title: Scaling solutions for MySQL (Replication, Clustering)
body: <p>At the <a href="http://www.binpress.com" rel="noreferrer">startup</a> I'm working at we are now considering scaling solutions for our database. Things get somewhat confusing (for me at least) with MySQL, which has the <a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/faqs-mysql-cluster.html" rel="noreferrer">MySQL cluster</a>, <a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/replication.html" rel="noreferrer">replication</a> and <a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-cluster-replication.html" rel="noreferrer">MySQL cluster replication</a> (from ver. 5.1.6), which is an asynchronous version of the MySQL cluster. The MySQL manual explains some of the differences in its <a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/faqs-mysql-cluster.html#qandaitem-22-10-3" rel="noreferrer">cluster FAQ</a>, but it is hard to ascertain from it when to use one or the other.</p>
  
  <p>I would appreciate any advice from people who are familiar with the differences between those solutions and what are the pros and cons, and when do you recommend to use each.</p>