Hard Drive Based NDB MySQL Cluster

By Solomon Chang

NDB (Network Database) is an enterprise-grade, scalable, and highly available clustering storage engine - a share-nothing cluster that has no single point of failure - which is capable of running on inexpensive commodity hardware. NDB allows the construction of cheap, scalable, and exceptionally reliable database clusters, without expensive, specialized or additional hardware or software.

Back in June, Solomon Chang discussed the basic setup of a distributed, fault-tolerant, NDB Cluster for MySQL. The NDB storage engine has had one shortcoming, however: it has been traditionally memory-based.

As of MySQL 5.1, MySQL AB introduced a disk-based NDB solution, although its setup and configuration are significantly more complex than building a simple cluster. A disk-based cluster allows the administrator to spend less money on hardware costs by allowing him to commit larger NDB fragments to a single server. There will be a brief recap on the first Clustering lecture for those who are new to MySQL Distributed Clustering.

This clustering method can be implemented on as few as three computers that have been manufactured within the last decade. Come and hear how to do this and add this skill to your resume.

Solomon Chang is a MySQL certified DBA and the current actingdirector of LAMPSIG. He
works as a professional Database Administrator in Venice Beach, and is aco-author of
the MySQL Cluster Certification Study Guide.