[Linux-cluster] FWD: Question on RH Cluster from a MySQL Customer

[Robert Peterson]

Hi Ivan,

Answers embedded below:

Ivan Zoratti wrote:
> Hi Robert,
> 
> First of all, thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.
> I'd like to reply to two separate topics here: first, the objective of 
> my question and second, the cluster-awareness of MySQL and the use of 
> GFS with MySQL.
> 
> My original question was mainly related to the use of Piranha to switch 
> over a service (ie, a specific mysql daemon) from one server to another, 
> in case of fault. There should be only one active service in the 
> cluster, therefore no concurrency or locking issues should happen.
> The ideal system should be able to:
> - have a list of services to launch on the cluster
> - identify the node in the cluster suitable to host the service (for 
> example the node with less workload)
> - check the availability of the service
> - stop the service on a node (if the service is not already down) and 
> start the service on another node in case of fault
> Fault tolerance in this case will be provided by the ability to switch 
> the service from one server to another in the cluster.
> Scalability is not provided within the service, ie the limitation in 
> resources for the service consist of the resources available on that 
> specific server.
> 
> I understand that your cluster suite can provide this functionality. I 
> am mainly looking for a supported set of features for an enterprise 
> organisation.

Red Hat's Cluster Suite does all of this with the rgmanager service
(not piranha).  I guess I'm not sure what you're asking here.  Are you
asking what features rgmanager has?  Its features are probably documented
somewhere, but I don't know where offhand.  I know it's quite
full-featured and allows you to do exactly what you listed:
provide High Availability (HA) of multiple services, stopping and
starting services throughout cluster, with different kinds of
dependencies.  The Cluster FAQ has information on rgmanager here
that you may find helpful:

http://sources.redhat.com/cluster/faq.html#rgm_what

If you have questions that aren't covered by the FAQ, let me know 
and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

> The second topic is related to the use of MySQL with clusters and 
> specifically with GFS. It is what we use to call MySQL in active-active 
> clustering. I am afraid your documentation is not totally accurate. 
> Unfortunately, information on the Internet (and also on our web site) 
> are often contradictory.
> It is indeed possible to run multiple mysqld services on different 
> cluster nodes, all sharing the same data structure on shared storage, 
> with this configuration:
> - Only the MyISAM storage engine can be used
> - Each mysqld service must start with the external-locking parameter on
> - Each mysqld service hase to have the query cache parameter off (other 
> cache mechanisms remain on, since they are automatically invalidated by 
> external locking)

Thanks for providing this information.  I'll get it into the cluster FAQ.
Maybe some day I'll find the time to play with this myself.

> I am afraid this configuration still does not compete against Oracle 
> RAC. MySQL does not provide a solution that can be compared 1:1 with 
> RAC. You may find some MySQL implementations much more effective than 
> RAC for certain environments, as you will certainly find RAC performing 
> better than MySQL on other implementations.
> 
> Based on the experience of the sales engineering team, customers have 
> never been disappointed by the technology that MySQL can provide as an 
> alternative to RAC. Decisions are based on many other factors, such as 
> the introduction of another (or a different) database, the cost of 
> migrating current applications and compatibility with third party 
> products. You can imagine we are working hard to remove these obstacles.
> 
> Thanks again for your help,
> 
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Ivan
> 
> -- 
>   Ivan Zoratti - Sales Engineering Manager EMEA
> 
>   MySQL AB - Windsor - UK
>   Mobile: +44 7866 363 180
> 
>   ivan at mysql.com
>   http://www.mysql.com

If you have other questions, please let me know.  You can either
email me directly or join the linux-cluster mailing list where 
you can talk to people are using these features and everyone can 
benefit from the discussion.

Regards,

Bob Peterson
Red Hat Cluster Suite