PolarDB for MySQL is a cloud-native HTAP database service developed by Alibaba Cloud. PolarDB for MySQL is 100% compatible with MySQL 5.6, MySQL 5.7, and MySQL 8.0. PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition uses the cloud-native architecture, decoupled compute and storage resources, and integrated software and hardware. This database service is characterized by high elasticity, high performance, high availability, high reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

Key features

Turbocharged MySQL

  • Fully compatible with open source MySQL and ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL: You can migrate data from these databases to PolarDB for MySQL without changing the code or configurations of your applications.
  • Powerful features: one-to-many and many-to-many association for primary and read-only nodes, shared storage, high-speed processing for large tables (6 billion rows), smooth failover, flashback queries, and fast DDL queries (response time within seconds).

Native HTAP

  • Both transactional processing (TP) and analytical processing (AP) are performed in one place, reducing development and O&M costs.
  • No extract, transform, load (ETL) is required, ensuring reliable, real-time data analysis.

Multiple primary nodes (Multi-master Cluster Edition)

  • All nodes handle both read and write workloads. Nodes can be added to linearly scale write performance.
  • Nodes can be switched over in less than 10 seconds without business interruptions.

Worldwide geo-redundancy for disaster recovery

  • Geo-disaster recovery: ensures business continuity when a cluster fails in a region.
  • High resource utilization: Secondary clusters also provide both read and write capabilities.
  • Nearest access around the world improves business performance.

Why PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition

PolarDB for MySQL can be used the same way as open source MySQL databases and deliver the following advantages:
  • Cost-effectiveness
    • Smart-SSD offers a high compression ratio that can reduce storage costs by 40% without affecting read/write performance.
    • Compute nodes share storage resources. You pay only for compute nodes when you add read-only nodes, which greatly reduces scale-out costs.
    • The storage space is automatically extended as the volume of your data grows. You pay only for the storage space that has been occupied.
  • High elasticity
    • Nodes can be added or deleted in minutes, and they can be temporarily scaled up and down. Storage space is automatically scaled without business interruptions as your data volume changes.
    • The specifications of serverless clusters can be scaled within a second to cope with fluctuations in workloads.
  • High performance

    The database engine that PolarDB uses has been optimized upon the open source engines. PolarDB also leverages capabilities like physical replication, RDMA protocol, and shared distributed storage to deliver six times the performance of open source MySQL databases.

  • High availability, reliability, and security
    • Shared distributed storage eliminates the data inconsistency issue that may occur when data is asynchronously synchronized from the primary node to secondary nodes. This ensures zero data loss if a single point of failure occurs in a cluster.
    • Multiple data replicas are deployed across zones. The RTO is less than 10 seconds when the primary node fails.
    • The GDN supports inter-cluster latency of less than two seconds, switchover in minutes, and active geo-redundancy. All-round and multidimensional protection methods ensure high availability.
    • PolarDB adopts various security measures such as IP whitelists, VPCs, and multiple data replicas to protect your data in terms of access, storage, and management.
  • Lock-free backup

    Snapshots that are implemented based on the distributed storage can back up a database with terabytes of data in a few minutes. During the entire backup process, no locks are required, which ensures high efficiency and minimized impacts on your business.

PolarDB for MySQL provides the following editions: Cluster Edition, Multi-master Cluster (Database/Table) Edition, Single Node Edition, and X-Engine Edition. For more information, see Editions.

How to use PolarDB for MySQL

The following methods are available for managing PolarDB for MySQL clusters. You can choose one or more to perform operations like creating clusters, databases, and accounts.

  • Console: The PolarDB console is a friendly web-based GUI.
  • CLI: You can use Alibaba Cloud CLI to perform all the operations that are available in the console.
  • SDK: You can use SDKs to perform all the operations that are available in the console.
  • API: You can call API operations to perform all operations that are available in the console.

After a PolarDB for MySQL cluster is created, you can connect to the PolarDB for MySQL cluster in the following ways:

  • DMS: You can connect to a PolarDB cluster by using Data Management (DMS) and develop databases on the web pages of DMS. For more information, see Use DMS to connect to a cluster.
  • Client: You can connect to a PolarDB for MySQL cluster by using common database clients, such as MySQL-Front and HeidiSQL.