This chapter contains information about MySQL Cluster is a high-availability, high-redundancy version of MySQL adapted for the distributed computing environment. It uses the NDBCLUSTER storage engine to enable running several computers with MySQL servers and other software in a cluster. This storage engine is available in MySQL 5.0 binary releases and in RPMs compatible with most modern Linux distributions.

Supported Platforms.  MySQL Cluster is currently available and supported on a number of platforms. For exact levels of support available for on specific combinations of operating system versions, operating system distributions, and hardware platforms, please refer to http://www.mysql.com/support/supportedplatforms/cluster.html.

Compatibility with standard MySQL.  While many standard MySQL schemas and applications can work using MySQL Cluster, it is also true that unmodified applications and database schemas may be slightly incompatible or have suboptimal performance when run using MySQL Cluster (see Section 17.1.5, “Known Limitations of MySQL Cluster”). Most of these issues can be overcome, but this also means that you are very unlikely to be able to switch an existing application datastore—that currently uses, for example, MyISAM or InnoDB—to use the NDB storage engine without allowing for the possibility of changes in schemas, queries, and applications.

Beginning with MySQL Cluster NDB 7.1, MySQL Cluster is available for production use on Microsoft Windows. MySQL Cluster is not available for Microsoft Windows in MySQL 5.0. For more information, see MySQL Cluster NDB 6.1 - 7.1.

This chapter represents a work in progress, and its contents are subject to revision as MySQL Cluster continues to evolve. Additional information regarding MySQL Cluster can be found on the MySQL Web site at http://www.mysql.com/products/cluster/.

Additional Resources.  More information about MySQL Cluster can be found in the following places: