Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Canal for Real-Time MySQL Data Synchronization with Docker and Java

This article introduces how to use Alibaba Canal to capture MySQL binlog changes and synchronize them in real time.

It first explains the principle of Canal acting as a MySQL slave, then guides the setup of a MySQL instance inside Docker, including common Docker commands ( docker images, docker pull mysql,

docker run --name mysql-canal -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=123456 -p 3306:3306 -d mysql --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci

, docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/bash).

The guide details the required MySQL configuration for binlog (server-id, log_bin, character-set-server, default-storage-engine, etc.) and shows how to create a Canal user for replication.

It then presents the configuration files canal.properties (exposing ports and sync settings) and instance.properties (defining MySQL connection and tables to sync), followed by sample Java code using the raw Canal API and a Spring Boot integration, with notes on type‑conversion pitfalls when mapping database fields to Java objects.

Finally, the article lists common errors such as the caching_sha2_password Auth failed issue on MySQL 8.0 and provides the necessary adjustments to resolve them.