:original_name: introduction.html

.. _introduction:

What Is GaussDB(for MySQL)?
===========================

GaussDB(for MySQL) is the latest generation enterprise-class distributed database. It is fully compatible with MySQL and provides high scalability and massive storage capacity. It uses a decoupled compute and storage architecture and supports up to 128 TB of storage. With GaussDB(for MySQL), there is no need to deal with sharding, and no need to worry about data loss. It combines the performance and availability of commercial databases with the cost-effectiveness of open source databases.

A GaussDB(for MySQL) DB instance consists of one primary node (write node) and multiple read replicas (read-only nodes). They share the underlying DFV storage.

:ref:`DB Engines and Versions <gaussdb_01_0005>` lists the versions supported by GaussDB(for MySQL).
