Tip: use pv to monitor mysql loads

If you are fortunate enough to be able to reload your development databases from time to time with production data, this might help.

The usual command you would use is something like this:

gunzip -c db-backup.sql.gz | mysql -udevuser -ppass db_dev

If your dump is big this can take a while and you wont have a clue about what is happening.

Instead, install pipe viewer and do:

gunzip -c db-backup.sql.gz | pv | mysql -udevuser -ppass db_dev

and you get a nice speed meter. For even better results:

dump=db-backup.sql.gz
size=`gunzip --list $dump | perl -ne 'print "$1\n" if /\d+\s+(\d+)\s+\d/'`
gunzip -c $dump | pv -s $size | mysql -udevuser -ppass db_env

and you'll get a speed meter and an ETA. The second command will get the uncompressed size of the dump and use that to teach pv how much data to expect.

Pipe viewer rockz.