MySQL Locks while CREATE TABLE AS SELECT

Question

I am running the following (dummy) query

CREATE TABLE large_temp_table AS 
    SELECT a.*, b.*, c.* 
    FROM a
    LEFT JOIN b ON a.foo = b.foo
    LEFT JOIN c ON a.bar = c.bar

Suppose the query takes 10 minutes to run. Trying to update values in tables a, b or c while it is running will wait for the above query to finish first. I want to avoid this lock (data consistency is not of interest). How can I achieve that?

Using: MySQL 5.1.41 and InnoDB Tables

p.s. SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED; yields no change in behavior

Update While the query is being executed, the output of SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS is the following (I have made a very slow query here in purpose)

=====================================
120323 15:26:29 INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
=====================================
Per second averages calculated from the last 8 seconds
----------
SEMAPHORES
----------
OS WAIT ARRAY INFO: reservation count 1470, signal count 1468
Mutex spin waits 0, rounds 7525, OS waits 112
RW-shared spins 803, OS waits 364; RW-excl spins 1300, OS waits 959
------------
TRANSACTIONS
------------
Trx id counter 0 3145870
Purge done for trx's n:o < 0 3141943 undo n:o < 0 0
History list length 22
LIST OF TRANSACTIONS FOR EACH SESSION:
---TRANSACTION 0 0, not started, OS thread id 2958192640
MySQL thread id 7942, query id 69073 localhost root
SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS
---TRANSACTION 0 3145869, ACTIVE 20 sec, OS thread id 2955325440, thread declared inside InnoDB 343
mysql tables in use 1, locked 1
6 lock struct(s), heap size 1024, 162 row lock(s)
MySQL thread id 7935, query id 69037 localhost root Copying to tmp table
CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS
                       SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                           a.*
                       FROM
                           crm_companies AS a
                       LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number
                       ORDER BY a.country, a.name1
--------
FILE I/O
--------
I/O thread 0 state: waiting for i/o request (insert buffer thread)
I/O thread 1 state: waiting for i/o request (log thread)
I/O thread 2 state: waiting for i/o request (read thread)
I/O thread 3 state: waiting for i/o request (write thread)
Pending normal aio reads: 0, aio writes: 0,
ibuf aio reads: 0, log i/o's: 0, sync i/o's: 0
Pending flushes (fsync) log: 0; buffer pool: 0
27579 OS file reads, 613 OS file writes, 392 OS fsyncs
0.00 reads/s, 0 avg bytes/read, 0.00 writes/s, 0.00 fsyncs/s
-------------------------------------
INSERT BUFFER AND ADAPTIVE HASH INDEX
-------------------------------------
Ibuf: size 1, free list len 5, seg size 7,
0 inserts, 0 merged recs, 0 merges
Hash table size 34679, node heap has 9 buffer(s)
0.00 hash searches/s, 0.00 non-hash searches/s
---
LOG
---
Log sequence number 1 2030837110
Log flushed up to   1 2030837110
Last checkpoint at  1 2030837110
0 pending log writes, 0 pending chkp writes
231 log i/o's done, 0.00 log i/o's/second
----------------------
BUFFER POOL AND MEMORY
----------------------
Total memory allocated 21060366; in additional pool allocated 1048576
Dictionary memory allocated 2897304
Buffer pool size   512
Free buffers       0
Database pages     503
Modified db pages  0
Pending reads 0
Pending writes: LRU 0, flush list 0, single page 0
Pages read 36022, created 166, written 504
0.00 reads/s, 0.00 creates/s, 0.00 writes/s
Buffer pool hit rate 1000 / 1000
--------------
ROW OPERATIONS
--------------
1 queries inside InnoDB, 0 queries in queue
1 read views open inside InnoDB
Main thread id 2957578240, state: waiting for server activity
Number of rows inserted 2022, updated 7, deleted 13, read 528536
0.00 inserts/s, 0.00 updates/s, 0.00 deletes/s, 8.00 reads/s
----------------------------
END OF INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
============================

Update 2

When trying to update either b,c or d while the query is running INNODB STATUS is the following:

=====================================
120323 16:12:58 INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
=====================================
Per second averages calculated from the last 27 seconds
----------
SEMAPHORES
----------
OS WAIT ARRAY INFO: reservation count 2959, signal count 2957
Mutex spin waits 0, rounds 27587, OS waits 426
RW-shared spins 1321, OS waits 516; RW-excl spins 2578, OS waits 1855
------------
TRANSACTIONS
------------
Trx id counter 0 3145998
Purge done for trx's n:o < 0 3145994 undo n:o < 0 0
History list length 0
LIST OF TRANSACTIONS FOR EACH SESSION:
---TRANSACTION 0 0, not started, OS thread id 2958602240
MySQL thread id 7990, query id 69621 localhost root
SHOW INNODB STATUS
---TRANSACTION 0 3145997, ACTIVE 35 sec, OS thread id 2955325440, thread declared inside InnoDB 227
mysql tables in use 1, locked 0
MySQL thread id 7984, query id 69594 localhost root Copying to tmp table
CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS
                       SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                           a.*
                       FROM
                           crm_companies AS a
                       LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id
                       LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number
                       ORDER BY a.country, a.name1
Trx read view will not see trx with id >= 0 3145998, sees < 0 3145998
--------
FILE I/O
--------
I/O thread 0 state: waiting for i/o request (insert buffer thread)
I/O thread 1 state: waiting for i/o request (log thread)
I/O thread 2 state: waiting for i/o request (read thread)
I/O thread 3 state: waiting for i/o request (write thread)
Pending normal aio reads: 0, aio writes: 0,
ibuf aio reads: 0, log i/o's: 0, sync i/o's: 0
Pending flushes (fsync) log: 0; buffer pool: 0
54447 OS file reads, 1335 OS file writes, 509 OS fsyncs
0.00 reads/s, 0 avg bytes/read, 0.00 writes/s, 0.00 fsyncs/s
-------------------------------------
INSERT BUFFER AND ADAPTIVE HASH INDEX
-------------------------------------
Ibuf: size 1, free list len 5, seg size 7,
584 inserts, 584 merged recs, 4 merges
Hash table size 34679, node heap has 1 buffer(s)
0.00 hash searches/s, 0.00 non-hash searches/s
---
LOG
---
Log sequence number 1 2060137545
Log flushed up to   1 2060137545
Last checkpoint at  1 2060137545
0 pending log writes, 0 pending chkp writes
338 log i/o's done, 0.00 log i/o's/second
----------------------
BUFFER POOL AND MEMORY
----------------------
Total memory allocated 20799534; in additional pool allocated 1047808
Dictionary memory allocated 2897304
Buffer pool size   512
Free buffers       0
Database pages     511
Modified db pages  0
Pending reads 0
Pending writes: LRU 0, flush list 0, single page 0
Pages read 70769, created 661, written 3156
0.00 reads/s, 0.00 creates/s, 0.00 writes/s
Buffer pool hit rate 1000 / 1000
--------------
ROW OPERATIONS
--------------
1 queries inside InnoDB, 0 queries in queue
2 read views open inside InnoDB
Main thread id 2957578240, state: waiting for server activity
Number of rows inserted 2022, updated 66643, deleted 13, read 626517
0.00 inserts/s, 0.00 updates/s, 0.00 deletes/s, 7.59 reads/s
----------------------------
END OF INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
============================

And there is the actual open process list

Answer 1

I see this query in your SHOW INNODB STATUS\G

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo AS 
                   SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE 
                       a.* 
                   FROM 
                       crm_companies AS a 
                   LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid 
                   LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id 
                   LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id 
                   LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number 
                   ORDER BY a.country, a.name1 

This query gives me the creeps because it combines three things you may not have thought of:

• InnoDB is involved based on your initial premise : Using: MySQL 5.1.41 and InnoDB Tables
• MyISAM is also involved. Why is MyISAM involved? ALL INTERNAL TEMP TABLES ARE MyISAM !!! The resulting join is a MyISAM table that must be converted into InnoDB when the temp table has been populated. What is the default lock level for MyISAM tables? Table Level Locking.
• DDL is involved since a newly created table must be brought into existence. That new table would not be manifested until the temp table is populated, converted to InnoDB, and finally renamed 1_temp_foo.

There is another side effect worth noting. When you do

CREATE TABLE tblname AS SELECT ...

The resulting table has no indexes.

I have something you might find helpful to bypass the locking issue. It involves making the table first as a separate query, then populating it. There are two options for making your temp table:

OPTION #1 : Try creating the table with the same layout

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo LIKE crm_companies;

This will create the table 1_temp_foo to have the exact same indexes and storage engine as the original table crm_companies.

OPTION #2 : Try creating the table with the same storage engine only, but no indexes.

CREATE TABLE 1_temp_foo SELECT * FROM crm_companies WHERE 1=2;
ALTER TABLE 1_temp_foo ENGINE=InnoDB;

After creating the table (whichever way you choose), you can now populate the table like this:

INSERT INTO 1_temp_foo
SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE a.*                   
FROM                   
    crm_companies AS a                   
    LEFT JOIN users b ON a.zipcode = b.uid                   
    LEFT JOIN calc_base_materials c ON a.zipcode = c.material_id                   
    LEFT JOIN calc_base_material_langtext d ON a.zipcode = d.material_id                   
    LEFT JOIN crm_people e ON a.zipcode = e.telephone1_number                   
    ORDER BY a.country, a.name
;

Now, this query should produced row-level locks for the sake of having data available for repeatable reads. In other words, this is a transactional query.

CAVEAT

OPTION #2 has advantages over OPTION #1

• Advantage #1 : If crm_companies has any foreign key constraints, OPTION #1 is not really possible. You would have to choose OPTION #2 for the sake of simplicity.
• Advantage #2 : Since OPTION #2 creates a table with no user-defined indexes, the table should load faster than if the table were made via OPTION #1.

Answer 2

In addition to setting the transaction isolation level to READ COMMITTED (or READ UNCOMMITTED), you have to also have your binary log format set to MIXED or ROW. STATEMENT based replication locks this type of statement to make sure everything is "safe." You could also set innodb_locks_unsafe_for_binlog=1 temporarily, but you could end up with a slave that is out of sync that way.

SET binlog_format = ROW;
CREATE TABLE ... SELECT ...