In general, replication compatibility at the SQL level requires that any features used be supported by both the master and the slave servers. If you use a feature on a master server that is available only as of a given version of MySQL, you cannot replicate to a slave that is older than that version. Such incompatibilities are likely to occur between series, so that, for example, you cannot replicate from MySQL 5.1 to 5.0. However, these incompatibilities also can occur for within-series replication. For example, the SLEEP() function is available in MySQL 5.0.12 and up. If you use this function on the master server, you cannot replicate to a slave server that is older than MySQL 5.0.12.

If you are planning to use replication between 5.1 and a previous version of MySQL you should consult the edition of the MySQL Reference Manual corresponding to the earlier release series for information regarding the replication characteristics of that series.

The following sections provide details about what is supported and what is not, and about specific issues and situations that may occur when replicating certain statements. Additional InnoDB-specific information about replication is given in Section 14.5.6.5, “InnoDB and MySQL Replication”.

With MySQL's classic statement-based replication, there may be issues with replicating stored routines or triggers. You can avoid these issues by using MySQL's row-based replication instead. For a detailed list of issues, see Section 18.4, “Binary Logging of Stored Routines and Triggers”. For a description of row-based replication, see Section 6.1.2, “Replication Formats”.