Alternative OpenSource/free to MySQL Cluster Manager Client?

Question

I need to deploy a MySQL cluster but initially no bucks for the MySQL Cluster Manager Client.

It's at least $5k and I actually think in my case it will go way over that.

I looked a lot on Google (a few days actually, part-time) for an opensource solution with no success. I also didn't find anything about such solution here at stackoverflow etc.

But I still find it hard to believe that no one tried or succeeded building such a client, even if it's not open source, at least "cheaper/less expensive".

Now another point, what will I be missing by not having this client? For what I saw I could write scripts for most of what it does, is there HUGE advantages to using it?

PS. Changing to another "HA" solution like master master or etc is not an option...

PS2. Using any of the other cluster solutions, like persona's is not an option...

Edited here: btw, it works great and I wrote simple automation scripts myself. I wanted to use names instead of ips for the nodes, but it it seems impossible... lol

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Answer 1

The cluster manager software can help make a lot of operational tasks much simpler, and can avoid mistakes such as restarting machines in the wrong order for a rolling upgrade or so on. There is also a competing product from SeveralNines which is said to be superior in some respects, although I can't comment more on that because I haven't used it.

Why would you want some kind of cluster management software? Can you live without it? Yes, you can. But do not underestimate the complexity of administering a MySQL cluster based on NDB technology. It is NOT just a storage engine for MySQL, and it is NOT related to or similar to standard MySQL. It is a set of MySQL servers with a storage engine acting as a front-end or proxy to a completely separate NDB database, and NDB is probably unlike anything you've administered before. It's also not really compatible with standard MySQL from the behavioral point of view, so you will have to build your application to work with/around its characteristics; an NDB cluster migration commonly involves a significant application rearchitecture project.

If you don't really know what you are doing, you will probably not achieve whatever your goals are (high availability, high durability, high performance). Fat-finger something and you can cause downtime or even complete data loss. A "good" administrator usually has years of experience with it. No offense, but the fact that you need to ask what the cluster manager software does for you probably indicates that you're not knowledgeable enough -- I would be scared if I were you. NDB is not simple; take a look at the number of lines of code and compare that to MySQL; now compare the size of the user manual and the size of the userbase, and consider that you're getting into a very specialized field with not enough documentation, only a few gurus, and not a huge population of administrators with a very large shared knowledge.

The reason someone mentioned Percona XtraDB Cluster is likely because it's basically standard MySQL with standard InnoDB, with a cluster communication component to replace standard replication with something better, called Galera. I work for Percona, and I'm not trying to boost it, only adding a little context to other replies.

Answer 2

Disclosure first: I'm part of the MySQL Cluster product team

You can try out MySQL Cluster Manager without cost or obligation to determine if does what you need. The bootstrap option enables you to evaluate cluster simply by provisioning with a single command: http://www.clusterdb.com/mysql-cluster/mysql-cluster-manager-1-1-2-creating-a-cluster-is-now-trivial/

The Evaluation Guide provides best practices on building a Proof of Concept on Cluster, and benchmarking your configuration: http://mysql.com/why-mysql/white-papers/mysql_cluster_eval_guide.php

Please also note the prices you are quoting are not just for MySQL Cluster Manager, but also includes 24x7 support for the whole Cluster (not just the manager) in addition to MySQL Enterprise Monitor, MySQL Enterprise Security, etc

Good luck with you evaluations!

Answer 3

Please read about purpose of that client:

Cluster will work without that manager client. BUT you have setup script to test cluster is ok. You can use pacemaker or other clustering software(yes, i see that it was "not a option") or you can create similar softwar yourself.

I am recomending use nagios monitoring software for monitor cluster and do all operation "manualy". so you will have monitoring system, script which will try auto-restore(invoked by nagios) and script which will do backup. After that you can add script which do other operation like check cluster perfomance logs etc.

Note, that overal time of creating and testing such installation can be more then cost of original soft.

Answer 4

Try the Percona XtraDB cluster - http://www.percona.com/software/percona-xtradb-cluster/ its currently in Beta with a release candidate at the end of March 2012

Answer 5

Take a look at Several Nines' Cluster Control software: http://www.severalnines.com/cluster-control-mysql-cluster

I've used it as part of a package install for MySQL Cluster on Amazon EC2: http://support.severalnines.com/entries/20916823-installing-on-amazon-ec2

and have found it quite useful. I suspect its not as fully featured as Cluster Manager, but might be what you need.