MySQL 8.0 FAQ: NDB Cluster Note NDB Cluster Disk Data tables (that is, tables created with  TABLESPACE ... STORAGE DISK ENGINE=NDB  or  TABLESPACE ... STORAGE DISK ENGINE=NDBCLUSTER ) have only fixed-width rows. This means that (for example) each Disk Data table record containing a  VARCHAR(255)  column requires space for 255 characters (as required for the character set and collation being used for the table), regardless of the actual number of characters stored therein. See Section 23.1.7, “Known Limitations of NDB Cluster” , for more information about these issues. A.10.31. How do I start and stop NDB Cluster? It is necessary to start each node in the cluster separately, in the following order: 1. Start the management node, using the  ndb_mgmd  command. 2. Start each data node with the  ndbd  command. 3. Start each MySQL Server (SQL node) using your preferred startup script, such as mysqld_safe . You must include the  -f  or  --config-file  option to tell the management node where its configuration file can be found. Each data node must be started with the  -c  or  --ndb-connectstring  option so that the data node knows how to connect to the management server. Each MySQL Server must be started with the  --ndbcluster  and  --ndb-connectstring options. These options cause  mysqld  to enable  NDBCLUSTER  storage engine support and how to connect to the management server. Each of these commands must be run from a system shell on the machine housing the affected node. (You do not have to be physically present at the machine—a remote login shell can be used for this purpose.) You can verify that the cluster is running by starting the  NDB  management client ndb_mgm  on the machine housing the management node and issuing the  SHOW  or  ALL STATUS command. To shut down a running cluster, issue the command  SHUTDOWN  in the management client. Alternatively, you may enter the following command in a system shell: shell>  ndb_mgm -e "SHUTDOWN" (The quotation marks in this example are optional, since there are no spaces in the command string following the  -e  option; in addition, the  SHUTDOWN  command, like other management client commands, is not case-sensitive.) Either of these commands causes the  ndb_mgm ,  ndb_mgm , and any  ndbd  processes to terminate gracefully. MySQL servers running as SQL nodes can be stopped using  mysqladmin shutdown . For more information, see Section 23.5.1, “Commands in the NDB Cluster Management Client” , and Section 23.2.6, “Safe Shutdown and Restart of NDB Cluster” . MySQL Cluster Manager and the NDB Cluster Auto-Installer provide additional ways to handle starting ansd stopping of NDB Cluster nodes. See MySQL™ Cluster Manager 1.4.8 User Manual, 5255