18.3.3.3 NDB Cluster Connection Strings

With the exception of the NDB Cluster management server (ndb_mgmd), each node that is part of an NDB Cluster requires a connection string that points to the management server's location. This connection string is used in establishing a connection to the management server as well as in performing other tasks depending on the node's role in the cluster. The syntax for a connection string is as follows:

[nodeid=node_id, ]host-definition[, host-definition[, ...]]

host-definition:
    host_name[:port_number]

node_id is an integer greater than or equal to 1 which identifies a node in config.ini. host_name is a string representing a valid Internet host name or IP address. port_number is an integer referring to a TCP/IP port number.

example 1 (long):    "nodeid=2,myhost1:1100,myhost2:1100,198.51.100.3:1200"
example 2 (short):   "myhost1"

localhost:1186 is used as the default connection string value if none is provided. If port_num is omitted from the connection string, the default port is 1186. This port should always be available on the network because it has been assigned by IANA for this purpose (see http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers for details).

By listing multiple host definitions, it is possible to designate several redundant management servers. An NDB Cluster data or API node attempts to contact successive management servers on each host in the order specified, until a successful connection has been established.

It is also possible to specify in a connection string one or more bind addresses to be used by nodes having multiple network interfaces for connecting to management servers. A bind address consists of a hostname or network address and an optional port number. This enhanced syntax for connection strings is shown here:

[nodeid=node_id, ]
    [bind-address=host-definition, ]
    host-definition[; bind-address=host-definition]
    host-definition[; bind-address=host-definition]
    [, ...]]

host-definition:
    host_name[:port_number]

If a single bind address is used in the connection string prior to specifying any management hosts, then this address is used as the default for connecting to any of them (unless overridden for a given management server; see later in this section for an example). For example, the following connection string causes the node to use 198.51.100.242 regardless of the management server to which it connects:

bind-address=198.51.100.242, poseidon:1186, perch:1186

If a bind address is specified following a management host definition, then it is used only for connecting to that management node. Consider the following connection string:

poseidon:1186;bind-address=localhost, perch:1186;bind-address=198.51.100.242

In this case, the node uses localhost to connect to the management server running on the host named poseidon and 198.51.100.242 to connect to the management server running on the host named perch.

You can specify a default bind address and then override this default for one or more specific management hosts. In the following example, localhost is used for connecting to the management server running on host poseidon; since 198.51.100.242 is specified first (before any management server definitions), it is the default bind address and so is used for connecting to the management servers on hosts perch and orca:

bind-address=198.51.100.242,poseidon:1186;bind-address=localhost,perch:1186,orca:2200

There are a number of different ways to specify the connection string:

Each executable has its own command-line option which enables specifying the management server at startup. (See the documentation for the respective executable.)
It is also possible to set the connection string for all nodes in the cluster at once by placing it in a [mysql_cluster] section in the management server's my.cnf file.
For backward compatibility, two other options are available, using the same syntax:
1. Set the NDB_CONNECTSTRING environment variable to contain the connection string.
2. Write the connection string for each executable into a text file named Ndb.cfg and place this file in the executable's startup directory.
However, these are now deprecated and should not be used for new installations.

The recommended method for specifying the connection string is to set it on the command line or in the my.cnf file for each executable.