At this weeks MySQL Connect conference, Oracle previewed an exciting new wave of developments for MySQL Cluster, further extending its simplicity and flexibility by expanding the range of use-cases, adding new NoSQL options, and automating configuration.

What’s new:

• Development Release 1: MySQL Cluster 7.3 with Foreign Keys
• Early Access “Labs” Preview: MySQL Cluster NoSQL API for Node.js
• Early Access “Labs” Preview: MySQL Cluster GUI-Based Auto-Installer

In this blog, I'll introduce you to the features being previewed.

Review the blogs listed below for more detail on each of the specific features discussed.

Save the date!: A live webinar is scheduled for Thursday 25th October at 0900 Pacific Time / 1600UTC where we will discuss each of these enhancements in more detail. Registration will be open soon and published to the MySQL webinars page

MySQL Cluster 7.3: Development Release 1

The first MySQL Cluster 7.3 Development Milestone Release (DMR) previews Foreign Keys, bringing powerful new functionality to MySQL Cluster while eliminating development complexity.

Foreign Key support has been one of the most requested enhancements to MySQL Cluster – enabling users to simplify their data models and application logic – while extending the range of use-cases for both custom projects requiring referential integrity and packaged applications, such as eCommerce, CRM, CMS, etc.

Implementation

The Foreign Key functionality is implemented directly within the MySQL Cluster data nodes, allowing any client API accessing the cluster to benefit from them – whether they are SQL or one of the NoSQL interfaces (Memcached, C++, Java, JPA, HTTP/REST or the new Node.js API - discussed later.)

The core referential actions defined in the SQL:2003 standard are implemented:

• CASCADE
• RESTRICT
• NO ACTION
• SET NULL

In addition, the MySQL Cluster implementation supports the online adding and dropping of Foreign Keys, ensuring the Cluster continues to serve both read and write requests during the operation.  This represents a further enhancement to MySQL Cluster's support for on0line schema changes, ie adding and dropping indexes, adding columns, etc. 

Read this blog for a demonstration of using Foreign Keys with MySQL Cluster. 

Getting Started with MySQL Cluster 7.3 DMR1:

Users can download either the source or binary and evaluate the MySQL Cluster 7.3 DMR with Foreign Keys now! (Select the Development Release tab).

MySQL Cluster NoSQL API for Node.js

Node.js is hot! In a little over 3 years, it has become one of the most popular environments for developing next generation web, cloud, mobile and social applications. Bringing JavaScript from the browser to the server, the design goal of Node.js is to build new real-time applications supporting millions of client connections, serviced by a single CPU core.

Making it simple to further extend the flexibility and power of Node.js to the database layer, we are previewing the Node.js Javascript API for MySQL Cluster as an Early Access release, available for download now from http://labs.mysql.com/. Select the following build:

MySQL-Cluster-NoSQL-Connector-for-Node-js

Alternatively, you can clone the project at the MySQL GitHub page. 

Implemented as a module for the V8 engine, the new API provides Node.js with a native, asynchronous JavaScript interface that can be used to both query and receive results sets directly from MySQL Cluster, without transformations to SQL.

Figure 1: MySQL Cluster NoSQL API for Node.js enables end-to-end JavaScript development

Rather than just presenting a simple interface to the database, the Node.js module integrates the MySQL Cluster native API library directly within the web application itself, enabling developers to seamlessly couple their high performance, distributed applications with a high performance, distributed, persistence layer delivering 99.999% availability.

The new Node.js API joins a rich array of NoSQL interfaces available for MySQL Cluster. Whichever API is chosen for an application, SQL and NoSQL can be used concurrently across the same data set, providing the ultimate in developer flexibility. 

Get started with MySQL Cluster NoSQL API for Node.js tutorial

MySQL Cluster GUI-Based Auto-Installer

Compatible with both MySQL Cluster 7.2 and 7.3, the Auto-Installer makes it simple for DevOps teams to quickly configure and provision highly optimized MySQL Cluster deployments – whether on-premise or in the cloud.

Implemented with a standard HTML GUI and Python-based web server back-end, the Auto-Installer intelligently configures MySQL Cluster based on application requirements and auto-discovered hardware resources

Figure 2: Automated Tuning and Configuration of MySQL Cluster

Developed by the same engineering team responsible for the MySQL Cluster database, the installer provides standardized configurations that make it simple, quick and easy to build stable and high performance clustered environments.

The auto-installer is previewed as an Early Access release, available for download now from http://labs.mysql.com/, by selecting the MySQL-Cluster-Auto-Installer build.

You can read more about getting started with the MySQL Cluster auto-installer here.

Watch the YouTube video for a demonstration of using the MySQL Cluster auto-installer

Getting Started with MySQL Cluster

If you are new to MySQL Cluster, the Getting Started guide will walk you through installing an evaluation cluster on a singe host (these guides reflect MySQL Cluster 7.2, but apply equally well to 7.3 and the Early Access previews). Or use the new MySQL Cluster Auto-Installer!

Download the Guide to Scaling Web Databases with MySQL Cluster (to learn more about its architecture, design and ideal use-cases).

Post any questions to the MySQL Cluster forum where our Engineering team and the MySQL Cluster community will attempt to assist you.

Post any bugs you find to the MySQL bug tracking system (select MySQL Cluster from the Category drop-down menu)

And if you have any feedback, please post them to the Comments section here or in the blogs referenced in this article.

Summary

MySQL Cluster 7.2 is the GA, production-ready release of MySQL Cluster. The first Development Release of MySQL Cluster 7.3 and the Early Access previews give you the opportunity to preview and evaluate future developments in the MySQL Cluster database, and we are very excited to be able to share that with you.

Let us know how you get along with MySQL Cluster 7.3, and other features that you want to see in future releases, by using the comments of this blog.