# Federated MariaDB Enterprise Spider Topology
## Federated MariaDB Enterprise Spider Topology
## Overview
In the Federated MariaDB Enterprise Spider topology, a Spider Node contains one or more "virtual" Spider Tables. A Spider Table does not store data. When a Spider Table is queried, the Enterprise Spider storage engine uses a MariaDB foreign data wrapper to read from and write to a Data Table on a Data Node.
## Benefits
MariaDB Enterprise Spider:
* Supports a MariaDB foreign data wrapper. The MariaDB foreign data wrapper can be used to replace the older Federated and FederatedX storage engines.
* Supports an ODBC foreign data wrapper in MariaDB Enterprise Server 10.5 and later. The ODBC foreign data wrapper is beta maturity. The maturity can be confirmed by querying the [information\_schema.SPIDER\_WRAPPER\_PROTOCOLS](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider/information-schema-spider_wrapper_protocols-table.md) table.
The Spider Federated topology:
* Can be used to query tables located on a different MariaDB Enterprise Server node from the Spider Node using the MariaDB foreign data wrapper.
* Can be used to join tables located on a different MariaDB Enterprise Server node with tables on the Spider Node using the MariaDB foreign data wrapper.
* Can be used to migrate tables located on a different MariaDB Enterprise Server node to the Spider Node using the MariaDB foreign data wrapper.
## Federated MariaDB Enterprise Spider Topology
In the Spider Federated topology, a Spider Node contains one or more "virtual" Spider Tables. A Spider Table does not store data. When a Spider Table is queried, the Enterprise Spider storage engine uses a MariaDB foreign data wrapper to read from and write to a Data Table on a Data Node.
The Spider Federated topology consists of:
* One MariaDB Enterprise Server node is a Spider Node
* One MariaDB Enterprise Server node is a Data Node
The Spider Node:
* Contains one or more Spider Tables
* Uses the [Enterprise Spider storage engine](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider.md) plugin for Spider Tables
* Uses a MariaDB foreign data wrapper to query the Data Table on the Data Node
The Data Node:
* Contains a Data Table for each Spider Table
* Uses a non-Spider storage engine for each Data Table, such as [InnoDB](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/innodb.md) or [ColumnStore](https://mariadb.com/docs/analytics/)
## Term Definitions
| Term | Definition |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Data Node | A Data Node is a MariaDB Enterprise Server node that contains one or more Data Tables. |
| Data Table | A Data Table stores data for a Spider Table. When a Spider Table is queried, the Enterprise Spider storage engine uses the MariaDB foreign data wrapper to read from and write to the Data Table on a Data Node. The Data Table must be created on the Data Node with the same structure as the Spider Table. The Data Table must use a non-Spider storage engine, such as [InnoDB](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/innodb.md) or [ColumnStore](https://mariadb.com/docs/analytics/). |
| ODBC Data Source | An ODBC Data Source relies on an ODBC Driver and an ODBC Driver Manager to query an external data source. |
| ODBC Driver | An ODBC Driver is a library that integrates with a ODBC Driver Manager to query an external data source. |
| ODBC Driver Manager | An ODBC Driver Manager allows applications to use ODBC Drivers. |
| Spider Node | A Spider Node is a MariaDB Enterprise Server node that contains one or more Spider Tables. |
| Spider Table | A Spider Table is a virtual table that does not store data. When a Spider Table is queried, the [Enterprise Spider storage engine](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider.md) uses foreign data wrappers to read from and write to Data Tables on Data Nodes or ODBC Data Sources. |
## Example Use Cases
### Query MariaDB Enterprise Server Nodes
The Spider Federated topology can be used to query tables located on another MariaDB Enterprise Server node:
* The MariaDB Enterprise Server node with the desired table is configured as a Data Node.
* The MariaDB Enterprise Server node that needs to query the table is configured as a Spider Node.
* The Data Table is the desired table on the Data Node.
* A Spider Table is created on the Spider Node that references the Data Table on the Data Node.
* On the Spider Node, the Data Table is queried by querying the Spider Table like the following:
```sql
SELECT * FROM spider_tab;
```
* Non-Spider tables can also be referenced in queries with the Spider Table:
```sql
SELECT *
FROM spider_tab s
JOIN innodb_tab i
ON s.id=i.id;
```
### Migrate Tables from MariaDB Enterprise Server Nodes
The Spider Federated topology can be used to migrate tables from one MariaDB Enterprise Server node to another MariaDB Enterprise Server node:
* The MariaDB Enterprise Server node with the source table is configured as a Data Node.
* The MariaDB Enterprise Server node with the destination table is configured as a Spider Node.
* The Data Table is the source table on the Data Node.
* A Spider Table is created on the Spider Node that references the Data Table on the Data Node.
* On the Spider node, the Data Table's data is migrated to the destination table by querying the Spider Table like the following:
```sql
INSERT INTO innodb_tab
SELECT * FROM spider_tab;
```
## Examples
### Load Spider with Configuration File (ES 10.4+)
```ini
[mariadb]
...
plugin_load_add = "ha_spider"
```
### Load Spider with INSTALL SONAME (ES 10.4+)
```sql
INSTALL SONAME "ha_spider";
```
### View Foreign Data Wrappers (ES 10.5+)
```sql
SELECT * FROM information_schema.SPIDER_WRAPPER_PROTOCOLS;
```
### Create Federated Spider Table
```sql
CREATE SERVER hq_server
FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER mariadb
OPTIONS (
HOST "192.0.2.2",
PORT 5801,
USER "spider_user",
PASSWORD "password",
DATABASE "hq_sales"
);
CREATE DATABASE spider_hq_sales;
CREATE TABLE spider_hq_sales.invoices (
branch_id INT NOT NULL,
invoice_id INT NOT NULL,
customer_id INT,
invoice_date DATETIME(6),
invoice_total DECIMAL(13, 2),
payment_method ENUM('NONE', 'CASH', 'WIRE_TRANSFER', 'CREDIT_CARD', 'GIFT_CARD'),
PRIMARY KEY(branch_id, invoice_id)
) ENGINE=Spider
COMMENT='server "hq_server", table "invoices"';
```
## Resources
### Deployment
* [Deploy MariaDB Enterprise Spider](broken://spaces/aEnK0ZXmUbJzqQrTjFyb/pages/BbZ3TNWsYNwHXVyiSQ6z#spider-topologies)
### Operations
* [Operations](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider/spider-storage-engine-introduction/mariadb-enterprise-spider-operations/federated-mariadb-enterprise-spider-topology-operations.md)
* [Backup and Restore](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider/spider-storage-engine-introduction/mariadb-enterprise-spider-operations/federated-mariadb-enterprise-spider-topology-operations/federated-mariadb-enterprise-spider-topology-backup-and-restore.md)
* [Migrate Tables](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider/spider-storage-engine-introduction/mariadb-enterprise-spider-operations/federated-mariadb-enterprise-spider-topology-operations/federated-mariadb-enterprise-spider-topology-migrate-tables.md)
### Schema Design
* [Schema Design](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider/spider-storage-engine-introduction/mariadb-enterprise-spider-schema-design.md)
### Storage Engines
* [Enterprise Spider Storage Engine](/docs/server/server-usage/storage-engines/spider.md)
*This page is: Copyright © 2025 MariaDB. All rights reserved.*
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