NDB Cluster
NDB Cluster is the distributed database system underlying MySQL Cluster. It can be used independently of a MySQL Server with users accessing the Cluster via the NDB API (C++). "NDB" stands for Network Database.
From the MySQL Server perspective the NDB Cluster is a Storage engine for storing tables of rows.
From the NDB Cluster perspective, a MySQL Server instance is an API process connected to the Cluster. NDB Cluster can concurrently support access from other types of API processes including Memcached, JavaScript/Node.JS, Java, JPA and HTTP/REST. All API processes can operate on the same tables and data stored in the NDB Cluster.
For a full description of NDB Cluster capabilities, use-cases and resources, see the entry for MySQL Cluster
Standalone Ndb Cluster
Ndb Cluster has the following capabilities independent of any attached MySQL Server :
Persistent, distributed storage of tables with unique or ordered indexes
- Redo logging, checkpointing, system recovery
Redo logging, checkpointing, system recovery