I figured that it was time to check out how to install, configure, run and use MySQL Cluster on Windows. To keep things simple, this first Cluster will all run on a single host but includes these nodes:

• 1 Management node (ndb_mgmd)
• 2 Data nodes (ndbd)
• 3 MySQL Server (API) nodes (mysqld)

Downloading and installing

Browse to the Windows section of the MySQL Cluster 7.0 download page and download the installer (32 or 64 bit).

MySQL Cluster Windows Installer

Run the .msi file and choose the “Custom” option. Don’t worry about the fact that it’s branded as “MySQL Server 7.0″ and that you’ll go on to see adverts for MySQL Enterprise – that’s just an artefact …

MySQL Cluster version 7.0.6 has been released. MySQL Cluster 7.0.6 is available in source and binary form for a number of platforms from our download pages.

The release in source form can in addition be downloaded from the MySQL FTP server.

MySQL Cluster version 7.0.6 is using MySQL Server version 5.1.34 and contains all bug fixes and changes that MySQL Server 5.1.33 and 5.1.34 contain.
Following changes were made in MySQL Cluster 7.0.6 since the previous release 7.0.5:

Functionality added or changed:

• Important Note: It is …

Tomas Ulin - Director MySQL Engineering

This could be your last chance to listen to and quiz Tomas Ulin on his detailed MySQL Cluster knowledge as he has recently moved from being the Cluster Engineering Director to looking after engineering for MySQL Server. Tomas was in charge for the vast majority of the 7.0 development cycle (and many releases before that) and maintained a very detailed knowledge of the technology – including writing some of the code.

Mat Keep will represent the product management team with some introductory material.

I will also be on hand for the Q&A.

The webinar (as always) is free and starts at 16:30 UTC (other timezones listed below) and you can register here. …

One of the better kept secrets about MySQL Cluster appears to be the flexibility available when setting up replication. Rather than being constrained to implementing a single replication scheme, you can mix and match approaches.

Just about every Cluster deployment will use synchronous replication between the data nodes within a node group to implement High Availability (HA) by making sure that at the point a transaction is committed, the new data is stored in at least 2 physical hosts. Given that MySQL Cluster is usually used to store the data in main memory rather than on disk, this is pretty much mandatory (note that the data changes are still written to disk but that’s done asynchronously to avoid slowing down the database).

MySQL Cluster Replication

MySQL asynchronous replication is often used for …

There is another live webinar on MySQL Cluster 7.0 scheduled for 27th May 09:00 (Western European time) / 08:00 (UK time) / 11:00 (Eastern European time) and you can register here.

Alternatively, if you can’t wait that long then you can watch/listen to the play-back of the original webinar.

Note that you may need to install the WebEx Player (Windows and Mac) - unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a simple, supported solution for LINUX users but you can always download the slides (PDF format) from the same link or else wait until 27th May and view it live.

What’s New in the Next Generation of MySQL Cluster?
Thursday, April 30, 2009

The answer is yes – kind of.

Stored procedures are implemented in a MySQL Server and can be used regardless of the storage engine being used for a specific table. One inference from this is that they won’t work when accessing the Cluster database directly through the NDB API.

This leads to the question of whether or not that limitation actually restricts what you can achieve. This article gives a brief introduction to stored procedures and looks at how the same results can be achieved using the NDB API.

Stored procedures provide a rudimentary way of implementing functionality within the database (rather than in the application code). They are implemented by the database designer and have the ability to perform computations as well as make changes to the data in the database. A typical use of stored procedures would be to control all access to the data by a user or application – for example, to impose extra checks on …

Following on from the announcement  at the User Conference last week that MySQL Cluster 7.0 is now generally available, Mat Keep and I will present the first public webcast this Thursday. If you’d like to attend but the time isn’t convenient then you can either watch/listen to the recording after the event or wait for the next one to be announced (will be aimed at different time-zones).

Details…..

What’s New in the Next Generation of MySQL Cluster?
Thursday, April 30, 2009

Whether you’re racing to introduce a new service, or trying to manage an avalanche of data in real time, your database has to be scalable, fast and highly available to meet ever-changing market conditions and stringent SLAs.

By attending this webinar, you will learn more about MySQL Cluster 7, and how it enables you to deliver 99.999% database availability, with real time performance and linear scalability, while slashing …

A new white paper has been published by MySQL/Sun Microsystems and it can be downloaded from http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/white-papers/mysql_wp_cluster7_open_cgp.php

Open Source Carrier Grade Platform - using MySQL Cluster CGE

Abstract:

The convergence of communication networks onto one which is IP (Internet Protocol) based is revolutionizing today’s telecommunications industry. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are challenged to deliver compelling new personalized services with greater agility and lower costs than ever before. The very survival of Service Providers depends on their ability to generate new revenue streams and increase Average Revenue Per User …

Jonas in the Cluster team reported on his work on executing
joins in the NDB kernel for MySQL Cluster here.

This is a very interesting work we have in progress at MySQL.
We are working on an extension of the Storage Engine API
where the MySQL Server will present an Abstract Query Tree
to the Storage Engine. The Storage Engine can then decide to
execute the query on his own or decide that the MySQL Server
should execute it in the classic manner. In the first prototype
the optimisation will be done as usual and only after the
optimisation phase will we present the join to the storage
engine. However the specification also covers work on
integrating this with the optimiser and also enabling the
possibility for the storage engine to execute parts of the
query and not the entire one. The specification …

If you like to sift through tons of benchmark data about various
MySQL versions, Dimitri at the Sun Benchmark Labs have published
a serious amount of benchmark data in a report published here.

The report shows that the new MySQL 5.4.0 release
have a very good performance. The report also shows how the day
of a developer of performance improvements and the massive amount
of benchmark data that needs to be analysed and sifted through
to understand the impact of new performance improvements.

I personally met Dimitri the first time in 2002 when I was working
together with him for a couple of weeks on a benchmark on NDB Cluster
(the storage engine of MySQL Cluster). Our goal then was to perform
1 million reads per second on a 72-cpu SPARC box with …