Help Center/ Relational Database Service/ User Guide (Ally Region)/ Working with RDS for MySQL/ Database Migration/ Migration Solution Overview
Updated on 2026-04-24 GMT+08:00
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Migration Solution Overview

You can migrate data from self-managed MySQL databases, or MySQL databases built on other clouds to RDS for MySQL, or from one RDS for MySQL instance to another RDS for MySQL instance.

DRS provides real-time migration and synchronization.

  • Real-time migration lets you migrate data from sources to destinations. You just need to create a replication instance to connect to both the source and destination and configure objects to be migrated. DRS compares metrics and data between them, helping you decide when to switch to the destination database with minimal downtime.
  • In real-time synchronization, data is synchronized from a source to its destination while keeping data consistent between them. It is different from migration. Migration means moving entire data of a database to another. Synchronization refers to the continuous flow of data between different applications.

Migration Solutions

Table 1 RDS for MySQL migration solutions

Source Database

Data Size

One-Time or Continuous Migration

Application Downtime

Solution

Document

RDS for MySQL

Small

One-time

A period of time

Use mysqldump to migrate data from the source to the destination RDS for MySQL instance.

Migrating Data to RDS for MySQL Using mysqldump

RDS for MySQL

Any

One-time or continuous

Minimal downtime

Use DRS to migrate table, database, or instance data of the source to the destination RDS for MySQL instance.

For details, see "Real-Time Migration" > "To the Cloud > "From MySQL to MySQL" in Data Replication Service (DRS) User Guide.

RDS for MySQL

Any

One-time or continuous

Minimal downtime

Use DRS to synchronize data from the source to the destination RDS for MySQL instance.

For details, see "Real-Time Synchronization" > "To the Cloud > "From MySQL to MySQL" in Data Replication Service (DRS) User Guide.
Parent topic: Database Migration