Database schema changes are usually not popular among DBAs or sysadmins, not when you are operating a cluster and cannot afford to switch off the service during a maintenance window. There are different ways to perform schema changes, some procedures being more complicated than others. Galera Cluster is great at making your MySQL database highly available, but are you concerned about schema changes? Is an ALTER TABLE statement something that requires a lot of advance scheduling? What is the impact on your database uptime? This is a common question, since ALTER operations in MySQL usually cause the table to be locked and rebuilt – which can potentially be disruptive to your live applications. Fortunately, Galera Cluster has mechanisms to replicate DDL across its nodes. In these slides, you will learn about the following: How to perform Zero Downtime Schema Changes 2 main methods: TOI and RSU Total Order Isolation: predictability and consistency Rolling Schema Upgrades pt-online-schema-change Schema synchronization with re-joining nodes Recommended procedures Common pitfalls/user errors The slides are courtesy of Seppo Jaakola, CEO, Codership - creators of Galera Cluster