installing mysql cluster over physical distances

[matt bodley]

I'm just designing a project in which may use MySQL Cluster.

I'm not too familiar really with programming cluster databases, but I have a fairly good idea on how they work.

I'm wondering whether it's possible to install different machines over physical distances.

I understand that you can just setup the IP address to whatever so in a engineering sense its no problems, but I'm interested in whether it is practical in terms of speed.

For example, if a transaction has to pump the same query to 4 clustered servers, all round the world, then wouldn't it be immensely slow?

Any thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt