Difference between SQL node and Data Node In a MySQL cluster, there are several different types of nodes:

Management Node,
SQL Node,
Data Node,
API Node,

What are the differences between the latter three types?
Management Node: is the Node that process reading the cluster configuration file and distributes this information to all nodes in the cluster that request it. It also maintains a log of cluster activities. Management clients can connect to the management server and check the cluster's status. 

Data Node: This type of node stores cluster data. There are as many data nodes as there are replicas, times the number of fragments. For example, with two replicas, each having two fragments, you need four data nodes. One replica is sufficient for data storage, but provides no redundancy; therefore, it is recommended to have 2 (or more) replicas to provide redundancy, and thus high availability.

SQL Node: This is a node that accesses the cluster data. In the case of MySQL Cluster, an SQL node is a traditional MySQL server that uses the NDBCLUSTER storage engine. An SQL node is a mysqld process started with the --ndbcluster and --ndb-connectstring options, which are explained elsewhere in this chapter, possibly with additional MySQL server options as well.

Note: SQL Node is the specialized type of API node.

Please refer to MySQL webpage for more info:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-cluster-basics.html