How can I force a MySQL table to become corrupted?

Question

I have written a simple Nagios plugin that calls mysqlcheck (which checks for corrupted tables) and will give a warning if any are corrupt.

However none of my tables are corrupt now. So I'm not 100% sure that my plugin is working fine. I have a dev server that's not misson critical. How can I force one (or any) of the tables there to be corrupt so that I can test my nagios alert?

For the record the server is Ubuntu Dapper and the mysql is version 5.0

Assuming they're MyISAM tables I'd imagine you could just open a window. A slight breaze should be enough to cause those ACID free tables to crash, tip over and catch fire ;) — David, Aug 12 '09 at 16:28

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 19 '12 at 15:13

9

cat DB1.myd /dev/random > DB2.myd

edited Oct 19 '12 at 15:13

quanta

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answered Aug 12 '09 at 16:39

Matt Simmons

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I like this one! – Kyle Brandt Aug 12 '09 at 17:54
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Won't that keep pulling data from /dev/random until my harddisk fills up? :P – Amandasaurus Aug 13 '09 at 08:30
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Hey, you said corrupt, right? ;-) – Matt Simmons Aug 13 '09 at 12:22
Rory, Ya, but just hit Ctrl-C at some point – Kyle Brandt Aug 13 '09 at 14:04
Rory, Or use head /dev/urandom, to a file and then cat those – Kyle Brandt Aug 13 '09 at 14:05

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 19 '12 at 15:14

3

This should do it:

cat /dev/urandom > yourdb.myd

edited Oct 19 '12 at 15:14

quanta

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answered Aug 12 '09 at 17:36

Berkus Aurelius

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That will keep going till my harddisk fills up. – Amandasaurus Jan 22 '10 at 18:06

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 12 '09 at 19:32

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You could use a fuzzing tool like zzuf to fuzz a preexisting database file, e.g.

zzuf < good.myd > fuzzed.myd

answered Aug 12 '09 at 19:32

Gerald Combs

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score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 19 '12 at 15:14

example:

mysql> repair table Transactions;
^CQuery aborted by Ctrl+C
+-----------------------------------+--------+----------+-----------------------+
| Table                             | Op     | Msg_type | Msg_text              |
+-----------------------------------+--------+----------+-----------------------+
| test.Transactions | repair | error    | 137 when fixing table |
| test.Transactions | repair | status   | Operation failed      |
+-----------------------------------+--------+----------+-----------------------+
2 rows in set (17.84 sec)

mysql> select * from Transactions limit 1;
ERROR 144 (HY000): Table './test/Transactions' is marked as crashed and last (automatic?) repair failed

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 12 '09 at 20:46

I'd suggest that a more realistic way to simulate fault would be to pull the rug out from beneath MySQL's feet while it's performing an intensive update. Issuing SIGKILL to the mysqld process should be sufficient. Chances are that when you restart MySQL the table(s) in question will be marked as crashed.

Alternatively I'd suggest applying other people's suggestions but to the .MYI indec file rather than the data file.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 12 '09 at 15:46

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perhaps a command execution that does something like the following:

echo "aaa" > file.myd

answered Aug 12 '09 at 15:46

Mark L

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 12 '09 at 15:57

Generally you can't back up the databases by copying them from /var/lib/mysql and then copying them back because they get corrupted, you have to use mysqldump instead.

So if you go into one of the folders for the database in /var/lib/mysql, ie /var/lib/mysql/myDB/ and mess with some of the files that ought to do it :-)

So I would recommend copying one of the files, editing a little with a hex editor, and copying it back.

How can I force a MySQL table to become corrupted?

7 Answers7