Open-source middleware maker Continuent has launched a database scale-out stack called Tungsten, which support open-source databases like MySQL as well as proprietary ones from the likes of Oracle.

Last Thursday, the company published code for Tungsten Replicator, a master-slave replication tool for MySQL, wrote Continuent CTO Robert Hodges in a blog post. Master-slave replication sees a "master" database sync up with a number of "slaves," allowing a workload to be scaled out.

"We started with master/slave replication on MySQL for a very simple reason: we know it well. And we know that while MySQL replication has many wonderful features like simple set-up, it also has many deficiencies that have persisted for a long time," Hodges wrote. Support for Oracle, PostgreSQL and "many other databases" will follow, he added.

"The code is in the early stages but will mature very rapidly," he added. "We are looking forward to creating something that brings powerful replication within the reach of every database user."

Tungsten Replicator is part of the overall Tungsten stack.

The stack's capabilities include a failure protection function that keeps extra database replicas in the event the master fails, and can automatically promote a slave to master status when needed. It also enables users to maintain and replicate database copies at a number of locations to aid disaster recovery, according to a statement.

The Tungsten project's site is located at community.continuent.com.

Continuent isn't trying to supplant high-end products like Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), 451 Group analyst Matthew Aslett said via e-mail Friday.

It instead hopes to provide "a potential incremental scale-out offering for customers using low-end databases and hardware that either can't afford or don't want to buy into the whole Oracle RAC architecture," he said.

"This is an interesting long-term opportunity, but in the near-term the most significant opportunities for Tungsten probably lie in improving the replication and high availability features for MySQL," Aslett added.