Feed: Planet MySQL.
Author: MySQL Server Dev Team.

In this tutorial, we are going to guide you through the whole process of configuring Debian based distributions for InnoDB cluster usage; the most popular being Ubuntu. We will address the steps from the initial configurations, to the cluster creation, and finally the MySQL Router configuration to map the data traffic.

A real world setup

In a real world setup (as opposed to one using sandboxes), one would use actual server hosts, however for explanatory purposes we will use Virtual machines to simulate a real server farm as described in the previous tutorial.

Prerequisites

sudo

To properly configure the hosts for InnoDB cluster we need sudo to execute commands with super-user privileges.

To install it run the following commands

To configure it, open the sudoers file and add your user and set the required permissions:

Press ctrl+o and then enter to save the file. Press ctrl+x to close the file.

Python

Python is required to use MySQL Shell, please open a terminal and install it.

Hostname mapping

For this tutorial, we assume that the hostname mapping is already done. If not, then please consider configuring the host file before continuing. Hostname mapping is required in order to map a valid hostname to an IP.

Ubuntu’s default hostname looks like the following:

To configure the host mapping, edit the hosts file:

Add the IP(s) of your host(s) and the name(s). Press ctrl+o and then enter to save the file. Press ctrl+x to close the file.

The file should have the following entrances:

Note: Ubuntu will configure a loopback interface (127.0.1.1) for the hostname by default. Make sure to remove the loopback interface entry as it can’t be used to connect from other hosts.

In case you don’t have the sudo package installed in Debian, please install it and configure it properly.

Install the MySQL APT repository

Open a terminal and use wget to download the official APT repository and then install the package:

A configuration dialog will pop-up, please enable the MySQL Preview Packages components. The reason for this is because MySQL Shell and MySQL Router are still not GA.

Ubuntu screenshot

Update the repositories once the installation of the APT repository is complete:

Install MySQL Server and MySQL Shell

Type the following command in the terminal to install MySQL Server and MySQL Shell:

During the installation, you need to set a password for MySQL root user.

Ubuntu screenshot

When the installation finish start MySQL Shell using root user, type the password for root when asked for it:

Configure the local instance calling the following function, and type the password for the user when prompted:

MySQL Shell will find the default configuration file and ask you if it is ok to modify it, type “Y”. Since root cannot do remote logins, you have three options to continue with the configuration: enable the remote connections for root, create a new user or not enable remote connections for root neither create a new user.

Ubuntu screenshot

In this tutorial, we choose to create a new user.

You will see a report with the changes made by MySQL Shell and a message saying that you need to restart the MySQL service to apply them.

Ubuntu screenshot

Quit MySQL Shell:

mysql-js> q

Then restart the MySQL Service

At this point, the host is ready to be part of an InnoDB cluster.

Install MySQL Router

The next step is to install MySQL Router, which provides you the ability to hide your network configuration behind a proxy and map the data requests to the cluster.

Normally, MySQL Router is installed in the client machine. However, for this tutorial we will install it on one of the machines.

In a terminal run the following command:

Once the installation of MySQL Router finish, it’s time to create a cluster.

Create an InnoDB cluster

Open a terminal and start MySQL Shell:

Then create a classic session to the host using the user created in the configuration step and the hostname of the host:

Ubuntu screenshot

Now create a cluster assigning the return value to a variable for later usage:

You will see a couple of messages with information about the cluster creation and the function required to add instances to it:

Ubuntu screenshot

Once the cluster creation is complete, you can see the status of the cluster calling the following function:

Ubuntu screenshot

To add new instances use the following command, be sure to use a valid user and ip of an already configured host:

Type the password for the user when prompted. Add as many hosts as you want in your cluster, and take in mind that at least three are required to have tolerance to one failure.

Here you can see that all the instances in the cluster are online:

Persist cluster configuration

In order to persist the cluster configuration of each instance, so if a restart happens the instances automatically rejoin the cluster, we must use the dba.configureLocalInstance() again on each instance. The command will update the my.cnf files with the parameters necessary for the automatic rejoin on the cluster on startup.

Run the following commands, locally on each instance:

Using MySQL Router

Now, it’s time to bootstrap our Router. Open a new terminal and type the following command, and type the password for the user when requested:

Ubuntu screenshot

With the previous command the following it’s done:

• A specific configuration for the cluster “myCluster” it’s created, MySQL Router got connected to the cluster and extracted the metadata to run by itself
• A directory named “myrouter” is created in “home” and it contains the configuration required by MySQL Router to run
• Four  TCP ports are generated to get connected to the cluster: rean only and read-write for classic protocol and X ptrotocol.

To start MySQL Router run the following command:

Ubuntu screenshot

To stop MySQL Router, in a terminal run the stop script generated:

Remote Connection

Now we can get connected to the cluster using the IP generated by MySQL Router. The following screenshot is from a Windows host that is connected to the cluster using the read/write port:

Windows screenshot

And the following screenshot is from a windows host that it’s connected to the cluster using the read-only port:

Remember that to be able to connect to a remote host using its name, you should configure the host mapping in Windows as well. The file to edit it’s in the directory “C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts”, once you configure the host mapping the file should looks like:

Conclusion

You’ve acquired the knowledge to configure hosts for cluster usage, as well as create cluster and add instances to it. Also, you have learned the basics to bootstrap a cluster and to create a proxy for remote connections to map the data traffic using MySQL Router. The environment can be tested as described in a previous tutorial.

You’ve certainly realized how simple and easy to use is the collection of products provided by MySQL to create a high availability environment.

See you in the next blog post!