MariaDB is an open-source one of the most popular relational database management system (RDBMS) that is a highly compatible drop-in replacement of MySQL. It is built upon the values of performance, stability, and openness, and MariaDB Foundation ensures contributions will be accepted on technical merit.
MariaDB was developed as a software fork of MySQL in 2009 in response to Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL. MariaDB intends to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. It is part of most cloud offerings and the default in most Linux distributions.
In this guide we will learn how to install and configure MariaDB in Ubuntu 22.04.
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Prerequisites
To follow along, ensure you have:
- An up to date Ubuntu 20.04 server
- Root access to the server or user with Sudo access
- Access to the internet from the server
Update the system
Before proceeding let us ensure that the Ubuntu server is up to date. First update the repos then do a system upgrade to ensure all the installed packages are up to date:
In your terminal, type these. The -y option in apt upgrade is to ensure that the system doesn’t pause for us to accept the upgrade.
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| sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
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Installing mariadb
Mariadb is found in the default repos for Ubuntu 22.04. Use this command to install the database server:
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| sudo apt install -y mariadb-server
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Mariadb will be started by default.
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| $ sudo systemctl status mariadb
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.3.31 database server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2021-11-14 16:48:17 EAT; 43s ago
Docs: man:mysqld(8)
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
Main PID: 50510 (mysqld)
Status: "Taking your SQL requests now..."
Tasks: 31 (limit: 4631)
Memory: 63.8M
CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
└─50510 /usr/sbin/mysqld
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: Processing databases
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: information_schema
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: mysql
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: performance_schema
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: Phase 6/7: Checking and upgrading tables
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: Processing databases
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: information_schema
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: performance_schema
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: Phase 7/7: Running 'FLUSH PRIVILEGES'
Nov 14 16:48:18 ubuntu-client.citizix.com /etc/mysql/debian-start[50549]: OK
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Configuring MariaDB
For new MariaDB installations, the next step is to run the included security script. This script changes some of the less secure default options. We will use it to block remote root logins and to remove unused database users.
Run the security script:
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| sudo mysql_secure_installation
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This will take you through a series of prompts where you can make some changes to your MariaDB installation’s security options. The first prompt will ask you to enter the current database root password. Since we have not set one up yet, press ENTER to indicate “none”.
The next prompt asks you whether you’d like to set up a database root password. Type N and then press ENTER. In Ubuntu, the root account for MariaDB is tied closely to automated system maintenance, so we should not change the configured authentication methods for that account. Doing so would make it possible for a package update to break the database system by removing access to the administrative account. Later, we will cover how to optionally set up an additional administrative account for password access if socket authentication is not appropriate for your use case.
From there, you can press Y and then ENTER to accept the defaults for all the subsequent questions. This will remove some anonymous users and the test database, disable remote root logins, and load these new rules so that MariaDB immediately respects the changes you have made.
This is my server’s output
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| $ sudo mysql_secure_installation
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorisation.
Set root password? [Y/n] Y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
... Success!
By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
By default, MariaDB comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Cleaning up...
All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MariaDB
installation should now be secure.
Thanks for using MariaDB!
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Testing MariaDB
Now that mariadb is all set up and is running, we need to confirm that it can accept connections.
To test, connect to mariadb with root user – mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u root -p
Output:
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| $ mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 54
Server version: 10.5.12-MariaDB-0+deb11u1 Debian 11
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]>
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Check mariadb version:
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| MariaDB [(none)]> SELECT VERSION();
+----------------------------------+
| VERSION() |
+----------------------------------+
| <meta charset="utf-8">10.3.31-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 |
+----------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.000 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]>
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For an additional check, you can try connecting to the database using the mysqladmin tool, which is a client that lets you run administrative commands. For example, this command says to connect to MariaDB as root and return the version using the Unix socket:
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| sudo mysqladmin version
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You should receive output similar to this:
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| $ sudo mysqladmin version
mysqladmin Ver 9.1 Distrib 10.3.31-MariaDB, for debian-linux-gnu on x86_64
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Server version 10.3.31-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
Protocol version 10
Connection Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Uptime: 13 min 56 sec
Threads: 6 Questions: 488 Slow queries: 0 Opens: 175 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 31 Queries per second avg: 0.583
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Conclusion
In this guide you installed MariaDB to act as an SQL server. During the installation process you also secured the server.