Distributed SQL: The Architecture Behind MariaDB Xpand

Distributed SQL removes the last remaining limitation of standard relational databases: unlimited scalability.

A lot of things are deemed a “game-changer” these days, but distributed SQL deserves the moniker. It enables relational databases to scale to millions of transactions per second while maintaining sub-millisecond latency – removing the need for NoSQL, hardware appliances and manual sharding.

Distributed SQL databases are relational databases engineered with a distributed architecture to scale out on commodity hardware, on premises or in the cloud. And there are no trade-offs. These databases retain standard SQL, ACID transactions and strong consistency (all the characteristics businesses rely on to thrive) while adding unprecedented levels of scalability.

This white paper explores the architecture of MariaDB Xpand, a distributed SQL database built for scalability and performance. Unlike other distributed SQL offerings, Xpand is proven, robust and mature. It has been used in production to power mission-critical applications for years, including Samsung Cloud and the several hundred million Samsung phones connected to it.

Download the white paper to learn from illustrative examples of the Xpand architecture, and see how it scales out while maintaining data integrity and strong consistency with ACID transactions.