Optimistic phase: In this first phase, tables that are unlikely to be modified during the backup process (referred to as the “inactive tables” below, identified by the user with the optimistic-time option or, by exclusion, with the optimistic-busy-tables option) are backed up without locking the MySQL instance. And because those tables are not expected to be changed before the backup is finished, redo logs, undo logs, and system table spaces are not backed up by mysqlbackup in this phase.
Normal phase: In this second phase, tables that are not backed up in the first phase (referred to as the “busy tables” below) are being backed up in a manner similar to how they are processed in an ordinary backup: the InnoDB files are copied first, and then other relevant files and copied or processed with the MySQL instance locked. The redo logs, undo logs, and the system tablespace are also backed up in this phase.