For our four-node, four-host MySQL Cluster, we will need 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 engine
ndb-connectstring=192.168.0.10  # location of MGM node

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

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.

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 logfiles

# 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 datafiles

# 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 datafiles

# 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 https://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 16.3.4, “Initial Startup”.

For more detailed information about the available MySQL Cluster configuration parameters and their uses, see Section 16.4.4, “Configuration File”, and Section 16.4, “MySQL Cluster Configuration”. For configuration of MySQL Cluster as relates to making backups, see Section 16.6.5.4, “Configuration for Cluster Backup”.

Note: The default port for Cluster management nodes is 1186; the default port for data nodes is 2202. Beginning with MySQL 5.0.3, this restriction is lifted, and the cluster automatically allocates ports for data nodes from those that are already free.