MySQL Cluster
Chapter 1.
MySQL Cluster Overview
MySQL Cluster is a technology that enables clustering of in-memory databases in a shared-nothing system. The shared-nothing ar-
chitecture enables the system to work with very inexpensive hardware, and with a minimum of specific requirements for hardware
or software.
MySQL Cluster is designed not to have any single point of failure. In a shared-nothing system, each component is expected to have
its own memory and disk, and the use of shared storage mechanisms such as network shares, network file systems, and SANs is not
recommended or supported.
MySQL Cluster integrates the standard MySQL server with an in-memory clustered storage engine called NDB (which stands for
“Network DataBase”). In our documentation, the term NDB refers to the part of the setup that is specific to the storage engine,
whereas “MySQL Cluster” refers to the combination of one or more MySQL servers with the NDB storage engine.