MySQL NDB Cluster Architecture and its Benefit

MySQL NDB Cluster works in a shared-nothing system by working on its memory and disk. Its technology is based on the clustering of in-memory databases, making it highly available with faster response times. It is designed in such a way as to not have any single point of failure. The use of shared-nothing architecture gives the flexibility to work with cost-effective hardware. It also enables the system to run with the minimum precondition for both hardware and software.

A cluster in MySQL comprises several nodes. Let us understand these three types below:

Data nodes: It is here the actual data gets stored, and currently, it supports up to 48 data nodes with up to 1 TB of memory for each node.

API nodes: This is where the queries get executed. It can be a normal SQL node or the following:

• NoSQL using Memcached- The native Memcached API speed up database management, bypassing the SQL layer for web services, schema, and schemaless data storage.
• NoSQL using JavaScript- Users can bypass the SQL layer for highly concurrent and mobile services by using native JavaScript access & node.js nodes.
• NoSQL using C++- The use of native C++ access, bypassing SQL layer for ultra-low-latency renders huge benefit.
• NoSQL using Java, JPA- By using the native Java & JPA access, it bypasses the SQL layer for enterprise, telecoms, and web services.
• NoSQL using REST- The native HTTP/REST access, bypassing SQL layer by using Apache mod_ndb.

Management nodes: As the name suggests, it manages the other nodes within the NDB cluster. It holds the configuration of the cluster and starts with the command ndb_mgmd. It also performs functions such as furnishing configuration data and running backups.

Promising Components of MySQL NDB Cluster Architecture include:

We all know that MySQL NDB Cluster is a distributed SQL relational database. It is a synthesis of MySQL server and NDB storage engine but it was primarily designed for the telecom sector for storing databases with high availability in mind. With time its usage has increased where it provides support for web applications that need read and write scalability. With a multi-master replication technique, coupled with an auto-sharding feature, it also provides very high writing scalability.

Let us briefly discuss its architectural design for a better understanding of the NDB cluster:

MySQL NDB Cluster Architecture

As you can see from the above image, the components of the NDB cluster consist of a set of host computer systems, each having the task of running one or more processes. These refer to as nodes which include MySQL servers, NDB management servers, data nodes for recording, and other specialized programs.

Here, all these programs function coherently to form an NDB Cluster. So when data is stored in the in-house memory, the tables get compiled in the data nodes. Because the MySQL NDB Cluster has a built-in backup mechanism. It is called an Ndb backup that captures all the indexes and tables. So when processing payroll applications, if one updates the employee salary section information in a table, it gets reflected in all other data nodes. Here, all other MySQL servers or SQL nodes in the cluster can see this mirrored change immediately.

Point-wise breakdown of the My SQL NDB Cluster design involves:

Performance & Scalability:

• Data can get retrieved through distributed MySQL servers and clients.

• With sharding or auto-partition provision, the database can get auto-partitioned in a transparent way across low-cost commodity nodes. It further allows scale-out of reading and writing queries. This gets done without the need for any changes to the application.

• The NDB Cluster function joins and filters conditions directly on the distributed data partitions. Here, they are locally executed locally and parallelly on the data nodes. This provides an accurate transactional outlook of the distributed dataset.

• The cluster enables faster and real-time responsiveness with low latency with in-memory tables and indexes. Likewise, it performs asynchronous checkpointing to disk & binding of threads to CPUs.

• The NDB cluster architecture queries run on all partitions on all nodes in parallel. It is also executed in parallel on each local data node for ultimate performance. Here, it also improves security by applying different security control into partitioned data. Thus, protecting the sensitive databases and separating them from non-sensitive data.

High availability:

• It enables the master replication of transactions across data nodes. It is done in a transparent manner for high availability.

• Allows for automatic logging, failover, recovery, checkpointing, failure detection, and resynchronization.

• Enables online operations like backup, upgrade, and schema changes.

Data Integrity & 99.999% Availability:

• The data in each node is stored in its own memory and disk. So it has ‘No Single Point of Failure’ that eliminates the risk of a failure caused by shared components.

• The NBD cluster is ACID Compliant, meaning it provides full atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability of transactional support.

• It uses Foreign Key to place constraints on data to prevent such actions that would destroy or harm links between tables. Thus, it automatically maintains referential integrity among the tables.

• Each node containing data is replicated in a synchronous manner to mirror its information to at least another data node. It allows for ‘Synchronous Replication’ where if any data node faces a failover, then the user has availability of at least one other data node containing the same information.

• The NDB cluster provides for geographic replication from one data center to another. This helps in disaster recovery and decreases the effects of network latency. Thus, to handle internal conflicts, each cluster can accept write operations which ensures consistency.

• This architecture also allows for failed nodes to self-heal with complete application transparency. It gets done via resynchronizing and automatically restarting with other nodes before re-joining the cluster.

Benefits and Applications of MySQL Cluster:

The applicability of MySQL Cluster across different platforms helps in cost optimization. Let us dive into its utility with the below-mentioned points:

Mobile payments gateways:

• MySQL NDB Cluster can be used across multiple payment channels like mPayment, ePayment In-store, etc.
• It is also helpful to integrate numerous credit and debit cards into the system.
• Further, it records the transaction data and information related to customer and product information. Thus, managing the database becomes easier.

For Customer Service network:

• To integrate call desk and telephonic service, you can use the MySQL Cluster.
• It assists the inbound calls transfer of customers to expert representatives.
• It can be used as a command and control system too.
• It gives the flexibility to retrieve the customer account information in a real-time manner.
• It also enables the Integrated Voice Response systems for better customer service.

eCommerce and financial trading:

• It provides back-end support with fraud detection for eCommerce platforms.
• This gets done via storing the user session data for seamless log-in information of where they left the cart and previous searches.
• It allows for better browsing to placing the product orders by recording their behavior. Thus, enabling real-time cross-sell and upsell promotions.

Best for online gaming experience:

• Here the command and control system helps to utilize the feature across gaming platforms.
• It helps to integrate devices with multiple services and avatars with the Session Record feature.
• It efficiently manages to gather scores, leader boards, and gaming entitlements without fear of losing these data.

Apart from the above benefits, the MySQL NDB Cluster helps to avoid workload issues. It is beneficial to many businesses to optimize their task smoothly. It can be used across a range of web-based services or can get used on-premise or in the cloud. Furthermore, it has assisted many large-scale organizations to scale up the task and shape the performance metric to a new level. With the MySQL enterprise audit feature, you can avail audit solutions to your organization and implement strong security control. Thus, you can optimize your daily operations in a much better way and save your time and effort.