2.4 Edition Concepts

The Edition determines the deployment architecture and supported features. Standard starts with one server; Cluster divides storage and processing among several nodes. Choose based on the required SQL features, growth rate, failure recovery, and operational capacity, as well as the current data size.

Differences Between Standard and Cluster Editions

Standard Edition

A single DBMS server handles SQL processing and data storage. You do not need to manage deployment and communication across distributed nodes, making it suitable for development and single-server operations. Check whether you need Standard-only features such as TRANSACTION tables, Restore, or Mount.

Starting with one server does not necessarily mean the data set must be small. Measure whether the ingestion volume, query workload, and retention period fit within that server’s CPU, memory, and storage capacity.

Cluster Edition

Coordinator, Deployer, Broker, Warehouse, and Lookup nodes have different roles.

Node type	Role
Coordinator	Manage cluster metadata and node state
Deployer	Deploy packages and manage nodes
Broker	Accept application SQL connections and distribute queries
Warehouse	Store time-series data and execute queries
Lookup	Process cluster reference data

Ordinary SQL applications connect to a Broker. Management tools use role-specific endpoints and ports, so distinguish SQL connection addresses from management addresses.

Distributing data across Warehouse groups and replicating data within a group serve different purposes. Distribution expands capacity and throughput; replication helps with failure recovery. Design node counts, replication state, client reconnection, and recovery procedures together.

Feature Support Differences

Item to check	Standard Edition	Cluster Edition
Main deployment structure	One DBMS server	Multiple nodes with separate roles
TRANSACTION tables	Supported	Not supported
Restore and Mount	Supported	Not supported
Capacity and processing expansion	Expand server resources and storage configuration	Expand distributed groups and node configuration
Failure recovery design	Backups, recovery procedures, and server operations	Node and group replication, state, connection handling, and recovery procedures

Shared features such as LOG, TAG, LOOKUP, VOLATILE, ROLLUP, and Retention do not necessarily have identical DML, DDL, or operational restrictions. For complete support information, see Edition Support and Table Type Support.

Selection Criteria

Identify required features. If you need TRANSACTION tables, Restore, or Mount, first review Standard Edition support.
Run representative ingestion and queries. Use realistic data types, concurrent connections, query ranges, and retention periods to measure available capacity on one server.
Account for data growth and failure requirements. If you need distribution beyond one server, also consider Cluster’s network, replication, and node-management costs.
Test failure scenarios. Monitoring nodes does not by itself guarantee uninterrupted recovery. Measure recovery time and verify application reconnection and retry behavior.

Changing Editions in production involves more than increasing the server count. First verify compatibility for your SQL and SDKs, data migration, backups, and recovery methods.