MySQL Cluster update brings improved performance

Oracle has released version 7.2 of MySQL Cluster, an update that dramatically increases the speed of the network database. According to the company, the "Adaptive Query Localisation" feature allows the cluster to respond to queries up to 70 times faster.

The simple idea behind "Adaptive Query Localisation" is that, instead of leaving all of the query processing to the central server, individual data nodes now possess sufficient intelligence to respond to parts of the query themselves. This in turn reduces the amount of data that is sent to the server. The technology is designed to particularly speed up queries that combine several tables using JOIN.

The memcached API has also been added to the cluster version of the database. This allows databases to be addressed both as relational tables through SQL and as key/value NoSQL data stores via the memcached API. Clusters in different physical locations can now be interconnected, and the shared user privilege tables have been consolidated.

MySQL Cluster 7.2.4 is available to download for various Linux distributions, Windows and Solaris from the company's site and quick start guides are provided. Source code for MySQL Cluster is licensed under the GPL.

(crve)