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PolarDB:Release notes

Last Updated:May 11, 2023

This topic describes the release notes of PolarDB for MySQL and provides reference links.

April 2023


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Serverless clusters with defined specifications	You can enable the serverless feature on an existing common cluster with defined specifications, which is called a serverless cluster with defined specifications.	2023-04-14	Create a serverless cluster with defined specifications

March 2023


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Version management enhanced	PolarDB for MySQL allows you to upgrade a cluster from an earlier version to a later version.	2023-03-31	Major version upgrades
Cold data archiving	PolarDB for MySQL allows you to archive cold data to Object Storage Service (OSS) to reduce data storage costs. You can manually Archive cold data or create a DLM policy for automatic cold data archiving.	2023-03-01	Cold data archiving

February 2023


Feature	Description	Release date	References
X-Engine Edition	You can enable the X-Engine Edition feature on an existing PolarDB for MySQL cluster and switch table storage engine from InnoDB to X-Engine by executing the ALTER TABLE statement. The hybrid deployment of InnoDB and X-Engine can compress and store cold data of the cluster and dump it to X-Engine without affecting the use of the InnoDB engine and reduce 70% storage costs.	2023-02-06	Enable X-Engine

January 2023


Feature	Description	Release date	References
DBS for logical backup	PolarDB for MySQL allows you to use Database Backup (DBS) for logical backup.	2023-01-31	Use DBS for logical backup
PolarDB for AI	PolarDB for AI is an in-database distributed machine learning component based on PolarDB for MySQL. This component is developed based on the cloud-native architecture. It allows you to use SQL statements to implement a series of MLOps, such as creating models, training models, viewing model status, viewing the model list, and performing model inference. PolarDB for AI also provides a series of built-in machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, such as the classification algorithm, regression algorithm, and clustering algorithm.	2023-01-10	PolarDB for AI
Connection diagnostics	You can use the connection diagnostics feature in PolarDB for MySQL to check whether an ECS instance or an IP address can access the cluster.	2023-01-10	Perform connection diagnostics

December 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Advanced monitoring	The advanced monitoring feature in PolarDB for MySQL supports a wide range of performance metrics, custom charts, and powerful diagnostic capabilities. It can detect events on clusters in a timely manner and automatically diagnose them. It also provides root cause analysis and suggestions. Manual diagnosis within a specified time period is also supported.	2022-12-29	Advanced monitoring
Performance insight (new)	PolarDB for MySQL provides the diagnostics feature that integrates some features of Database Autonomy Service (DAS). You can use the performance insight (new) feature to aggregate the statistics on SQL statements, rapidly evaluate the workloads on your cluster, identify the root causes of performance issues, and seek appropriate solutions. This helps you improve the stability of your cluster.	2022-12-26	Performance insight (new)
Serverless clusters	Serverless clusters provide real-time scalability for CPU, memory, storage, and network resources and are another PolarDB for MySQL product that uses the architecture of separated computing and storage.	2022-12-23	Serverless

November 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Cluster lock feature	You can enable the cluster lock feature to prevent potential irreversible consequences arising from accidental manual release of the clusters.	2022-11-20	Cluster lock feature

September 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Global IP whitelist	You can customize an IP whitelist template and then associate a cluster with the IP whitelist template. You need to configure only one set of IP whitelist templates for all associated clusters.	2022-09-26	Configure a global IP whitelist template

June 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
PolarStore Level 4 (PSL4)	PSL4 is supported for PolarDB for MySQL. PSL4 uses the Smart-SSD technology developed in-house by Alibaba Cloud to compress and decompress data at the physical SSD disk level. This reduces the storage costs of data and ensures high disk performance.	2022-06-21	Comparison between PSL4 and PSL5
Cross-region backup	The cross-region backup feature is supported for PolarDB for MySQL. You can use this feature to back up data from a region to another region for regulation or disaster recovery. You can enable the cross-region backup feature by setting a backup policy.	2022-06-17	Release notes for cross-region backup
SQL firewall	The SQL firewall feature is supported for PolarDB for MySQL PolarProxy. This feature can identify SQL statements to be allowed and blocked after you configure blacklist and whitelist rules.	2022-06-13	Overview

May 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
In-Memory Column Index (IMCI)	IMCI is suitable for online analytical processing (OLAP) scenarios where a large amount of data is processed and complex queries are required. PolarDB for MySQL provides the IMCI feature to implement integrated real-time transaction processing and data analysis features and provides a one-stop hybrid transaction/analytical processing (HTAP) solution. PolarDB for MySQL allows you to use only one system to meet the requirements of online transaction processing (OLTP) and OLAP scenarios.	2022-05-27	Overview

April 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Different specifications for primary node and read-only nodes	The primary node and read-only nodes can be separately upgraded or downgraded for a PolarDB for MySQL cluster. This means that you can select different specifications for the primary node and read-only nodes.	2022-04-22	Manually upgrade or downgrade a PolarDB cluster Temporary upgrade Add or remove read-only nodes
Failover with hot standby	The failover with hot standby feature is supported. You can enable hot standby for the read-only nodes in your cluster to improve failover speed and prevent service interruptions.	2022-04-13	Overview

March 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Automatic scaling of local resources	Automatic scaling of local resources is supported for PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition clusters. You can scale local resources within several seconds. When the average CPU utilization of a PolarDB cluster within a sampling duration reaches the specified threshold, the number of CPU cores of the cluster is automatically increased to the specified value.	2022-03-23	Automatically scale local resources
PolarProxy specification upgrade	The following PolarProxy specification upgrade solutions are provided: Standard specification: For Standard Enterprise Edition clusters, the number of vCPUs of the cluster nodes occupied by PolarProxy is rounded up from one sixth of the total vCPUs of the cluster nodes. For Dedicated Enterprise Edition clusters, the number of vCPUs of the cluster nodes occupied by PolarProxy is rounded up from one fourth of the total vCPUs of the cluster nodes. Standard specification × 2: The number of vCPUs is twice that of the standard specification. Standard specification × 4: The number of vCPUs is four times that of the standard specification.	2022-03-10	Upgrade the specifications of PolarProxy
Custom parameters of cluster nodes	Custom parameters for PolarDB for MySQL cluster nodes are supported. You can configure the parameters of each cluster node based on your business requirements.	2022-03-03	Specify cluster and node parameters

February 2022


Feature	Description	Release date	References
New specification for clusters of the General-purpose type of PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition Edition: 32 cores and 128 GB memory	The following specification is provided for the clusters of the General-purpose type of PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition: 32 cores and 128 GB memory.	2022-02-18	Specifications of compute nodes
New edition: Multi-master Cluster (Database/Table) Edition	Multi-master Cluster (Database/Table) Edition Edition clusters are developed based on a multi-master architecture that contains multiple primary nodes and read-only nodes. This architecture is suitable for high concurrent read and write scenarios such as multi-tenancy, gaming, and e-commerce. To improve the overall concurrent read and write capabilities of clusters, this architecture supports concurrent data writes to databases from different primary nodes and allows you to dynamically switch the primary nodes of databases within seconds.	2022-02-11	Multi-master Cluster (Database/Table) Edition

December 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
PolarProxy Enterprise Editions	The following PolarProxy Enterprise Editions are available: Standard Enterprise Edition and Dedicated Enterprise Edition. Standard Enterprise Edition is used by clusters of the General-purpose type of PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition, which shares CPU resources with smart elastic scaling within seconds provided based on business loads. Dedicated Enterprise Edition is used by clusters of the Dedicated type of PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition, which exclusively uses allocated CPU resources and provides better stability. Compared with the previous free edition of PolarProxy, PolarProxy Enterprise Editions provide additional advanced features such as the multi-master architecture, compute nodes with elastic scaling within seconds, and proxy throttling protection. Note You can use PolarProxy Enterprise Edition free of charge.	2021-12-09	Overview
Added edition: X-Engine Edition	X-Engine Edition is supported. A Archive Database Edition Edition cluster consists of one primary node and at least one read-only node based on shared storage. The primary node can handle read and write requests. A read-only node can handle only read requests. The multi-node architecture of X-Engine Edition inherits the advantages of Archive Database Edition and ensures the high availability of PolarDB clusters. When the primary node in a cluster fails, the cluster can automatically fail over to a read-only node. Then, the read-only node serves as the new primary node. This ensures a service availability of at least 99.99%.	2021-12-01	X-Engine Edition

November 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Automatic upgrade and downgrade of subscription PolarDB clusters	Subscription PolarDB for MySQL clusters can be automatically upgraded and downgraded.	2021-11-05	Automatic configuration changes (auto scaling)

October 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
New parameters for the thread pool feature	Multiple parameters such as bypass_thread_pool_ips and bypass_thread_pool_check_ignore_proxy are added to the thread pool feature of PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 clusters whose revision version is 8.0.1.1.9 or later.	2021-10-25	Thread Pool

August 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
New parameter for PolarDB: polar_replica_work_on_nonblock_mdl_mode	The polar_replica_work_on_nonblock_mdl_mode parameter is added for PolarDB for MySQL. After this parameter is enabled, you can prevent long-running transactions on PolarDB for MySQL read-only nodes from blocking DDL operations.	2021-08-26	Prevent long-running transactions on read-only nodes from blocking DDL operations
Support for the scheduled event feature	The scheduled event feature is supported. For scheduled PolarDB for MySQL O&M events, you can be notified by text message, phone call, email, or internal message. You can also be notified in the console. Scheduled PolarDB O&M events include database software upgrade events and hardware maintenance and upgrade events. You can view the details of each scheduled event. These details include the event type, task ID, cluster name, and switchover time. You can also change the switchover time.	2021-08-06	View and manage scheduled events

July 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Specification change of clusters in a global database network (GDN)	2-core node specifications are not supported by clusters in a GDN.	2021-07-02	Specifications of compute nodes
Support for database and table restoration for PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 clusters	Databases and tables can be restored from a backup set or to a previous point in time in PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 clusters whose revision version is 5.7.1.0.8 or later.	2021-07-02	Method 1 for database and table restoration: Restore data from a backup set and Method 2 for database and table restoration: Restore data to a point in time

June 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for automatic encryption of new tables in transparent data encryption (TDE)	Automatic encryption of new tables is supported for PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 clusters whose revision version is 8.0.1.1.15 or later.	2021-06-15	Advanced settings

May 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for automatic rotation of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates in SSL configurations	Automatic rotation of SSL certification in SSL configurations is supported. After automatic certificate rotation is enabled, PolarDB for MySQL automatically updates an SSL certificate during the maintenance window of the cluster within 10 days before the expiry date of the certificate.	2021-05-28	Enable automatic certificate rotation

March 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for the parameter template feature to centrally manage database clusters	The parameter template feature is supported. You can configure a number of parameters at a time by using a parameter template and apply the template to a PolarDB for MySQL cluster.	2021-03-09	Apply a parameter template
Support for enhanced backup to improve the data recovery speed	Data backup is optimized for PolarDB for MySQL. This allows you to create backups every 2, 3, or 4 hours for the data that is generated over the past 24 hours.	2021-03-09	Overview
New type of specification for compute nodes: General-purpose	General-purpose is supported for PolarDB for MySQL Cluster Edition clusters. Idle computing resources such as idle CPUs are shared among clusters that run on the same server. Resource sharing allows you to deploy a large number of clusters at low costs.	2021-03-02	Specifications of compute nodes

February 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for the instant ADD COLUMN and statement queue features in PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 clusters	The Instant ADD COLUMN and statement queue features are supported in PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 clusters whose revision version is 5.7.1.0.6 or later. You can use the instant ADD COLUMN feature to quickly add columns to large tables and use the statement queue feature to reduce conflict overheads and improve database performance.	2021-02-09	Instant ADD COLUMN Statement queue
Faster data recovery	The backup and restoration features of PolarDB for MySQL clusters are optimized. The features use multi-threading parallel processing and other innovative technologies to restore data from a backup set (snapshot) to a new cluster within 10 minutes.	2021-02-09	Backup and restoration

January 2021


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Archive Database Edition available for commercial use	PolarDB for MySQL Archive Database Edition is available for commercial use. This edition uses X-Engine to provide a high data compression ratio and reduce storage costs by up to 70%. The Archive Database Edition is applicable to services that do not require a large number of computing resources but need to store archived data, such as DingTalk messages. PolarDB for MySQL Archive Database Edition is highly compatible with MySQL and supports a maximum storage capacity of 200 TB.	2021-01-13	X-Engine Edition
Support for two new features: upgrade configurations and node addition on a scheduled basis	Configurations can be upgraded and nodes can be added. When you upgrade cluster configurations or add nodes, you can create a schedule to perform the operation during off-peak hours within 24 hours. The operation may cause short service interruptions. The two features help you reduce the impact of service interruptions.	2021-01-12	Manually upgrade or downgrade a PolarDB cluster Add or remove read-only nodes
Support for the upgrade of storage plans to increase storage capacity	Storage plans can be upgraded to increase storage capacity. If your storage plan is about to expire or has insufficient storage capacity, you can renew or upgrade the storage plan.	2021-01-04	Renew or upgrade a storage plan

December 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Increase in the maximum storage capacity of the nodes of some specifications	The maximum storage capacity of the nodes of some specifications is increased. In PolarDB for MySQL, the maximum storage capacity of 8-core 32 GB nodes is increased to 20 TB. The maximum storage capacity of 16-core 128 GB, 32-core 256 GB, and 64-core 512 GB nodes is increased to 100 TB.	2020-12-24	Specifications of compute nodes
Task progress bar available in the PolarDB for MySQL console	The task progress bar is added. In the upper-right corner of the PolarDB for MySQL console, you can click the icon to view the progress of tasks, such as backup and restoration tasks.	2020-12-03	N/A
Support for the restoration of databases and tables in PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 clusters	Databases and tables can be restored in PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 clusters.	2020-12-01	Method 1 for database and table restoration: Restore data from a backup set Method 2 for database and table restoration: Restore data to a point in time
Support for TDE in PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 clusters	The TDE feature is supported for PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 clusters.	2020-12-01	Configure TDE for a PolarDB for MySQL cluster

November 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for storage plans that can be used to offset level-1 backup storage fees	Storage plans can be used to offset the used storage of PolarDB for MySQL clusters and the used storage that exceeds the free quota for level-1 backups.	2020-11-27	Storage plans

September 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for the configuration of time zones and the case sensitivity of table names during cluster creation	The time zones and the case sensitivity of table names can be configured. When you create a PolarDB for MySQL cluster, you can specify whether the table names are case-sensitive.	2020-09-21	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster

August 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Release of PolarDB for MySQL in the Australia (Sydney) and China (Qingdao) regions	PolarDB for MySQL is available in the Australia (Sydney) and China (Qingdao) regions.	2020-08-21	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 available for commercial use	PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 is available for commercial use. Users who use PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 during public preview can purchase PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 clusters for their production environments.	2020-08-21	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
Release of PolarDB for MySQL in the UK (London) region	PolarDB for MySQL is available in the UK (London) region.	2020-08-15	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster

July 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for concurrent addition of multiple read-only nodes on the configuration change page	Multiple read-only nodes can be concurrently added to a PolarDB for MySQL cluster when you change the cluster configurations. It takes only about 5 minutes to concurrently add multiple read-only nodes.	2020-07-28	Add or remove read-only nodes
PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 available in public preview	PolarDB for MySQL 5.7 is available in public preview.	2020-07-28	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
Global read/write splitting available for GDNs	The read/write mode can be set to Read and Write (Automatic Read-write Splitting) for all cluster endpoints in the GDNs of PolarDB for MySQL. Read requests are sent to the on-premises secondary cluster, and write requests are automatically forwarded to the primary cluster in the central region.	2020-07-01	Create and release a GDN

June 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Switchover with endpoints (connection changes not required)	The Switch with Endpoints (Connection Changes not Required) option can be used to upgrade an existing ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance to a PolarDB for MySQL cluster. The original endpoint of the ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance can be retained. You do not need to modify the configurations or the code of your applications.	2020-06-10	Overview

May 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Upgrade of the backup feature	The backup feature provided by PolarDB for MySQL is optimized to deliver more advanced configurations and capabilities to meet enterprise-level data backup requirements. This ensures data security.	2020-05-12	Data backup and restoration
Backup feature available for commercial use	The backup feature is available for commercial use. You are charged for the storage space occupied by backup files and log files. PolarDB for MySQL provides a limited quota of free storage space.	2020-05-12	Billing rules

April 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Release of database services in the Japan (Tokyo) region	PolarDB for MySQL, , and are available in the Japan (Tokyo) region.	2020-04-30	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
Release of PolarDB for MySQL in the China (Chengdu) region	PolarDB for MySQL is available in the China (Chengdu) region.	2020-04-13	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster

March 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Release of PolarDB for MySQL in the US (Virginia) region	PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 and 8.0 are available in the US (Virginia) region.	2020-03-09	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
Global consistency	Global consistency is supported by the endpoints of the PolarDB for MySQL cluster. This ensures that the latest data can be retrieved if a replication delay occurs when data is replicated from a primary node to read-only nodes.	2020-03-03	Configure PolarProxy Read/write splitting Consistency levels

February 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
SSL for encrypted transmission	SSL is supported by the primary endpoints of PolarDB for MySQL clusters. SSL encrypts network connections at the transport layer. This improves data security and integrity, but increases network response time. You can enable SSL encryption based on your business requirements.	2020-02-11	Configure SSL encryption
Read requests offloaded from the primary node	Read requests can be offloaded from the primary node in a PolarDB for MySQL cluster. SQL query requests are sent to read-only nodes while data consistency is ensured. This reduces the workloads of the primary node and ensures the stable performance of the primary node.	2020-02-07	Configure PolarProxy

January 2020


Feature	Description	Release date	References
New alert rules	The new alert rule feature (PolarDB for MySQL cluster) is available in CloudMonitor. The feature supports more performance metrics and helps improve user experience in notifications. To obtain better user experience in notifications, we recommend that you use the new alert rules.	2020-01-09	Create an alert rule

November 2019


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Support for the diagnosis and optimization features in more regions	The diagnosis and optimization features of PolarDB for MySQL are available in the US (Silicon Valley) and Germany (Frankfurt) regions. The diagnosis and optimization features include the following items: Diagnosis: This feature provides session management and real-time performance display. You can view diagnosis results in tables and charts. Slow SQL query: This feature allows you to view the trends and statistics of slow SQL statements that are recorded in slow query logs. You can also view the recommendations about SQL statements and perform diagnostic analysis.	2019-11-19	Diagnosis Slow SQL query
Release of PolarDB for MySQL in the Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) region	PolarDB for MySQL 5.6 and 8.0 are available in the Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) region.	2019-11-14	Purchase a pay-as-you-go cluster Purchase a subscription cluster
Support for data migration across zones	Data in PolarDB for MySQL can be migrated across zones. You can use this feature to migrate the compute nodes of a cluster to another zone. This feature is applicable to diverse scenarios. For example, you can use this feature when you perform disaster recovery or enable nearby access for Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances.	2019-11-13	Multi-zone deployment

October 2019


Feature	Description	Release date	References
API operations for performance monitoring	The following API operation is provided by PolarDB for MySQL to query the performance data of clusters: DescribeDBClusterPerformance. The following API operation is provided by PolarDB for MySQL to query the performance data of cluster nodes: DescribeDBNodePerformance.	2019-10-21	DescribeDBClusterPerformance DescribeDBNodePerformance Performance metric monitoring
Support for the configuration of node failover priorities	The failover priorities of nodes in a PolarDB for MySQL cluster can be configured. By default, the priority of each node is 1. You can specify an integer from 1 to 15 as the priority. The configuration change takes effect in real time and does not affect the running of database services.	2019-10-14	N/A
Failover	The scheduled failover feature is supported for PolarDB for MySQL. You can switch the services of the primary node to a specified read-only node based on your business requirements.	2019-10-14	Automatic failover and manual failover

September 2019


Feature	Description	Release date	References
PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 available for commercial use	PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 is available for commercial use. PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 supports parallel queries. In specific scenarios, the performance of your cluster improves by 10 times. You can add fields without the need to lock tables. This significantly reduces the negative impact on service stability. PolarDB for MySQL 8.0 optimizes some features of NoSQL databases, provides an easy way to use JSON data, and adds some advanced SQL features, such as window functions.	2019-09-12	Overview
PolarDB available for commercial use	PolarDB for MySQL is available for commercial use in the following regions: China (Beijing) China (Zhangjiakou) China (Hangzhou) China (Shanghai) China (Shenzhen) China (Hohhot) China (Hong Kong) Singapore US (Silicon Valley)	2019-09-05	What is PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition?

August 2019


Feature	Description	Release date	References
Release of PolarDB in the Indonesia (Jakarta) region	PolarDB for MySQL is available in the Indonesia (Jakarta) region.	2019-08-20	What is PolarDB for MySQL Enterprise Edition?

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