MySQL database to get high-end feature

MySQL plans to announce a higher-end addition next month that will allow more than one instance of its open-source database to take over if another fails. The software, MySQL Cluster, is based on software called NDB Cluster that telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson developed, and then sold to MySQL in October. MySQL plans to announce the new version at its user conference from April 14 to 16, said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing for the Swedish company.

So-called high-availability software--which can be databases, operating systems, application servers and other packages--works by monitoring multiple versions on a network. If one instance fails, another takes over in a process called "failover."

"For business-critical applications, it'll provide subsecond failover," Urlocker said, referring to the delay between the first system crash and the second system picking up the load. The technology has been demonstrated to work with a cluster of 32 nodes protecting each other, the company has said.

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