Which version of xtrabackup to use with MySQL 5.5?

Question

I've just installed a copy of Percona xtrabackup onto my Debian (jessie) server, but when I run it it says that it is:

innobackupex version 2.3.5 based on MySQL server 5.6.24 Linux (x86_64) (revision id: 45cda89)

But I am using MySQL 5.5. Is this the correct version of innobackupex to use with my databases, and if not which version should I use? The documentation isn't very clear.

I installed it using the following process:

apt-key adv --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A

sudo pico /etc/apt/sources.list

then add the following two lines
    deb http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main
    deb-src http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main

apt-get update

apt-get install percona-xtrabackup

Answer 1

Percona XtraBackup 2.3 should be backward compatible, so you should be able to use PXB 2.3 with MySQL/Percona Server 5.5. There are some edge cases where you will need to use PXB 2.2 or even 2.1 but it is rarely needed if PXB 2.3 works.

PXB 2.4 is recommended to be used on MySQL/Percona Server 5.7.

In any case, you should always test your backups so backup using PXB 2.3 and restore it on another instance to see if everything works.