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19.2.3 Multi-Computer Configuration »
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19.2.2. Multi-Computer Installation

Each MySQL Cluster host computer running an SQL node must have installed on it a MySQL binary. For management nodes and data nodes, it is not necessary to install the MySQL server binary, but management nodes require the management server daemon (ndb_mgmd) and data nodes require the data node daemon (ndbd). It is also a good idea to install the management client (ndb_mgm) on the management server host. This section covers the steps necessary to install the correct binaries for each type of Cluster node.

MySQL AB provides precompiled binaries that support Cluster, and there is generally no need to compile these yourself. However, we also include information relating to installing a MySQL Cluster after building MySQL from source. For setting up a cluster using MySQL's binaries, the first step in the installation process for each cluster host is to download the file mysql-5.1.24-ndb-6.2.16-linux-i686-glibc23.tar.gz from the MySQL downloads area. We assume that you have placed it in each machine's /var/tmp directory. (If you do require a custom binary, see Section 2.9.3, “Installing from the Development Source Tree”.)

Note

After completing the installation, do not yet start any of the binaries. We show you how to do so following the configuration of all nodes.

Data and SQL Node Installation — .tar.gz Binary.  On each of the machines designated to host data or SQL nodes, perform the following steps as the system root user:

  1. Check your /etc/passwd and /etc/group files (or use whatever tools are provided by your operating system for managing users and groups) to see whether there is already a mysql group and mysql user on the system. Some OS distributions create these as part of the operating system installation process. If they are not already present, create a new mysql user group, and then add a mysql user to this group: 

    shell> groupadd mysql
shell> useradd -g mysql mysql

    The syntax for useradd and groupadd may differ slightly on different versions of Unix, or they may have different names such as adduser and addgroup.

  2. Change location to the directory containing the downloaded file, unpack the archive, and create a symlink to the mysql directory named mysql. Note that the actual file and directory names will vary according to the MySQL version number. 

    shell> cd /var/tmp
shell> tar -C /usr/local -xzvf mysql-5.1.24-ndb-6.2.16-linux-i686-glibc23.tar.gz
shell> ln -s /usr/local/mysql-5.1.24-ndb-6.2.16-linux-i686-glibc23.tar.gz /usr/local/mysql

  3. Change location to the mysql directory and run the supplied script for creating the system databases: 

    shell> cd mysql
shell> scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql

  4. Set the necessary permissions for the MySQL server and data directories: 

    shell> chown -R root .
shell> chown -R mysql data
shell> chgrp -R mysql .

    Note that the data directory on each machine hosting a data node is /usr/local/mysql/data. This piece of information is essential when configuring the management node. (See Section 19.2.3, “Multi-Computer Configuration”.)

  5. Copy the MySQL startup script to the appropriate directory, make it executable, and set it to start when the operating system is booted up: 

    shell> cp support-files/mysql.server /etc/rc.d/init.d/
shell> chmod +x /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql.server
shell> chkconfig --add mysql.server

    (The startup scripts directory may vary depending on your operating system and version — for example, in some Linux distributions, it is /etc/init.d.)

    Here we use Red Hat's chkconfig for creating links to the startup scripts; use whatever means is appropriate for this purpose on your operating system and distribution, such as update-rc.d on Debian.

Remember that the preceding steps must be performed separately on each machine where an SQL node is to reside.

SQL node installation — building from source.  If you compile MySQL with clustering support (for example, by using the BUILD/compile-platform_name-max script appropriate to your platform), and perform the default installation (using make install as the root user), mysqld is placed in /usr/local/mysql/bin. Follow the steps given in Section 2.9, “MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution” to make mysqld ready for use. If you want to run multiple SQL nodes, you can use a copy of the same mysqld executable and its associated support files on several machines. The easiest way to do this is to copy the entire /usr/local/mysql directory and all directories and files contained within it to the other SQL node host or hosts, then repeat the steps from Section 2.9, “MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution” on each machine. If you configure the build with a non-default --prefix, you need to adjust the directory accordingly.

Data node installation — building from source.  The only executable required on a data node host is ndbd (mysqld, for example, does not have to be present on the host machine). By default when doing a source build, this file is placed in the directory /usr/local/mysql/libexec. For installing on multiple data node hosts, only ndbd need be copied to the other host machine or machines. (This assumes that all data node hosts use the same architecture and operating system; otherwise you may need to compile separately for each different platform.) ndbd need not be in any particular location on the host's filesystem, as long as the location is known.

Management node installation — .tar.gz binary.  Installation of the management node does not require the mysqld binary. Only the binary for the management server is required, which can be found in the downloaded archive. You most likely want to install the management client as well; this can also be found in the .tar.gz archive. Again, we assume that you have placed this archive in /var/tmp.

As system root (that is, after using sudo, su root, or your system's equivalent for temporarily assuming the system administrator account's privileges), perform the following steps to install ndb_mgmd and ndb_mgm on the Cluster management node host:

  1. Change location to the /var/tmp directory, and extract the ndb_mgm and ndb_mgmd from the archive into a suitable directory such as /usr/local/bin: 

    shell> cd /var/tmp
shell> tar -zxvf mysql-5.1.24-ndb-6.2.16-linux-i686-glibc23.tar.gz
shell> cd mysql-5.1.24-ndb-6.2.16-linux-i686-glibc23
shell> cp /bin/ndb_mgm* /usr/local/bin

    (You can safely delete the directory created by unpacking the downloaded archive, and the files it contains, from /var/tmp once ndb_mgm and ndb_mgmd have been copied to the executables directory.)

  2. Change location to the directory into which you copied the files, and then make both of them executable: 

    shell> cd /usr/local/bin
shell> chmod +x ndb_mgm*

Management node installation — building from source.  When building from source and running the default make install, the management server binary (ndb_mgmd) is placed in /usr/local/mysql/libexec, while the management client binary (ndb_mgm) can be found in /usr/local/mysql/bin. Only ndb_mgmd is required to be present on a management node host; however, it is also a good idea to have ndb_mgm present on the same host machine. Neither of these executables requires a specific location on the host machine's filesystem.

In Section 19.2.3, “Multi-Computer Configuration”, we create configuration files for all of the nodes in our example Cluster.