a 32-bit value), or the number of seconds starting from the current time. For the latter, the number of seconds may not exceed 60*60*24*30 (the number of seconds in 30 days). If the number sent by a client is larger, the server considers it to be a real Unix time value rather than an offset from the current time. If you do not use this column, set a value of 0 to indicate that it is unused.
flags: Must be mapped to an INTEGER of at least 32-bits and can be NULL. If you do not use this column, set a value of 0 to indicate that it is unused.

A pre-check is performed at plugin load time to enforce column constraints. If mismatches are found, the plugin is not loaded.

Multiple Value Column Mapping

During plugin initialization, when InnoDB memcached is configured with information defined in the containers table, each mapped column defined in containers.value_columns is verified against the mapped InnoDB table. If multiple InnoDB table columns are mapped, there is a check to ensure that each column exists and is the right type.
At run-time, for memcached insert operations, if there are more delimited values than the number of mapped columns, only the number of mapped values are taken. For example, if there are six mapped columns, and seven delimited values are provided, only the first six delimited values are taken. The seventh delimited value is ignored.
If there are fewer delimited values than mapped columns, unfilled columns are set to NULL. If an unfilled column cannot be set to NULL, insert operations fail.
If a table has more columns than mapped values, the extra columns do not affect results.

The demo_test Example Table

The innodb_memcached_config.sql configuration script creates a demo_test table in the test database, which can be used to verify InnoDB memcached plugin installation immediately after setup.

The innodb_memcached_config.sql configuration script also creates an entry for the demo_test table in the innodb_memcache.containers table.

mysql> SELECT * FROM innodb_memcache.containers\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
                  name: aaa
             db_schema: test
              db_table: demo_test
           key_columns: c1
         value_columns: c2
                 flags: c3
            cas_column: c4
    expire_time_column: c5
unique_idx_name_on_key: PRIMARY

mysql> SELECT * FROM test.demo_test;
+----+------------------+------+------+------+
| c1 | c2               | c3   | c4   | c5   |
+----+------------------+------+------+------+
| AA | HELLO, HELLO     |    8 |    0 |    0 |
+----+------------------+------+------+------+