MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual
MySQL 5.7 Release Notes
MySQL Server offers a number of choices in storage engines. Since
both NDB and
InnoDB can serve as transactional
MySQL storage engines, users of MySQL Server sometimes become
interested in NDB Cluster. They see
NDB as a possible alternative or
upgrade to the default InnoDB storage
engine in MySQL 5.7. While NDB and
InnoDB share common characteristics,
there are differences in architecture and implementation, so that
some existing MySQL Server applications and usage scenarios can be
a good fit for NDB Cluster, but not all of them.
In this section, we discuss and compare some characteristics of
the NDB storage engine used by NDB
7.5 with InnoDB used in MySQL 5.7.
The next few sections provide a technical comparison. In many
instances, decisions about when and where to use NDB Cluster must
be made on a case-by-case basis, taking all factors into
consideration. While it is beyond the scope of this documentation
to provide specifics for every conceivable usage scenario, we also
attempt to offer some very general guidance on the relative
suitability of some common types of applications for
NDB as opposed to
InnoDB back ends.
NDB Cluster 7.5 uses a mysqld based on MySQL
5.7, including support for InnoDB
1.1. While it is possible to use InnoDB tables
with NDB Cluster, such tables are not clustered. It is also not
possible to use programs or libraries from an NDB Cluster 7.5
distribution with MySQL Server 5.7, or the reverse.
While it is also true that some types of common business
applications can be run either on NDB Cluster or on MySQL Server
(most likely using the InnoDB storage
engine), there are some important architectural and implementation
differences. Section 2.6.1, “Differences Between the NDB and InnoDB Storage Engines”,
provides a summary of the these differences. Due to the
differences, some usage scenarios are clearly more suitable for
one engine or the other; see
Section 2.6.2, “NDB and InnoDB Workloads”. This in turn
has an impact on the types of applications that better suited for
use with NDB or
InnoDB. See
Section 2.6.3, “NDB and InnoDB Feature Usage Summary”, for a comparison
of the relative suitability of each for use in common types of
database applications.
For information about the relative characteristics of the
NDB and
MEMORY storage engines, see
When to Use MEMORY or NDB Cluster.
See Alternative Storage Engines, for additional information about MySQL storage engines.