MySQL :: MySQL NDB Cluster 7.5 :: 7.11 NDB Cluster Replication Conflict Resolution

Requirements

Preparations for conflict resolution must be made on both the source and the replica. These tasks are described in the following list:

On the source writing the binary logs, you must determine which columns are sent (all columns or only those that have been updated). This is done for the MySQL Server as a whole by applying the mysqld startup option --ndb-log-updated-only (described later in this section), or on one or more specific tables by placing the proper entries in the mysql.ndb_replication table (see ndb_replication Table).

Note

If you are replicating tables with very large columns (such as TEXT or BLOB columns), --ndb-log-updated-only can also be useful for reducing the size of the binary logs and avoiding possible replication failures due to exceeding max_allowed_packet.
See Replication and max_allowed_packet, for more information about this issue.
On the replica, you must determine which type of conflict resolution to apply (“latest timestamp wins”, “same timestamp wins”, “primary wins”, “primary wins, complete transaction”, or none). This is done using the mysql.ndb_replication system table, and applies to one or more specific tables (see ndb_replication Table).
NDB Cluster also supports read conflict detection, that is, detecting conflicts between reads of a given row in one cluster and updates or deletes of the same row in another cluster. This requires exclusive read locks obtained by setting ndb_log_exclusive_reads equal to 1 on the replica. All rows read by a conflicting read are logged in the exceptions table. For more information, see Read conflict detection and resolution.
NDB applies WRITE_ROW events strictly as inserts, requiring that there is not already any such row; that is, an incoming write is always rejected if the row already exists.

When using the functions NDB$OLD(), NDB$MAX(), and NDB$MAX_DELETE_WIN() for timestamp-based conflict resolution, we often refer to the column used for determining updates as a “timestamp” column. However, the data type of this column is never TIMESTAMP; instead, its data type should be INT (INTEGER) or BIGINT. The “timestamp” column should also be UNSIGNED and NOT NULL.

The NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() functions discussed later in this section work by comparing the relative order of replication epochs applied on a primary and secondary NDB Cluster, and do not make use of timestamps.

Source Column Control

We can see update operations in terms of “before” and “after” images—that is, the states of the table before and after the update is applied. Normally, when updating a table with a primary key, the “before” image is not of great interest; however, when we need to determine on a per-update basis whether or not to use the updated values on a replica, we need to make sure that both images are written to the source's binary log. This is done with the --ndb-log-update-as-write option for mysqld, as described later in this section.

Important

Whether logging of complete rows or of updated columns only is done is decided when the MySQL server is started, and cannot be changed online; you must either restart mysqld, or start a new mysqld instance with different logging options.

Conflict Resolution Control

Conflict resolution is usually enabled on the server where conflicts can occur. Like logging method selection, it is enabled by entries in the mysql.ndb_replication table.

NBT_UPDATED_ONLY_MINIMAL and NBT_UPDATED_FULL_MINIMAL can be used with NDB$EPOCH(), NDB$EPOCH2(), and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(), because these do not require “before” values of columns which are not primary keys. Conflict resolution algorithms requiring the old values, such as NDB$MAX() and NDB$OLD(), do not work correctly with these binlog_type values.

Conflict Resolution Functions

This section provides detailed information about the functions which can be used for conflict detection and resolution with NDB Replication. These functions are listed here in alphabetical order:

NDB$OLD()

If the value of column_name is the same on both the source and the replica, then the update is applied; otherwise, the update is not applied on the replica and an exception is written to the log. This is illustrated by the following pseudocode:

if (source_old_column_value == replica_current_column_value)
  apply_update();
else
  log_exception();

This function can be used for “same value wins” conflict resolution. This type of conflict resolution ensures that updates are not applied on the replica from the wrong source.

Important

The column value from the source's “before” image is used by this function.

NDB$MAX()

If the “timestamp” column value for a given row coming from the source is higher than that on the replica, it is applied; otherwise it is not applied on the replica. This is illustrated by the following pseudocode:

if (source_new_column_value > replica_current_column_value)
  apply_update();

This function can be used for “greatest timestamp wins” conflict resolution. This type of conflict resolution ensures that, in the event of a conflict, the version of the row that was most recently updated is the version that persists.

Important

The column value from the sources's “after” image is used by this function.

NDB$MAX_DELETE_WIN()

This is a variation on NDB$MAX(). Due to the fact that no timestamp is available for a delete operation, a delete using NDB$MAX() is in fact processed as NDB$OLD, but for some use cases, this is not optimal. For NDB$MAX_DELETE_WIN(), if the “timestamp” column value for a given row adding or updating an existing row coming from the source is higher than that on the replica, it is applied. However, delete operations are treated as always having the higher value. This is illustrated by the following pseudocode:

if ( (source_new_column_value > replica_current_column_value)
        ||
      operation.type == "delete")
  apply_update();

This function can be used for “greatest timestamp, delete wins” conflict resolution. This type of conflict resolution ensures that, in the event of a conflict, the version of the row that was deleted or (otherwise) most recently updated is the version that persists.

Note

As with NDB$MAX(), the column value from the source's “after” image is the value used by this function.

NDB$EPOCH()

The NDB$EPOCH() function tracks the order in which replicated epochs are applied on a replica cluster relative to changes originating on the replica. This relative ordering is used to determine whether changes originating on the replica are concurrent with any changes that originate locally, and are therefore potentially in conflict.

Most of what follows in the description of NDB$EPOCH() also applies to NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(). Any exceptions are noted in the text.

NDB$EPOCH() is asymmetric, operating on one NDB Cluster in a bidirectional replication configuration (sometimes referred to as “active-active” replication). We refer here to cluster on which it operates as the primary, and the other as the secondary. The replica on the primary is responsible for detecting and handling conflicts, while the replica on the secondary is not involved in any conflict detection or handling.

When the replica on the primary detects conflicts, it injects events into its own binary log to compensate for these; this ensures that the secondary NDB Cluster eventually realigns itself with the primary and so keeps the primary and secondary from diverging. This compensation and realignment mechanism requires that the primary NDB Cluster always wins any conflicts with the secondary—that is, that the primary's changes are always used rather than those from the secondary in event of a conflict. This “primary always wins” rule has the following implications:

Operations that change data, once committed on the primary, are fully persistent and are not undone or rolled back by conflict detection and resolution.
Data read from the primary is fully consistent. Any changes committed on the Primary (locally or from the replica) are not reverted later.
Operations that change data on the secondary may later be reverted if the primary determines that they are in conflict.
Individual rows read on the secondary are self-consistent at all times, each row always reflecting either a state committed by the secondary, or one committed by the primary.
Sets of rows read on the secondary may not necessarily be consistent at a given single point in time. For NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(), this is a transient state; for NDB$EPOCH(), it can be a persistent state.
Assuming a period of sufficient length without any conflicts, all data on the secondary NDB Cluster (eventually) becomes consistent with the primary's data.

NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() do not require any user schema modifications, or application changes to provide conflict detection. However, careful thought must be given to the schema used, and the access patterns used, to verify that the complete system behaves within specified limits.

Each of the NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() functions can take an optional parameter; this is the number of bits to use to represent the lower 32 bits of the epoch, and should be set to no less than the value calculated as shown here:

CEIL( LOG2( TimeBetweenGlobalCheckpoints / TimeBetweenEpochs ), 1)

For the default values of these configuration parameters (2000 and 100 milliseconds, respectively), this gives a value of 5 bits, so the default value (6) should be sufficient, unless other values are used for TimeBetweenGlobalCheckpoints, TimeBetweenEpochs, or both. A value that is too small can result in false positives, while one that is too large could lead to excessive wasted space in the database.

Both NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() insert entries for conflicting rows into the relevant exceptions tables, provided that these tables have been defined according to the same exceptions table schema rules as described elsewhere in this section (see NDB$OLD()). You must create any exceptions table before creating the data table with which it is to be used.

As with the other conflict detection functions discussed in this section, NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() are activated by including relevant entries in the mysql.ndb_replication table (see ndb_replication Table). The roles of the primary and secondary NDB Clusters in this scenario are fully determined by mysql.ndb_replication table entries.

Because the conflict detection algorithms employed by NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() are asymmetric, you must use different values for the server_id entries of the primary and secondary replicas.

A conflict between DELETE operations alone is not sufficient to trigger a conflict using NDB$EPOCH() or NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(), and the relative placement within epochs does not matter.

Limitations on NDB$EPOCH()

The following limitations currently apply when using NDB$EPOCH() to perform conflict detection:

Conflicts are detected using NDB Cluster epoch boundaries, with granularity proportional to TimeBetweenEpochs (default: 100 milliseconds). The minimum conflict window is the minimum time during which concurrent updates to the same data on both clusters always report a conflict. This is always a nonzero length of time, and is roughly proportional to 2 * (latency + queueing + TimeBetweenEpochs). This implies that—assuming the default for TimeBetweenEpochs and ignoring any latency between clusters (as well as any queuing delays)—the minimum conflict window size is approximately 200 milliseconds. This minimum window should be considered when looking at expected application “race” patterns.
Additional storage is required for tables using the NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() functions; from 1 to 32 bits extra space per row is required, depending on the value passed to the function.
Conflicts between delete operations may result in divergence between the primary and secondary. When a row is deleted on both clusters concurrently, the conflict can be detected, but is not recorded, since the row is deleted. This means that further conflicts during the propagation of any subsequent realignment operations are not detected, which can lead to divergence.
Deletes should be externally serialized, or routed to one cluster only. Alternatively, a separate row should be updated transactionally with such deletes and any inserts that follow them, so that conflicts can be tracked across row deletes. This may require changes in applications.
Only two NDB Clusters in a birectional “active-active” configuration are currently supported when using NDB$EPOCH() or NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() for conflict detection.
Tables having BLOB or TEXT columns are not currently supported with NDB$EPOCH() or NDB$EPOCH_TRANS().

NDB$EPOCH_TRANS()

NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() extends the NDB$EPOCH() function. Conflicts are detected and handled in the same way using the “primary wins all” rule (see NDB$EPOCH()) but with the extra condition that any other rows updated in the same transaction in which the conflict occurred are also regarded as being in conflict. In other words, where NDB$EPOCH() realigns individual conflicting rows on the secondary, NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() realigns conflicting transactions.

In addition, any transactions which are detectably dependent on a conflicting transaction are also regarded as being in conflict, these dependencies being determined by the contents of the secondary cluster's binary log. Since the binary log contains only data modification operations (inserts, updates, and deletes), only overlapping data modifications are used to determine dependencies between transactions.

NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() is subject to the same conditions and limitations as NDB$EPOCH(), and in addition requires that Version 2 binary log row events are used (log_bin_use_v1_row_events equal to 0), which adds a storage overhead of 2 bytes per event in the binary log. In addition, all transaction IDs must be recorded in the secondary's binary log, using --ndb-log-transaction-id set to ON. This adds a variable amount of overhead (up to 13 bytes per row).

See NDB$EPOCH().

NDB$EPOCH2()

The NDB$EPOCH2() function is similar to NDB$EPOCH(), except that NDB$EPOCH2() provides for delete-delete handling with a bidirectional replication topology. In this scenario, primary and secondary roles are assigned to the two sources by setting the ndb_slave_conflict_role system variable to the appropriate value on each source (usually one each of PRIMARY, SECONDARY). When this is done, modifications made by the secondary are reflected by the primary back to the secondary which then conditionally applies them.

NDB$EPOCH2_TRANS()

NDB$EPOCH2_TRANS() extends the NDB$EPOCH2() function. Conflicts are detected and handled in the same way, and assigning primary and secondary roles to the replicating clusters, but with the extra condition that any other rows updated in the same transaction in which the conflict occurred are also regarded as being in conflict. That is, NDB$EPOCH2() realigns individual conflicting rows on the secondary, while NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() realigns conflicting transactions.

Where NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS() use metadata that is specified per row, per last modified epoch, to determine on the primary whether an incoming replicated row change from the secondary is concurrent with a locally committed change; concurrent changes are regarded as conflicting, with subesequent exceptions table updates and realignment of the secondary. A problem arises when a row is deleted on the primary so there is no longer any last-modified epoch available to determine whether any replicated operations conflict, which means that conflicting delete operationss are not detected. This can result in divergence, an example being a delete on one cluster which is concurrent with a delete and insert on the other; this why delete operations can be routed to only one cluster when using NDB$EPOCH() and NDB$EPOCH_TRANS().

NDB$EPOCH2() bypasses the issue just described—storing information about deleted rows on the PRIMARY—by ignoring any delete-delete conflict, and by avoiding any potential resultant divergence as well. This is accomplished by reflecting any operation successfully applied on and replicated from the secondary back to the secondary. On its return to the secondary, it can be used to reapply an operation on the secondary which was deleted by an operation originating from the primary.

When using NDB$EPOCH2(), you should keep in mind that the secondary applies the delete from the primary, removing the new row until it is restored by a reflected operation. In theory, the subsequent insert or update on the secondary conflicts with the delete from the primary, but in this case, we choose to ignore this and allow the secondary to “win”, in the interest of preventing divergence between the clusters. In other words, after a delete, the primary does not detect conflicts, and instead adopts the secondary's following changes immediately. Because of this, the secondary's state can revisit multiple previous committed states as it progresses to a final (stable) state, and some of these may be visible.

You should also be aware that reflecting all operations from the secondary back to the primary increases the size of the primary's logbinary log, as well as demands on bandwidth, CPU usage, and disk I/O.

Application of reflected operations on the secondary depends on the state of the target row on the secondary. Whether or not reflected changes are applied on the secondary can be tracked by checking the Ndb_conflict_reflected_op_prepare_count and Ndb_conflict_reflected_op_discard_count status variables. The number of changes applied is simply the difference between these two values (note that Ndb_conflict_reflected_op_prepare_count is always greater than or equal to Ndb_conflict_reflected_op_discard_count).

Events are applied if and only if both of the following conditions are true:

The existence of the row—that is, whether or not it exists—is in accordance with the type of event. For delete and update operations, the row must already exist. For insert operations, the row must not exist.
The row was last modified by the primary. It is possible that the modification was accomplished through the execution of a reflected operation.

If both of these conditions are not met, the reflected operation is discarded by the secondary.

Conflict Resolution Exceptions Table

To use the NDB$OLD() conflict resolution function, it is also necessary to create an exceptions table corresponding to each NDB table for which this type of conflict resolution is to be employed. This is also true when using NDB$EPOCH() or NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(). The name of this table is that of the table for which conflict resolution is to be applied, with the string $EX appended. (For example, if the name of the original table is mytable, the name of the corresponding exceptions table name should be mytable$EX.) The syntax for creating the exceptions table is as shown here:

CREATE TABLE original_table$EX  (
    [NDB$]server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    [NDB$]source_server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    [NDB$]source_epoch BIGINT UNSIGNED,
    [NDB$]count INT UNSIGNED,

    [NDB$OP_TYPE ENUM('WRITE_ROW','UPDATE_ROW', 'DELETE_ROW',
      'REFRESH_ROW', 'READ_ROW') NOT NULL,]
    [NDB$CFT_CAUSE ENUM('ROW_DOES_NOT_EXIST', 'ROW_ALREADY_EXISTS',
      'DATA_IN_CONFLICT', 'TRANS_IN_CONFLICT') NOT NULL,]
    [NDB$ORIG_TRANSID BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,]

    original_table_pk_columns,

    [orig_table_column|orig_table_column$OLD|orig_table_column$NEW,]

    [additional_columns,]

    PRIMARY KEY([NDB$]server_id, [NDB$]source_server_id, [NDB$]source_epoch, [NDB$]count)
) ENGINE=NDB;

The first four columns are required. The names of the first four columns and the columns matching the original table's primary key columns are not critical; however, we suggest for reasons of clarity and consistency, that you use the names shown here for the server_id, source_server_id, source_epoch, and count columns, and that you use the same names as in the original table for the columns matching those in the original table's primary key.

If the exceptions table uses one or more of the optional columns NDB$OP_TYPE, NDB$CFT_CAUSE, or NDB$ORIG_TRANSID discussed later in this section, then each of the required columns must also be named using the prefix NDB$. If desired, you can use the NDB$ prefix to name the required columns even if you do not define any optional columns, but in this case, all four of the required columns must be named using the prefix.

Following these columns, the columns making up the original table's primary key should be copied in the order in which they are used to define the primary key of the original table. The data types for the columns duplicating the primary key columns of the original table should be the same as (or larger than) those of the original columns. A subset of the primary key columns may be used.

The exceptions table must use the NDB storage engine. (An example that uses NDB$OLD() with an exceptions table is shown later in this section.)

Additional columns may optionally be defined following the copied primary key columns, but not before any of them; any such extra columns cannot be NOT NULL. NDB Cluster supports three additional, predefined optional columns NDB$OP_TYPE, NDB$CFT_CAUSE, and NDB$ORIG_TRANSID, which are described in the next few paragraphs.

NDB$OP_TYPE: This column can be used to obtain the type of operation causing the conflict. If you use this column, define it as shown here:

NDB$OP_TYPE ENUM('WRITE_ROW', 'UPDATE_ROW', 'DELETE_ROW',
    'REFRESH_ROW', 'READ_ROW') NOT NULL

The WRITE_ROW, UPDATE_ROW, and DELETE_ROW operation types represent user-initiated operations. REFRESH_ROW operations are operations generated by conflict resolution in compensating transactions sent back to the originating cluster from the cluster that detected the conflict. READ_ROW operations are user-initiated read tracking operations defined with exclusive row locks.

NDB$CFT_CAUSE: You can define an optional column NDB$CFT_CAUSE which provides the cause of the registered conflict. This column, if used, is defined as shown here:

NDB$CFT_CAUSE ENUM('ROW_DOES_NOT_EXIST', 'ROW_ALREADY_EXISTS',
    'DATA_IN_CONFLICT', 'TRANS_IN_CONFLICT') NOT NULL

ROW_DOES_NOT_EXIST can be reported as the cause for UPDATE_ROW and WRITE_ROW operations; ROW_ALREADY_EXISTS can be reported for WRITE_ROW events. DATA_IN_CONFLICT is reported when a row-based conflict function detects a conflict; TRANS_IN_CONFLICT is reported when a transactional conflict function rejects all of the operations belonging to a complete transaction.

NDB$ORIG_TRANSID: The NDB$ORIG_TRANSID column, if used, contains the ID of the originating transaction. This column should be defined as follows:

NDB$ORIG_TRANSID BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL

NDB$ORIG_TRANSID is a 64-bit value generated by NDB. This value can be used to correlate multiple exceptions table entries belonging to the same conflicting transaction from the same or different exceptions tables.

Additional reference columns which are not part of the original table's primary key can be named colname$OLD or colname$NEW. colname$OLD references old values in update and delete operations—that is, operations containing DELETE_ROW events. colname$NEW can be used to reference new values in insert and update operations—in other words, operations using WRITE_ROW events, UPDATE_ROW events, or both types of events. Where a conflicting operation does not supply a value for a given reference column that is not a primary key, the exceptions table row contains either NULL, or a defined default value for that column.

Important

The mysql.ndb_replication table is read when a data table is set up for replication, so the row corresponding to a table to be replicated must be inserted into mysql.ndb_replication before the table to be replicated is created.

Conflict Detection Status Variables

Several status variables can be used to monitor conflict detection. You can see how many rows have been found in conflict by NDB$EPOCH() since this replica was last restarted from the current value of the Ndb_conflict_fn_epoch system status variable.

Ndb_conflict_fn_epoch_trans provides the number of rows that have been found directly in conflict by NDB$EPOCH_TRANS(). Ndb_conflict_fn_epoch2 and Ndb_conflict_fn_epoch2_trans show the number of rows found in conflict by NDB$EPOCH2() and NDB$EPOCH2_TRANS(), respectively. The number of rows actually realigned, including those affected due to their membership in or dependency on the same transactions as other conflicting rows, is given by Ndb_conflict_trans_row_reject_count.

Another server status variable Ndb_conflict_fn_max provides a count of the number of times that a row was not applied on the current SQL node due to “greatest timestamp wins” conflict resolution since the last time that mysqld was started. Ndb_conflict_fn_max_del_win provides a count of the number of times that conflict resolution based on the outcome of NDB$MAX_DELETE_WIN() has been applied.

The number of times that a row was not applied as the result of “same timestamp wins” conflict resolution on a given mysqld since the last time it was restarted is given by the global status variable Ndb_conflict_fn_old. In addition to incrementing Ndb_conflict_fn_old, the primary key of the row that was not used is inserted into an exceptions table, as explained elsewhere in this section.

Examples

The following examples assume that you have already a working NDB Cluster replication setup, as described in Section 7.5, “Preparing the NDB Cluster for Replication”, and Section 7.6, “Starting NDB Cluster Replication (Single Replication Channel)”.

NDB$MAX() example. Suppose you wish to enable “greatest timestamp wins” conflict resolution on table test.t1, using column mycol as the “timestamp”. This can be done using the following steps:

Make sure that you have started the source mysqld with --ndb-log-update-as-write=OFF.
On the source, perform this INSERT statement:
```
INSERT INTO mysql.ndb_replication
    VALUES ('test', 't1', 0, NULL, 'NDB$MAX(mycol)');
```
Note

If the ndb_replication table does not already exist, you must create it. See ndb_replication Table.

Inserting a 0 into the server_id column indicates that all SQL nodes accessing this table should use conflict resolution. If you want to use conflict resolution on a specific mysqld only, use the actual server ID.
Inserting NULL into the binlog_type column has the same effect as inserting 0 (NBT_DEFAULT); the server default is used.
Create the test.t1 table:
```
CREATE TABLE test.t1 (
    columns
    mycol INT UNSIGNED,
    columns
) ENGINE=NDB;
```
Now, when updates are performed on this table, conflict resolution is applied, and the version of the row having the greatest value for mycol is written to the replica.

Note

Other binlog_type options such as NBT_UPDATED_ONLY_USE_UPDATE (6) should be used to control logging on the source using the ndb_replication table rather than by using command-line options.

NDB$OLD() example. Suppose an NDB table such as the one defined here is being replicated, and you wish to enable “same timestamp wins” conflict resolution for updates to this table:

CREATE TABLE test.t2  (
    a INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
    b CHAR(25) NOT NULL,
    columns,
    mycol INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
    columns,
    PRIMARY KEY pk (a, b)
)   ENGINE=NDB;

The following steps are required, in the order shown:

First—and prior to creating test.t2—you must insert a row into the mysql.ndb_replication table, as shown here:
```
INSERT INTO mysql.ndb_replication
    VALUES ('test', 't2', 0, 0, 'NDB$OLD(mycol)');
```
Possible values for the binlog_type column are shown earlier in this section; in this case, we use 0 to specify that the server default logging behavior be used. The value 'NDB$OLD(mycol)' should be inserted into the conflict_fn column.

Create an appropriate exceptions table for test.t2. The table creation statement shown here includes all required columns; any additional columns must be declared following these columns, and before the definition of the table's primary key.

CREATE TABLE test.t2$EX  (
    server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    source_server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    source_epoch BIGINT UNSIGNED,
    count INT UNSIGNED,
    a INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
    b CHAR(25) NOT NULL,

    [additional_columns,]

    PRIMARY KEY(server_id, source_server_id, source_epoch, count)
)   ENGINE=NDB;

We can include additional columns for information about the type, cause, and originating transaction ID for a given conflict. We are also not required to supply matching columns for all primary key columns in the original table. This means you can create the exceptions table like this:

CREATE TABLE test.t2$EX  (
    NDB$server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$source_server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$source_epoch BIGINT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$count INT UNSIGNED,
    a INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,

    NDB$OP_TYPE ENUM('WRITE_ROW','UPDATE_ROW', 'DELETE_ROW',
      'REFRESH_ROW', 'READ_ROW') NOT NULL,
    NDB$CFT_CAUSE ENUM('ROW_DOES_NOT_EXIST', 'ROW_ALREADY_EXISTS',
      'DATA_IN_CONFLICT', 'TRANS_IN_CONFLICT') NOT NULL,
    NDB$ORIG_TRANSID BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,

    [additional_columns,]

    PRIMARY KEY(NDB$server_id, NDB$source_server_id, NDB$source_epoch, NDB$count)
)   ENGINE=NDB;

Note

The NDB$ prefix is required for the four required columns since we included at least one of the columns NDB$OP_TYPE, NDB$CFT_CAUSE, or NDB$ORIG_TRANSID in the table definition.

Create the table test.t2 as shown previously.

These steps must be followed for every table for which you wish to perform conflict resolution using NDB$OLD(). For each such table, there must be a corresponding row in mysql.ndb_replication, and there must be an exceptions table in the same database as the table being replicated.

Read conflict detection and resolution. NDB Cluster also supports tracking of read operations, which makes it possible in circular replication setups to manage conflicts between reads of a given row in one cluster and updates or deletes of the same row in another. This example uses employee and department tables to model a scenario in which an employee is moved from one department to another on the source cluster (which we refer to hereafter as cluster A) while the replica cluster (hereafter B) updates the employee count of the employee's former department in an interleaved transaction.

The data tables have been created using the following SQL statements:

# Employee table
CREATE TABLE employee (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(2000),
    dept INT NOT NULL
)   ENGINE=NDB;

# Department table
CREATE TABLE department (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(2000),
    members INT
)   ENGINE=NDB;

The contents of the two tables include the rows shown in the (partial) output of the following SELECT statements:

mysql> SELECT id, name, dept FROM employee;
+---------------+------+
| id   | name   | dept |
+------+--------+------+
...
| 998  |  Mike  | 3    |
| 999  |  Joe   | 3    |
| 1000 |  Mary  | 3    |
...
+------+--------+------+

mysql> SELECT id, name, members FROM department;
+-----+-------------+---------+
| id  | name        | members |
+-----+-------------+---------+
...
| 3   | Old project | 24      |
...
+-----+-------------+---------+

We assume that we are already using an exceptions table that includes the four required columns (and these are used for this table's primary key), the optional columns for operation type and cause, and the original table's primary key column, created using the SQL statement shown here:

CREATE TABLE employee$EX  (
    NDB$server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$source_server_id INT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$source_epoch BIGINT UNSIGNED,
    NDB$count INT UNSIGNED,

    NDB$OP_TYPE ENUM( 'WRITE_ROW','UPDATE_ROW', 'DELETE_ROW',
                      'REFRESH_ROW','READ_ROW') NOT NULL,
    NDB$CFT_CAUSE ENUM( 'ROW_DOES_NOT_EXIST',
                        'ROW_ALREADY_EXISTS',
                        'DATA_IN_CONFLICT',
                        'TRANS_IN_CONFLICT') NOT NULL,

    id INT NOT NULL,

    PRIMARY KEY(NDB$server_id, NDB$source_server_id, NDB$source_epoch, NDB$count)
)   ENGINE=NDB;

Suppose there occur the two simultaneous transactions on the two clusters. On cluster A, we create a new department, then move employee number 999 into that department, using the following SQL statements:

BEGIN;
  INSERT INTO department VALUES (4, "New project", 1);
  UPDATE employee SET dept = 4 WHERE id = 999;
COMMIT;

At the same time, on cluster B, another transaction reads from employee, as shown here:

BEGIN;
  SELECT name FROM employee WHERE id = 999;
  UPDATE department SET members = members - 1  WHERE id = 3;
commit;

The conflicting transactions are not normally detected by the conflict resolution mechanism, since the conflict is between a read (SELECT) and an update operation. You can circumvent this issue by executing SET ndb_log_exclusive_reads = 1 on the replica cluster. Acquiring exclusive read locks in this way causes any rows read on the source to be flagged as needing conflict resolution on the replica cluster. If we enable exclusive reads in this way prior to the logging of these transactions, the read on cluster B is tracked and sent to cluster A for resolution; the conflict on the employee row is subsequently detected and the transaction on cluster B is aborted.

The conflict is registered in the exceptions table (on cluster A) as a READ_ROW operation (see Conflict Resolution Exceptions Table, for a description of operation types), as shown here:

mysql> SELECT id, NDB$OP_TYPE, NDB$CFT_CAUSE FROM employee$EX;
+-------+-------------+-------------------+
| id    | NDB$OP_TYPE | NDB$CFT_CAUSE     |
+-------+-------------+-------------------+
...
| 999   | READ_ROW    | TRANS_IN_CONFLICT |
+-------+-------------+-------------------+

Any existing rows found in the read operation are flagged. This means that multiple rows resulting from the same conflict may be logged in the exception table, as shown by examining the effects a conflict between an update on cluster A and a read of multiple rows on cluster B from the same table in simultaneous transactions. The transaction executed on cluster A is shown here:

BEGIN;
  INSERT INTO department VALUES (4, "New project", 0);
  UPDATE employee SET dept = 4 WHERE dept = 3;
  SELECT COUNT(*) INTO @count FROM employee WHERE dept = 4;
  UPDATE department SET members = @count WHERE id = 4;
COMMIT;

Concurrently a transaction containing the statements shown here runs on cluster B:

SET ndb_log_exclusive_reads = 1;  # Must be set if not already enabled
...
BEGIN;
  SELECT COUNT(*) INTO @count FROM employee WHERE dept = 3 FOR UPDATE;
  UPDATE department SET members = @count WHERE id = 3;
COMMIT;

In this case, all three rows matching the WHERE condition in the second transaction's SELECT are read, and are thus flagged in the exceptions table, as shown here:

mysql> SELECT id, NDB$OP_TYPE, NDB$CFT_CAUSE FROM employee$EX;
+-------+-------------+-------------------+
| id    | NDB$OP_TYPE | NDB$CFT_CAUSE     |
+-------+-------------+-------------------+
...
| 998   | READ_ROW    | TRANS_IN_CONFLICT |
| 999   | READ_ROW    | TRANS_IN_CONFLICT |
| 1000  | READ_ROW    | TRANS_IN_CONFLICT |
...
+-------+-------------+-------------------+

Read tracking is performed on the basis of existing rows only. A read based on a given condition track conflicts only of any rows that are found and not of any rows that are inserted in an interleaved transaction. This is similar to how exclusive row locking is performed in a single instance of NDB Cluster.