To support NDB Cluster, you should update my.cnf as shown in the following example. You may also specify these parameters on the command line when invoking the executables.

# my.cnf
# example additions to my.cnf for NDB Cluster
# (valid in MySQL 8.3)

# enable ndbcluster storage engine, and provide connection string for
# management server host (default port is 1186)
[mysqld]
ndbcluster
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com


# provide connection string for management server host (default port: 1186)
[ndbd]
connect-string=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com

# provide connection string for management server host (default port: 1186)
[ndb_mgm]
connect-string=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com

# provide location of cluster configuration file
# IMPORTANT: When starting the management server with this option in the
# configuration file, the use of --initial or --reload on the command line when
# invoking ndb_mgmd is also required.
[ndb_mgmd]
config-file=/etc/config.ini

(For more information on connection strings, see Section 25.4.3.3, “NDB Cluster Connection Strings”.)

# my.cnf
# example additions to my.cnf for NDB Cluster
# (works on all versions)

# enable ndbcluster storage engine, and provide connection string for management
# server host to the default port 1186
[mysqld]
ndbcluster
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com:1186

You may also use a separate [mysql_cluster] section in the cluster my.cnf file for settings to be read and used by all executables:

# cluster-specific settings
[mysql_cluster]
ndb-connectstring=ndb_mgmd.mysql.com:1186

For additional NDB variables that can be set in the my.cnf file, see Section 25.4.3.9.2, “NDB Cluster System Variables”.

The NDB Cluster global configuration file is by convention named config.ini (but this is not required). If needed, it is read by ndb_mgmd at startup and can be placed in any location that can be read by it. The location and name of the configuration are specified using --config-file=path_name with ndb_mgmd on the command line. This option has no default value, and is ignored if ndb_mgmd uses the configuration cache.

The global configuration file for NDB Cluster uses INI format, which consists of sections preceded by section headings (surrounded by square brackets), followed by the appropriate parameter names and values. One deviation from the standard INI format is that the parameter name and value can be separated by a colon (:) as well as the equal sign (=); however, the equal sign is preferred. Another deviation is that sections are not uniquely identified by section name. Instead, unique sections (such as two different nodes of the same type) are identified by a unique ID specified as a parameter within the section.

Default values are defined for most parameters, and can also be specified in config.ini. To create a default value section, simply add the word default to the section name. For example, an [ndbd] section contains parameters that apply to a particular data node, whereas an [ndbd default] section contains parameters that apply to all data nodes. Suppose that all data nodes should use the same data memory size. To configure them all, create an [ndbd default] section that contains a DataMemory line to specify the data memory size.

If used, the [ndbd default] section must precede any [ndbd] sections in the configuration file. This is also true for default sections of any other type.

The global configuration file must define the computers and nodes involved in the cluster and on which computers these nodes are located. An example of a simple configuration file for a cluster consisting of one management server, two data nodes and two MySQL servers is shown here:

# file "config.ini" - 2 data nodes and 2 SQL nodes
# This file is placed in the startup directory of ndb_mgmd (the
# management server)
# The first MySQL Server can be started from any host. The second
# can be started only on the host mysqld_5.mysql.com

[ndbd default]
NoOfReplicas= 2
DataDir= /var/lib/mysql-cluster

[ndb_mgmd]
Hostname= ndb_mgmd.mysql.com
DataDir= /var/lib/mysql-cluster

[ndbd]
HostName= ndbd_2.mysql.com

[ndbd]
HostName= ndbd_3.mysql.com

[mysqld]
[mysqld]
HostName= mysqld_5.mysql.com

Each node has its own section in the config.ini file. For example, this cluster has two data nodes, so the preceding configuration file contains two [ndbd] sections defining these nodes.

Sections of the config.ini File

There are six different sections that you can use in the config.ini configuration file, as described in the following list:

You can define default values for each section. If used, a default section should come before any other sections of that type. For example, an [ndbd default] section should appear in the configuration file before any [ndbd] sections.

NDB Cluster parameter names are case-insensitive, unless specified in MySQL Server my.cnf or my.ini files.