This section discusses the manner in which MySQL Cluster divides and duplicates data for storage.

Central to an understanding of this topic are the following concepts, listed here with brief definitions:

The following diagram illustrates a MySQL Cluster with four data nodes, arranged in two node groups of two nodes each; nodes 1 and 2 belong to node group 0, and nodes 3 and 4 belong to node group 1. Note that only data (ndbd) nodes are shown here; although a working cluster requires an ndb_mgm process for cluster management and at least one SQL node to access the data stored by the cluster, these have been omitted in the figure for clarity.

The data stored by the cluster is divided into four partitions, numbered 0, 1, 2, and 3. Each partition is stored — in multiple copies — on the same node group. Partitions are stored on alternate node groups:

What this means regarding the continued operation of a MySQL Cluster is this: so long as each node group participating in the cluster has at least one node operating, the cluster has a complete copy of all data and remains viable. This is illustrated in the next diagram.

In this example, where the cluster consists of two node groups of two nodes each, any combination of at least one node in node group 0 and at least one node in node group 1 is sufficient to keep the cluster “alive” (indicated by arrows in the diagram). However, if both nodes from either node group fail, the remaining two nodes are not sufficient (shown by the arrows marked out with an X); in either case, the cluster has lost an entire partition and so can no longer provide access to a complete set of all cluster data.

One of the strengths of MySQL Cluster is that it can be run on commodity hardware and has no unusual requirements in this regard, other than for large amounts of RAM, due to the fact that all live data storage is done in memory. (Note that this is not the case with Disk Data tables, which are implemented in MySQL 5.1; however, we do not intend to backport this feature to MySQL 4.1.) Naturally, multiple and faster CPUs will enhance performance. Memory requirements for other Cluster processes are relatively small.

The software requirements for Cluster are also modest. Host operating systems do not require any unusual modules, services, applications, or configuration to support MySQL Cluster. For supported operating systems, a standard installation should be sufficient. The MySQL software requirements are simple: all that is needed is a production release of MySQL-max 4.1.3 or newer; you must use the -max version of MySQL to have Cluster support. (See Section 5.3, “The mysqld-max Extended MySQL Server”.) It is not necessary to compile MySQL yourself merely to be able to use Cluster. In this How-To, we assume that you are using the -max binary appropriate to your operating system, available via the MySQL software downloads page at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/.

For inter-node communication, Cluster supports TCP/IP networking in any standard topology, and the minimum expected for each host is a standard 100 Mbps Ethernet card, plus a switch, hub, or router to provide network connectivity for the cluster as a whole. We strongly recommend that a MySQL Cluster be run on its own subnet which is not shared with non-Cluster machines for the following reasons:

It is also possible to use the high-speed Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) with MySQL Cluster, but this is not a requirement. See Section 15.10, “Using High-Speed Interconnects with MySQL Cluster”, for more about this protocol and its use with MySQL Cluster.

Each MySQL Cluster host computer running data or SQL nodes must have installed on it a MySQL-max binary. For management nodes, it is not necessary to install the MySQL server binary, but you do have to install the MGM server daemon and client binaries (ndb_mgmd and ndb_mgm, respectively). This section covers the steps necessary to install the correct binaries for each type of Cluster node.

MySQL AB provides precompiled binaries that support Cluster, and there is generally no need to compile these yourself. Therefore, the first step in the installation process for each cluster host is to download the file mysql-max-4.1.22-pc-linux-gnu-i686.tar.gz from the MySQL downloads area. We assume that you have placed it in each machine's /var/tmp directory. (If you do require a custom binary, see Section 2.9.3, “Installing from the Development Source Tree”.)

RPMs are also available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux platforms. For a MySQL Cluster, four RPMs are required:

In addition, you should also obtain the NDB Cluster - Storage engine basic tools RPM (for example, MySQL-ndb-tools-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm), which supplies several useful applications for working with a MySQL Cluster. The most important of the these is the MySQL Cluster management client (ndb_mgm). The NDB Cluster - Storage engine extra tools RPM (for example, MySQL-ndb-extra-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm) contains some additional testing and monitoring programs, but is not required to install a MySQL Cluster. (For more information about these additional programs, see Section 15.9, “Cluster Utility Programs”.)

The MySQL version number in the RPM filenames (shown here as 4.1.22) can vary according to the version which you are actually using. It is very important that all of the Cluster RPMs to be installed have the same MySQL version number. The glibc version number (if present — shown here as glibc23), and architecture designation (shown here as i386) should be appropriate to the machine on which the RPM is to be installed.

See Section 2.4, “Installing MySQL from RPM Packages on Linux”, for general information about installing MySQL using RPMs supplied by MySQL AB.

After installing from RPM, you still need to configure the cluster as discussed in Section 15.3.3, “Multi-Computer Configuration”.

Note: After completing the installation, do not yet start any of the binaries. We show you how to do so following the configuration of all nodes.

Data and SQL Node Installation — .tar.gz Binary

On each of the machines designated to host data or SQL nodes, perform the following steps as the system root user:

Remember that the preceding steps must be performed separately on each machine where a data node or SQL node is to reside.

SQL Node Installation — RPM Files

On each machine to be used for hosting a cluster SQL node, install the MySQL Max RPM by executing the following command as the system root user, replacing the name shown for the RPM as necessary to match the name of the RPM downloaded from the MySQL AB web site:

shell> rpm -Uhv MySQL-server-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm
shell> rpm -Uhv MySQL-Max-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm

This installs the MySQL Max server binary (mysqld-max) in the /usr/sbin directory, as well as all needed MySQL Server support files. It also installs the mysql.server and mysqld_safe startup scripts in /usr/share/mysql and /usr/bin, respectively. The RPM installer should take care of general configuration issues (such as creating the mysql user and group, if needed) automatically.

Data Node Installation — RPM Files

On a computer that is to host a cluster data node it is necessary to install only the NDB Cluster - Storage engine RPM. To do so, copy this RPM to the data node host, and run the following command as the system root user, replacing the name shown for the RPM as necessary to match that of the RPM downloaded from the MySQL AB web site:

shell> rpm -Uhv MySQL-ndb-storage-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm

The previous command installs the MySQL Cluster data node binary (ndbd) in the /usr/sbin directory.

Management Node Installation — .tar.gz Binary

Installation for the management (MGM) node does not require installation of the mysqld binary. Only the binaries for the MGM server and client are required, which can be found in the downloaded archive. Again, we assume that you have placed this file in /var/tmp.

As system root (that is, after using sudo, su root, or your system's equivalent for temporarily assuming the system administrator account's privileges), perform the following steps to install ndb_mgmd and ndb_mgm on the Cluster management node host:

Management Node Installation — RPM File

To install the MySQL Cluster management server, it is necessary only to use the NDB Cluster - Storage engine management RPM. Copy this RPM to the computer intended to host the management node, and then install it by running the following command as the system root user (replace the name shown for the RPM as necessary to match that of the Storage engine management RPM downloaded from the MySQL AB web site):

shell> rpm -Uhv MySQL-ndb-management-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm

This installs the management server binary (ndb_mgmd) to the /usr/sbin directory.

You should also install the NDB management client, which is supplied by the Storage engine basic tools RPM. Copy this RPM to the same computer as the management node, and then install it by running the following command as the system root user (again, replace the name shown for the RPM as necessary to match that of the Storage engine basic tools RPM downloaded from the MySQL AB web site):

shell> rpm -Uhv MySQL-ndb-tools-4.1.22-0.glibc23.i386.rpm

The Storage engine basic tools RPM installs the MySQL Cluster management client (ndb_mgm) to the /usr/bin directory.

In Section 15.3.3, “Multi-Computer Configuration”, we create configuration files for all of the nodes in our example Cluster.

For our four-node, four-host MySQL Cluster, it is necessary to write four configuration files, one per node host.

Configuring the Storage and SQL Nodes

The my.cnf file needed for the data nodes is fairly simple. The configuration file should be located in the /etc directory and can be edited using any text editor. (Create the file if it does not exist.) For example:

shell> vi /etc/my.cnf

We show vi being used here to create the file, but any text editor should work just as well.

For each data node and SQL node in our example setup, my.cnf should look like this:

# Options for mysqld process:
[MYSQLD]                        
ndbcluster                      # run NDB storage engine
ndb-connectstring=192.168.0.10  # location of management server

# Options for ndbd process:
[MYSQL_CLUSTER]                 
ndb-connectstring=192.168.0.10  # location of management server

After entering the preceding information, save this file and exit the text editor. Do this for the machines hosting data node “A”, data node “B”, and the SQL node.

Important: Once you have started a mysqld process with the ndbcluster and ndb-connectstring parameters in the [MYSQLD] in the my.cnf file as shown previously, you cannot execute any CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE statements without having actually started the cluster. Otherwise, these statements will fail with an error. This is by design.

Configuring the Management Node

The first step in configuring the MGM node is to create the directory in which the configuration file can be found and then to create the file itself. For example (running as root):

shell> mkdir /var/lib/mysql-cluster
shell> cd /var/lib/mysql-cluster
shell> vi config.ini

For our representative setup, the config.ini file should read as follows:

# Options affecting ndbd processes on all data nodes:
[NDBD DEFAULT]    
NoOfReplicas=2    # Number of replicas
DataMemory=80M    # How much memory to allocate for data storage
IndexMemory=18M   # How much memory to allocate for index storage
                  # For DataMemory and IndexMemory, we have used the
                  # default values. Since the "world" database takes up
                  # only about 500KB, this should be more than enough for
                  # this example Cluster setup.

# TCP/IP options:
[TCP DEFAULT]     
portnumber=2202   # This the default; however, you can use any
                  # port that is free for all the hosts in cluster
                  # Note: It is recommended beginning with MySQL 5.0 that
                  # you do not specify the portnumber at all and simply allow
                  # the default value to be used instead

# Management process options:
[NDB_MGMD]                      
hostname=192.168.0.10           # Hostname or IP address of MGM node
datadir=/var/lib/mysql-cluster  # Directory for MGM node log files

# Options for data node "A":
[NDBD]                          
                                # (one [NDBD] section per data node)
hostname=192.168.0.30           # Hostname or IP address
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data   # Directory for this data node's data files

# Options for data node "B":
[NDBD]                          
hostname=192.168.0.40           # Hostname or IP address
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data   # Directory for this data node's data files

# SQL node options:
[MYSQLD]                        
hostname=192.168.0.20           # Hostname or IP address
                                # (additional mysqld connections can be
                                # specified for this node for various
                                # purposes such as running ndb_restore)

(Note: The world database can be downloaded from http://dev.mysql.com/doc/, where it can be found listed under “Examples”.)

After all the configuration files have been created and these minimal options have been specified, you are ready to proceed with starting the cluster and verifying that all processes are running. We discuss how this is done in Section 15.3.4, “Initial Startup”.

For more detailed information about the available MySQL Cluster configuration parameters and their uses, see Section 15.4.4, “Configuration File”, and Section 15.4, “MySQL Cluster Configuration”. For configuration of MySQL Cluster as relates to making backups, see Section 15.8.4, “Configuration for Cluster Backup”.

Note: The default port for Cluster management nodes is 1186; the default port for data nodes is 2202. In MySQL 4.1, ports for data nodes are allocated sequentially beginning with port 2202 and these ports must be available for the cluster to use.

Starting the cluster is not very difficult after it has been configured. Each cluster node process must be started separately, and on the host where it resides. The management node should be started first, followed by the data nodes, and then finally by any SQL nodes:

If all has gone well, and the cluster has been set up correctly, the cluster should now be operational. You can test this by invoking the ndb_mgm management node client. The output should look like that shown here, although you might see some slight differences in the output depending upon the exact version of MySQL that you are using:

shell> ndb_mgm
-- NDB Cluster -- Management Client --
ndb_mgm> SHOW
Connected to Management Server at: localhost:1186
Cluster Configuration
---------------------
[ndbd(NDB)]     2 node(s)
id=2    @192.168.0.30  (Version: 4.1.22, Nodegroup: 0, Master)
id=3    @192.168.0.40  (Version: 4.1.22, Nodegroup: 0)

[ndb_mgmd(MGM)] 1 node(s)
id=1    @192.168.0.10  (Version: 4.1.22)

[mysqld(SQL)]   1 node(s)
id=4   (Version: 4.1.22)

Note: The SQL node is referenced here as [mysqld(API)]. This is perfectly normal, and reflects the fact that the mysqld process is acting as a cluster API node.

You should now be ready to work with databases, tables, and data in MySQL Cluster. See Section 15.3.5, “Loading Sample Data and Performing Queries”, for a brief discussion.

Working with data in MySQL Cluster is not much different from doing so in MySQL without Cluster. There are two points to keep in mind:

If you are importing tables from an existing database using the output of mysqldump, you can open the SQL script in a text editor and add the ENGINE option to any table creation statements, or replace any existing ENGINE (or TYPE) options. Suppose that you have the world sample database on another MySQL server that does not support MySQL Cluster, and you want to export the City table:

shell> mysqldump --add-drop-table world City > city_table.sql

The resulting city_table.sql file will contain this table creation statement (and the INSERT statements necessary to import the table data):

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `City`;
CREATE TABLE `City` (
  `ID` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `Name` char(35) NOT NULL default '',
  `CountryCode` char(3) NOT NULL default '',
  `District` char(20) NOT NULL default '',
  `Population` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (1,'Kabul','AFG','Kabol',1780000);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (2,'Qandahar','AFG','Qandahar',237500);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (3,'Herat','AFG','Herat',186800);
(remaining INSERT statements omitted)

You will need to make sure that MySQL uses the NDB storage engine for this table. There are two ways that this can be accomplished. One of these is to modify the table definition before importing it into the Cluster database. Using the City table as an example, modify the ENGINE option of the definition as follows:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `City`;
CREATE TABLE `City` (
  `ID` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `Name` char(35) NOT NULL default '',
  `CountryCode` char(3) NOT NULL default '',
  `District` char(20) NOT NULL default '',
  `Population` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`ID`)
) ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (1,'Kabul','AFG','Kabol',1780000);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (2,'Qandahar','AFG','Qandahar',237500);
INSERT INTO `City` VALUES (3,'Herat','AFG','Herat',186800);
(remaining INSERT statements omitted)

This must be done for the definition of each table that is to be part of the clustered database. The easiest way to accomplish this is to do a search-and-replace on the file that contains the definitions and replace all instances of TYPE=engine_name or ENGINE=engine_name with ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER. If you do not want to modify the file, you can use the unmodified file to create the tables, and then use ALTER TABLE to change their storage engine. The particulars are given later in this section.

Assuming that you have already created a database named world on the SQL node of the cluster, you can then use the mysql command-line client to read city_table.sql, and create and populate the corresponding table in the usual manner:

shell> mysql world < city_table.sql

It is very important to keep in mind that the preceding command must be executed on the host where the SQL node is running (in this case, on the machine with the IP address 192.168.0.20).

To create a copy of the entire world database on the SQL node, use mysqldump on the non-cluster server to export the database to a file named world.sql; for example, in the /tmp directory. Then modify the table definitions as just described and import the file into the SQL node of the cluster like this:

shell> mysql world < /tmp/world.sql

If you save the file to a different location, adjust the preceding instructions accordingly.

It is important to note that NDB Cluster in MySQL 4.1 does not support autodiscovery of databases. (See Section 15.11, “Known Limitations of MySQL Cluster”.) This means that, once the world database and its tables have been created on one data node, you need to issue the CREATE DATABASE world statement followed by FLUSH TABLES on each SQL node in the cluster. This causes the node to recognize the database and read its table definitions.

Running SELECT queries on the SQL node is no different from running them on any other instance of a MySQL server. To run queries from the command line, you first need to log in to the MySQL Monitor in the usual way (specify the root password at the Enter password: prompt):

shell> mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 4.1.22

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql>

We simply use the MySQL server's root account and assume that you have followed the standard security precautions for installing a MySQL server, including setting a strong root password. For more information, see Section 2.10.3, “Securing the Initial MySQL Accounts”.

It is worth taking into account that Cluster nodes do not make use of the MySQL privilege system when accessing one another. Setting or changing MySQL user accounts (including the root account) effects only applications that access the SQL node, not interaction between nodes.

If you did not modify the ENGINE clauses in the table definitions prior to importing the SQL script, you should run the following statements at this point:

mysql> USE world;
mysql> ALTER TABLE City ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER;
mysql> ALTER TABLE Country ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER;
mysql> ALTER TABLE CountryLanguage ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER;

Selecting a database and running a SELECT query against a table in that database is also accomplished in the usual manner, as is exiting the MySQL Monitor:

mysql> USE world;
mysql> SELECT Name, Population FROM City ORDER BY Population DESC LIMIT 5;
+-----------+------------+
| Name      | Population |
+-----------+------------+
| Bombay    |   10500000 |
| Seoul     |    9981619 |
| São Paulo |    9968485 |
| Shanghai  |    9696300 |
| Jakarta   |    9604900 |
+-----------+------------+
5 rows in set (0.34 sec)

mysql> \q
Bye

shell>

Applications that use MySQL can employ standard APIs to access NDB tables. It is important to remember that your application must access the SQL node, and not the MGM or data nodes. This brief example shows how we might execute the SELECT statement just shown by using PHP 5's mysqli extension running on a Web server elsewhere on the network:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
        content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
  <title>SIMPLE mysqli SELECT</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
  # connect to SQL node:
  $link = new mysqli('192.168.0.20', 'root', 'root_password', 'world');
  # parameters for mysqli constructor are:
  #   host, user, password, database

  if( mysqli_connect_errno() )
    die("Connect failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());

  $query = "SELECT Name, Population
            FROM City
            ORDER BY Population DESC
            LIMIT 5";

  # if no errors...
  if( $result = $link->query($query) )
  {
?>
<table border="1" width="40%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing ="1">
  <tbody>
  <tr>
    <th width="10%">City</th>
    <th>Population</th>
  </tr>
<?
    # then display the results...
    while($row = $result->fetch_object())
      printf(<tr>\n  <td align=\"center\">%s</td><td>%d</td>\n</tr>\n",
              $row->Name, $row->Population);
?>
  </tbody
</table>
<?
  # ...and verify the number of rows that were retrieved
    printf("<p>Affected rows: %d</p>\n", $link->affected_rows);
  }
  else
    # otherwise, tell us what went wrong
    echo mysqli_error();

  # free the result set and the mysqli connection object
  $result->close();
  $link->close();
?>
</body>
</html>

We assume that the process running on the Web server can reach the IP address of the SQL node.

In a similar fashion, you can use the MySQL C API, Perl-DBI, Python-mysql, or MySQL AB's own Connectors to perform the tasks of data definition and manipulation just as you would normally with MySQL.

To shut down the cluster, enter the following command in a shell on the machine hosting the MGM node:

shell> ndb_mgm -e shutdown

The -e option here is used to pass a command to the ndb_mgm client from the shell. See Section 4.3.1, “Using Options on the Command Line”. The command causes the ndb_mgm, ndb_mgmd, and any ndbd processes to terminate gracefully. Any SQL nodes can be terminated using mysqladmin shutdown and other means.

To restart the cluster, run these commands:

For information on making Cluster backups, see Section 15.8.2, “Using The Management Client to Create a Backup”.

To restore the cluster from backup requires the use of the ndb_restore command. This is covered in Section 15.8.3, “ndb_restore — Restore a Cluster Backup”.

More information on configuring MySQL Cluster can be found in Section 15.4, “MySQL Cluster Configuration”.

NDB, the Cluster storage engine, is available in binary distributions for Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris. We are working to make Cluster run on all operating systems supported by MySQL, including Windows.

If you choose to build from a source tarball or the MySQL 4.1 BitKeeper tree, be sure to use the --with-ndbcluster option when running configure. You can also use the BUILD/compile-pentium-max build script. Note that this script includes OpenSSL, so you must either have or obtain OpenSSL to build successfully, or else modify compile-pentium-max to exclude this requirement. Of course, you can also just follow the standard instructions for compiling your own binaries, and then perform the usual tests and installation procedure. See Section 2.9.3, “Installing from the Development Source Tree”.

In the next few sections, we assume that you are already familiar with installing MySQL, and here we cover only the differences between configuring MySQL Cluster and configuring MySQL without clustering. (See Chapter 2, Installing and Upgrading MySQL, if you require more information about the latter.)

You will find Cluster configuration easiest if you have already have all management and data nodes running first; this is likely to be the most time-consuming part of the configuration. Editing the my.cnf file is fairly straightforward, and this section will cover only any differences from configuring MySQL without clustering.

To familiarize you with the basics, we will describe the simplest possible configuration for a functional MySQL Cluster. After this, you should be able to design your desired setup from the information provided in the other relevant sections of this chapter.

First, you need to create a configuration directory such as /var/lib/mysql-cluster, by executing the following command as the system root user:

shell> mkdir /var/lib/mysql-cluster

In this directory, create a file named config.ini that contains the following information. Substitute appropriate values for HostName and DataDir as necessary for your system.

# file "config.ini" - showing minimal setup consisting of 1 data node,
# 1 management server, and 3 MySQL servers.
# The empty default sections are not required, and are shown only for
# the sake of completeness.
# Data nodes must provide a hostname but MySQL Servers are not required
# to do so.
# If you don't know the hostname for your machine, use localhost.
# The DataDir parameter also has a default value, but it is recommended to
# set it explicitly.
# Note: DB, API, and MGM are aliases for NDBD, MYSQLD, and NDB_MGMD
# respectively. DB and API are deprecated and should not be used in new
# installations.
[NDBD DEFAULT]
NoOfReplicas= 1

[MYSQLD DEFAULT]
[NDB_MGMD DEFAULT]
[TCP DEFAULT]

[NDB_MGMD]
HostName= myhost.example.com

[NDBD]
HostName= myhost.example.com
DataDir= /var/lib/mysql-cluster

[MYSQLD]
[MYSQLD]
[MYSQLD]

You can now start the ndb_mgmd management server. By default, it attempts to read the config.ini file in its current working directory, so change location into the directory where the file is located and then invoke ndb_mgmd:

shell> cd /var/lib/mysql-cluster
shell> ndb_mgmd

Then start a single data node by running ndbd. When starting ndbd for a given data node for the very first time, you should use the --initial option as shown here:

shell> ndbd --initial

For subsequent ndbd starts, you will generally want to omit the --initial option:

shell> ndbd

The reason for omitting --initial on subsequent restarts is that this option causes ndbd to delete and re-create all existing data and log files (as well as all table metadata) for this data node. One exception to this rule about not using --initial except for the first ndbd invocation is that you use it when restarting the cluster and restoring from backup after adding new data nodes.

By default, ndbd looks for the management server at localhost on port 1186. (Prior to MySQL 4.1.8, the default port was 2200.)

Note: If you have installed MySQL from a binary tarball, you will need to specify the path of the ndb_mgmd and ndbd servers explicitly. (Normally, these will be found in /usr/local/mysql/bin.)

Finally, change location to the MySQL data directory (usually /var/lib/mysql or /usr/local/mysql/data), and make sure that the my.cnf file contains the option necessary to enable the NDB storage engine:

[mysqld]
ndbcluster

You can now start the MySQL server as usual:

shell> mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

Wait a moment to make sure the MySQL server is running properly. If you see the notice mysql ended, check the server's .err file to find out what went wrong.

If all has gone well so far, you now can start using the cluster. Connect to the server and verify that the NDBCLUSTER storage engine is enabled:

shell> mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 4.1.22-Max

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> SHOW ENGINES\G
...
*************************** 12. row ***************************
Engine: NDBCLUSTER
Support: YES
Comment: Clustered, fault-tolerant, memory-based tables
*************************** 13. row ***************************
Engine: NDB
Support: YES
Comment: Alias for NDBCLUSTER
...

The row numbers shown in the preceding example output may be different from those shown on your system, depending upon how your server is configured.

Try to create an NDBCLUSTER table:

shell> mysql
mysql> USE test;
Database changed

mysql> CREATE TABLE ctest (i INT) ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.09 sec)

mysql> SHOW CREATE TABLE ctest \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: ctest
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `ctest` (
  `i` int(11) default NULL
) ENGINE=ndbcluster DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

To check that your nodes were set up properly, start the management client:

shell> ndb_mgm

Use the SHOW command from within the management client to obtain a report on the cluster's status:

NDB> SHOW
Cluster Configuration
---------------------
[ndbd(NDB)]     1 node(s)
id=2    @127.0.0.1  (Version: 3.5.3, Nodegroup: 0, Master)

[ndb_mgmd(MGM)] 1 node(s)
id=1    @127.0.0.1  (Version: 3.5.3)

[mysqld(API)]   3 node(s)
id=3    @127.0.0.1  (Version: 3.5.3)
id=4 (not connected, accepting connect from any host)
id=5 (not connected, accepting connect from any host)

At this point, you have successfully set up a working MySQL Cluster. You can now store data in the cluster by using any table created with ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER or its alias ENGINE=NDB.

Configuring MySQL Cluster requires working with two files:

We are continuously making improvements in Cluster configuration and attempting to simplify this process. Although we strive to maintain backward compatibility, there may be times when introduce an incompatible change. In such cases we will try to let Cluster users know in advance if a change is not backward compatible. If you find such a change and we have not documented it, please report it in the MySQL bugs database using the instructions given in Section 1.8, “How to Report Bugs or Problems”.

# my.cnf
# example additions to my.cnf for MySQL Cluster
# (valid from 4.1.8)

# enable ndbcluster storage engine, and provide connectstring for
# management server host (default port is 1186)
[mysqld]
ndbcluster
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com


# provide connectstring for management server host (default port: 1186)
[ndbd]
connect-string=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com

# provide connectstring for management server host (default port: 1186)
[ndb_mgm]
connect-string=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com

# provide location of cluster configuration file
[ndb_mgmd]
config-file=/etc/config.ini

# my.cnf
# example additions to my.cnf for MySQL Cluster
# (will work on all versions)

# enable ndbcluster storage engine, and provide connectstring for management
# server host to the default port 1186
[mysqld]
ndbcluster
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com:1186

# cluster-specific settings
[mysql_cluster]
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com:1186

# file "config.ini" - 2 data nodes and 2 SQL nodes
# This file is placed in the startup directory of ndb_mgmd (the
# management server)
# The first MySQL Server can be started from any host. The second
# can be started only on the host mysqld_5.mysql.com

[NDBD DEFAULT]
NoOfReplicas= 2
DataDir= /var/lib/mysql-cluster

[NDB_MGMD]
Hostname= ndb_mgmd.mysql.com
DataDir= /var/lib/mysql-cluster

[NDBD]
HostName= ndbd_2.mysql.com

[NDBD]
HostName= ndbd_3.mysql.com

[MYSQLD]
[MYSQLD]
HostName= mysqld_5.mysql.com

<connectstring> :=
    [<nodeid-specification>,]<host-specification>[,<host-specification>]

<nodeid-specification> := node_id

<host-specification> := host_name[:port_num]

example 1 (long):    "nodeid=2,myhost1:1100,myhost2:1100,192.168.0.3:1200"
example 2 (short):   "myhost1"