Jepsen Analysis: MariaDB Galera Cluster 12.1.2 Fails "No Lost Transactions" Guarantee
By
aphyr
Hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked to perfection. Worth every minute at the bakery.
Summary
Jepsen's independent analysis reveals that MariaDB Galera Cluster 12.1.2 fails to deliver on its "no lost transactions" guarantee. The research identifies two specific scenarios where transactions are lost: 1) under recommended configuration settings where data isn't flushed to disk before acknowledgement, allowing committed transactions to be lost during rapid node crashes, and 2) occasional transaction loss during process crashes and network partitions. Even without faults, the system allows P4 (Lost Update) violations and exhibits Stale Read issues, failing to satisfy its claimed isolation level between Serializable and Repeatable Read.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledWhile MariaDB claims Galera ensures 'no lost transactions', it loses transactions in at least two scenarios.
First, under the recommended configuration settings it does not flush data to disk before acknowledgement; committed transactions can be lost when nodes crash in quick succession.
Second, it occasionally loses committed transactions with process crashes and network partitions.
Even without faults, MariaDB Galera Cluster allows P4 (Lost Update), and therefore fails to satisfy its claimed isolation level 'between Serializable and Repeatable Read'.
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