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. (It is possible to reduce this requirement using Disk Data tables, which were 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 MySQL Cluster processes are relatively small.

The software requirements for MySQL 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 MySQL Cluster support. (See Section 5.2, “The mysqld-max Extended MySQL Server”.) It is not necessary to compile MySQL yourself merely to be able to use MySQL Cluster. We assume that you are using the server binary appropriate to your platform, available from the MySQL Cluster software downloads page at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/cluster/.

For communication between nodes, MySQL 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 machines not forming part of the cluster 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 15.3.5, “Using High-Speed Interconnects with MySQL Cluster”, for more about this protocol and its use with MySQL Cluster.