Tungsten Cluster vs. MySQL InnoDB Cluster

MySQL and MariaDB Clustering Solutions Comparison

Learn why Tungsten Clustering is a better (complete, proven) and more cost-effective (software, 24/7 support and consulting all included) MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographically-Distributed (Geo-Scale) solution compared to Amazon AWS Aurora for MySQL.

For any MySQL clustering to be a complete high-availability and disaster recovery solution, it requires three core components working in sync: connectivity (proxy), management (orchestration) and replication (local/global).

Tungsten Cluster

Tungsten Clustering includes three highly integrated and fully tested components Tungsten Proxy, Tungsten Manager and Tungsten Replicator working together to provide both local (individual clusters) and global (multiple clusters working together) data service for continuous 24/7 MySQL operations.

Connectivity Complete and Integrated (Tungsten Proxy)

Orchestration Integrated Business Rules (Tungsten Manager)

Replication Advanced Local and Global (Tungsten Replicator)

 Connectivity
 Orchestration
 Replication

MySQL InnoDB Cluster

InnoDB Cluster is the newest, thus least mature, cluster addition to MySQL. It became available in 2017 and improved with MySQL 8.0 in 2018. It is a loosely-coupled solution, with separate proxy and management tools. A proxy, “mysqlrouter,” can be integrated for basic connection routing and failover. Adding a DR site would require setting up MySQL asynchronous replication, which is managed by the offered cluster management tool “mysqlshell.” As the name implies, it only supports tables using the InnoDB engine.

Connectivity mysqlrouter, separately available

Orchestration Moderate

Replication Group replication for local needs, N/A for global needs

Galera Cluster Comparison

Use Cases Supported

High Availability

Supported

Disaster Recovery

Supported

Not Supported

Zero Downtime Maintenance

Supported

Continuous Operations

Supported

Multi-Primary

Supported

Active/Passive

Supported

Not Supported

Active/Active

Supported

Not Supported

Geo-Scale

Supported

Not Supported

Features & Benefits

Continuous Operations

4.67

2.67

Zero Downtime Maintenance

Both database, operating system and hardware changes & upgrades

Both database, operating system, and hardware changes & upgrades

High Availability

Automatic failover of primary

Multi-master in use

DR with Active/Passive Cluster

Automated site level switch with one failover command

Must mix replication technologies, involves DIY

DR with Active/Active Cluster

Only requires repointing the apps

Active/Active not supported

DR Failback

Single command, fast

Manual rebuild needed

Backup & Data Recovery

Flexible backups using existing external tools

Flexible backups using existing tools

Scalability/Read replicas

4.40

3.80

Scalability/Read replicas

Supported

Supported (all active)

Scalability/Physical location

Deploy anywhere, on-prem and in the cloud (also hybrid- and multi-cloud)

Deploy anywhere but single site only

Scalability/Instance size

Choose the instance size, minimal requirements

DB Node Auto-Scale

No auto-scale. Requires manual steps

DB Cluster Scaling

Ideal for the SaaS apps (Pod Architecture)

Pod Architecture

Geographic Scaling

5.00

0.67

Scalability/Read replicas

Across regions, availability zones, and clouds

Mix replication technologies, no management

Active/Active Geo-Clusters

Multi-site active/active supported and widely deployed

Not supported

Active/Passive Geo-Clusters

Supported and widely deployed in cross-regions and cross-clouds, also on-premises

Complicated due to mixing of replication technologies and no management layer

Performance

4.75

2.50

Smart-Scale

Tungsten Proxy with automatic read/write split, no application changes

mysqlrouter is a very basic proxy

Load Balancing

Highly configurable with automatic read/write splitting

mysqlrouter only does port-based routing

Up to Date Read Replicas

Using asynchronous replication

Using semi-sync replication

Robust Database Performance

Tune your favorite database, asynchronous replication adds almost no performance penalty

But semi-sync can cause performance issue with datbase writes

Transparency

5.00

2.67

No Application Changes

Works out of box without app changes

Some features require application changes, certain SQL constructs not supported

All MySQL Versions

Native MySQL: Community, MySQL Enterprise, MariaDB, Percona Server, all versions

MySQL 5.7+ (though MySQL 8.0 adds critical features)

Compatibility With All Database Engines

All MySQL engines

InnoDB only

Security

4.33

Security/Encryption at rest

Can leverage existing cloud or filesystem encryption technologies

Security/Encryption in flight

Supported for all traffic

Compliance (PCI, HIPAA)

Can be used in security/privacy standards

Management and Monitoring

4.80

3.20

Deployment

Easy to deploy

Easy to deploy, if using mysql shell

Cluster Management

Easy management via web-based GUI

Command line tools, custom shell

Monitoring - GUI

Full GUI based cluster monitoring. Performance monitoring with Prometheus

No GUI included

Alerts / Notifications

Integration with notifications systems

Using scripts, API

OS/DB Patching

Assistance with scripts, no downtime

Real-time Data (Analytics, Data Lake, Reporting)

5.00

3.00

Replication Into Analytics

Real-time to the data analytics engines (AWS Redshift, Hadoop, Vertica, many others)

Using native replication, 3rd party or DIY tools

Filtering

Complex filtering at schema and data level

Basic filters, not useful in multi-master

Cluster Aware

Replication stream not interupted by loss of a single cluster node

Replication stream not interrupted by loss of a single cluster node

Support Services

24/7 Support

5.00

3.67

24/7 Support

24/7 support with high, near 100% customer satisfaction

24/7 support available, quite expensive at 10k/year per 5+ socket server

Fast Support Reponse Time

The fastest in the industry, averaging less than 3 minutes for Urgent support request.

Goal of 5 minute response for Enterprise support

Support Team Experience

Each member has 20+ years experience on DBA and Site Reliability

Unknown, but must work first with first-line support before being elevate to next tier

Intangibles

MySQL Version Support

5.00

3.00

MySQL Community

Fully supported, all versions up to 8.0

5.7+ (8.0 recommended)

MySQL Enterprise

Fully supported, all versions up to 8.0

5.7+ (8.0 recommended)

MariaDB

Fully supported, all versions up to 10.5

Not documented

Percona Server

Fully supported

5.7+ (8.0 recommended)

Infrastructure and Platform

5.00

3.00

On-premises Deployment

Fully supported

Cloud Deployment

All cloud environments (AWS, Google Cloud, MS Azure) are supported

Multi-Cloud

Fully supported

Except for complicated DIY deployments

Hybrid-Cloud

Fully supported

Except for complicated DIY deployments

Product Maturity

5.00

3.67

Complete

One solution for HA, DR & Geo-Scale

Simple proxy, no multi-site

Integrated

Comes with Manager, Proxy & Replicator

But simple proxy

Fully Tested

Proven in business-critical customer environments

But not as widely deployed as other technologies

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

4.33

3.67

Low Subscription Cost, High Value

Instance size does not matter, non-linear pricing (additional clusters are at increasingly lower cost), no cost TrueUps

Either free with no support, or expensive with support

24/7 Support

Included

With high price

Few DBA Resource Needed

Large number of clusters can be managed with small number of DBAs

Tungsten Cluster

Tungsten Clustering is the only complete, fully-integrated, fully-tested MySQL HA, DR and geo-clustering solution running on-premises and in the cloud combined with industry-best and fastest, 24/7 support for business-critical MySQL, MariaDB, & Percona Server applications.

It allows enterprises running business-critical MySQL database applications to cost-effectively achieve continuous global operations with commercial-grade high availability (HA), geographically redundant disaster recovery (DR) and geographically distributed active/active.

Continuous Operations

Local clustering for enterprise-grade high availability (HA) and multi-site clustering for best-in-class disaster recovery (DR).

High Availability

Automated local failover, automated recovery and failback for MySQL and MariaDB clusters.

Disaster Recovery

Composite “clusters of clusters” spread across two or more sites or cloud data centers for a geographically distributed managed mesh of MySQL or MariaDB clusters.

Global Scaling

Geo-distributed and global clusters that are locally and globally aware. Serve a geographically-distributed user base with high availability and performance.

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Related Resources

Read the Comparison Blog

Oracle’s InnoDB Cluster - High Noon with Tungsten Clustering for MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographic Distribution

This is the fifth blog in our ‘High Noon’ comparison series in which we look at the main solutions for MySQL high availability, disaster recovery and geographic distribution. Here we focus on highly available, geo-scale, multi-region MySQL for mission-critical sites and apps with Oracle’s InnoDB Cluster as compared to MySQL clusters with Continuent Tungsten, the only complete, fully-integrated clustering solution for MySQL - on-premises, in the cloud, hybrid-cloud or multi-cloud.

Matthew Lang

Mar 09, 2021

MySQL Clustering Competitor Comparisons, Disaster Recovery, MySQL High Availability, Tungsten Clustering

Oracle's MySQL InnoDB Cluster versus Tungsten Clustering for MySQL

We’ve been receiving requests recently from MySQL users wanting to understand how InnoDB Cluster compares to Tungsten Clustering, our MySQL HA, disaster recovery, and geo-clustering solution. In response we have come up with this comparative outline, looking at some of the key features of each.

Matthew Lang

Jun 22, 2020

Disaster Recovery, Active/Active MySQL, MySQL High Availability, Tungsten Clustering

Watch the Comparison Presentation

MySQL HA/DR/Geo-Scale - High Noon #5: Oracle's InnoDB Cluster

This fifth of our High Noon series of on-demand webinars is focused on Oracle’s InnoDB Cluster for MySQL. It looks at some of the key characteristics of InnoDB Cluster and how it fares as a MySQL High Availability (HA) / Disaster Recovery (DR) / Geo-Distributed solution, especially when compared to MySQL, MariaDB, or Percona MySQL using Continuent Tungsten Clustering.

Matthew Lang

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Learn more

Tungsten Cluster vs. MySQL InnoDB Cluster

Galera Cluster Comparison

Use Cases Supported

Features & Benefits

Support Services

Intangibles

Tungsten Cluster

Continuous Operations

High Availability

Disaster Recovery

Global Scaling

Interested to Learn More? Get in Touch!

Related Resources

Read the Comparison Blog

Oracle’s InnoDB Cluster - High Noon with Tungsten Clustering for MySQL High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) and Geographic Distribution

Oracle's MySQL InnoDB Cluster versus Tungsten Clustering for MySQL

Watch the Comparison Presentation

MySQL HA/DR/Geo-Scale - High Noon #5: Oracle's InnoDB Cluster

Upgrade From the Following Solutions

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24/7 MySQL support

Highly Experienced

Quick Response

Highly Available

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