MySQL Cluster gets ready to ship

MySQL in April will ship MySQL Cluster, a high-availability version of its open source database for deployment across clusters of systems.

The clustering package features the MySQL database coupled with a storage engine originally developed by Ericsson for telcommunications applications. The engine was acquired by MySQL in November.

The combined product enables clustering of the MySQL database across various hardware and software platforms, including the Linux, Windows, and Solaris operating platforms and Intel and Sparc hardware. MySQL will ship the package during its MySQL Users Conference & Expo 2004 in Orlando beginning April 14.

“Basically, it means that MySQL starts being used in more applications [and] more  business-critical situations, and people who are using it today can now scale out for larger applications,” said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing at MySQL.

The product also will be available under a commercial license format.

Additionally, the company on Friday announced a more flexible open source licensing program for the MySQL client libraries, which are used to access the MySQL database from within applications. Previously usable under either a commercial or a GPL open source license, MySQL has developed its Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Exception policy enabling the libraries to be used under other open source licensing formats, such as Apache and Artistic.

“This gives open source developers the right so they can choose their preferred open source license and still have the ability to include the MySQL client libraries,” Urlocker said. Allowing only GPL open source licensing had created some potential incompatibilities with other open source licenses, he said.