MySQL Cluster Manager agent installation and startup.  Install the MySQL Cluster Manager software distribution, make any necessary edits of the agent configuration files, and start the agent processes as explained in Chapter 2, MySQL Cluster Manager Installation, Configuration, Cluster Setup. Agent processes must be running on all cluster hosts before you can create a cluster. This means that you need to place a complete copy of the MySQL Cluster Manager software distribution (including license files, which are supplied separately) on every host. The MySQL Cluster Manager software does not have to be in a specific location, or even the same location on all hosts, but it must be present; you cannot manage any cluster processes hosted on a computer where mcmd is not also running.

MySQL Cluster Manager client session startup.  Starting the MySQL Cluster Manager client and connect to the MySQL Cluster Manager agent. You can connect to an agent process running on any of the cluster hosts, using the mcm client on any computer that can establish a network connection to the desired host. See Section 2.6, “Starting the MySQL Cluster Manager Client”, for details.

On systems where mcm is not available, you can use the mysql client for this purpose. See Connecting to the agent using the mysql client.

MySQL Cluster software deployment.  The simplest and easiest way to do this is to copy the complete MySQL Cluster distribution to the same location on every host in the cluster. (If you have installed MySQL Cluster Manager 1.1.6 on each host, the MySQL Cluster NDB 7.2.4 distribution is already included, in mcm_installation_dir/cluster.) If you do not use the same location on every host, be sure to note it for each host. Do not yet start any MySQL Cluster processes or edit any configuration files; when creating a new cluster, MySQL Cluster Manager takes care of these tasks automatically.

On Windows hosts, you should not install as services any of the MySQL Cluster node process programs, including ndb_mgmd.exe, ndbd.exe, ndbmtd.exe, and mysqld.exe. MySQL Cluster Manager manages MySQL Cluster processes independently of the Windows Service Manager and does not interact with the Service Manager or any Windows services when doing so.

Management site definition.  Using the create site command in the MySQL Cluster Manager client, define a MySQL Cluster Manager management site—that is, the set of hosts to be managed. This command provides a name for the site, and must reference all hosts in the cluster. Section 3.2.1, “The create site Command”, provides syntax and other information about this command. To verify that the site was created correctly, use the MySQL Cluster Manager client commands list sites and list hosts (see Section 3.2.3, “The list sites Command”, and Section 3.2.5, “The list hosts Command”, for more information).

MySQL Cluster software package registration.  In this step, you provide the location of the MySQL Cluster software on all hosts in the cluster using one or more add package commands. (See Section 3.3.1, “The add package Command”, for more information about this command.) To verify that the package was created correctly, use the list packages and list processes commands (see Section 3.3.3, “The list packages Command”, and Section 3.8.5, “The list processes Command”).

Cluster definition.  Execute a create cluster command to define the set of MySQL Cluster nodes (processes) and hosts on which each cluster process runs, making up a the MySQL Cluster. This command also uses the name of the package registered in the previous step so that MySQL Cluster Manager knows the location of the binary running each cluster process. For more about this command, see Section 3.4.1, “The create cluster Command”. You can use the list clusters and list processes commands to determine whether the cluster has been defined as desired (see Section 3.4.7, “The list clusters Command”, and Section 3.8.5, “The list processes Command”, respectively, for more information about these MySQL Cluster Manager client commands).

If you wish to use SQL node connection pooling, see Setup for mysqld connection pooling before creating the cluster.

Initial configuration.  Perform any configuration of the cluster that is required or desired prior to starting it. You can set values for MySQL Cluster Manager configuration attributes (MySQL Cluster parameters and MySQL Server options) using the MySQL Cluster Manager client set command, which is explained in detail in Section 3.5.2, “The set Command”. You do not need to edit any configuration files directly—in fact, you should not do so. Keep in mind that certain attributes are read-only, and that some others cannot be reset after the cluster has been started for the first time. You can use the get command to verify that attributes have been set to the correct values (see Section 3.5.1, “The get Command”).

Cluster startup.  Once you have completed the previous steps, including necessary or desired initial configuration, you are ready to start the cluster. The start cluster command starts all cluster processes in the correct order. You can verify that the cluster has started and is running normally after this command has completed, using the MySQL Cluster Manager client command show status (see Section 3.6, “The show status Command”). At this point, the cluster is ready for use by MySQL Cluster applications.