When it comes to a DB Server running mysqld
in a MySQL Cluster environment, the DB Server's role is known as a SQL Node.
I once described the difference between a Storage Node and a SQL Node : Does mysqld --ndb-cluster need to be run on MySQL Cluster data nodes?. In the comment section of the question, Mat Keep commented that you should look at MySQL Cluster -- Storing table data on data nodes.
In a small Cluster, I do not see any significant impact of running mysqld on a Storage Node. In a larger Cluster, I would expect SQL Nodes to be setup apart from the Data Node unless you intend to store data in physical files.
You can find additional info from the three MySQL Cluster gurus in the DBA StackExchange
Based on your comment
To be more precise, I have 3 machines which run a Data Node. Each machine has 8Gb of RAM. In total the the db should store ~50 million ~1kb records. How would you do it here?
DISCLAIMER : Not SCMCDBA Certified
Personally, I would get a fourth server and run it as the SQL Node and leave the others as Storage (Data) Nodes. Make sure the SQL node and the Data nodes have the same hardware and OS settings.
If it is a low-write DB Cluster, then you could chance it and run mysqld --ndbcluster
on each Data Node (no need for a fourth server).
mysqld
is the MySQL database server in all configurations, it's not specific to clusters.