(Percona XtraDB and MariaDB Cluster)

Galera is a synchronous replication cluster solution by Codership and also offered by Percona (Percona XtraDB Cluster) and MariaDB (MariaDB Cluster). Galera supports synchronous, multi-primary replication. The synchronous nature enforces updates on the database across the cluster during the commit phase.

Local High Availability (HA)

Zero downtime maintenance is supported. Uses Multi-Master.

Multi-Region and DR

May work with 3rd party technologies but not ideal for business-critical use. Manual rebuild needed for DR failback. Active/Active not supported. No cross-region aware orchestration.

Scalability

Supported but for single-site only.

Performance

Depends on workload - may incur undue latency and locking due to synchronous replication. Load balancing requires application changes and logic or external MySQL proxy.

Deployment and Application Changes

Must install Galera-ized version of MySQL, not native. Works with InnoDB Engine only. Application changes may be necessary and certain SQL contstructs are not supported.

TCO

Free for simple local MySQL HA deployments that do not require support. Costs of 24/7 support from Codership, Percona or MariaDB unknown and they have a 4 hour reponse time. Cost depends on cost per minute of downtime for business-critical or mission-critical application.

MySQL Version

Only Galera versions of MySQL.

Infrastructure and Platform

Supported for all Cloud and on-prem deployments. Can be complicated if multi-region DIY implementation.

Completeness

No MySQL proxy integrated, no multi-region or multi-site aware orchestration.

Maturity

10+ years

Security

Supported. Can be used in PCI and HIPAA compliance.

Management and Monitoring

Can use 3rd party tools such as ClusterControl; or on AWS only - Galera Manager. Alerts can be scripted.