How to Install MariaDB on Rocky Linux 8

MariaDB is a community-driven fork of MySQL relational database management system. It is completely free and open-source. MariaDB is compatible with Linux and Windows operating systems.

MariaDB gives improved performance over MySQL and offers better storage engines, a larger and faster connection pool, speed and replication improvements. MariaDB is now the popular Database for CMS tools such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Apps like phpMyAdmin work out of the box on it.

In this tutorial, we learn how to install MariaDB on Rocky Linux 8.

Install Rocky Linux 8.4 on VMware W...

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Install Rocky Linux 8.4 on VMware Workstation Player | Dead CentOS replacement Step 1: Add Repository for MariaDB on Rocky Linux

The Rocky Linux AppStream repository comes with MariaDB. The default version available is MariaDB 10.3. The latest version available on the Rocky AppStream repository is MariaDB 10.5, as of writing this tutorial.

To list the available MariaDB version, type:

$ sudo dnf module list mariadb

Output:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:10 ago on Fri 06 Aug 2021 11:54:15 PM UTC.
 Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
 Name                                          Stream                                        Profiles                                                        Summary
 mariadb                                       10.3 [d]                                      client, galera, server [d]                                      MariaDB Module
 mariadb                                       10.5                                          client, galera, server [d]                                      MariaDB Module
 Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Note: To go with the default version (currently 10.3), no need to add the official repository - directly go to step 2. For MariaDB 10.5, enable its module version (sudo dnf module enable mariadb:10.5) and proceed to step 2.

MariaDB's official repository has the latest version. Normally it takes some time to reach Rocky Linux AppStream.

To install the latest version on the MariaDB repository, first create a MariaDB repo file.

$ sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mariadb.repo

Add the below lines to the repo file - which you can generate using the MariaDB repository configuration tool.

# MariaDB 10.6 RedHat repository list
[mariadb] 
name = MariaDB 
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/10.6/rhel8-amd64 
module_hotfixes=1 
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB 
gpgcheck=1

Then save and exit from the file.

Step 2: Install MariaDB on Rocky Linux

Once the MariaDB repository is added, install MariaDB Server and client using the following command.

$ sudo dnf install mariadb-server mariadb

To start MariaDB service, type:

$ sudo systemctl start mariadb

Check the status of MariaDB service, type:

$ sudo systemctl status mariadb

If the MariaDB service is running, you can enable it to start at system boot.

$ sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Step 3: Secure MariaDB installation

Fresh MariaDB installation is not secure. MariaDB package comes with a script preinstalled which helps to improve the security of your database server.

The new installation on MariaDB has root password blank. This script allows to set a new root password, remove anonymous users, disallow root remote login, remove test database.

To start the script, type:

$ sudo mysql_secure_installation

From MariaDB 10.5.2, mysql_secure_installation is the symlink, and mariadb-secure-installation the binary name.

If you get this error "sudo: mysql_secure_installation: command not found" try use this script sudo mariadb-secure-installation.

MariaDB set root password MariaDB secure installation Step 4: Verify the installation

Now we can verify the installation by login into the MariaDB shell using the root user.

$ sudo mysql -u root -p

Output:

Enter password:
 Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
 Your MariaDB connection id is 13
 Server version: 10.6.4-MariaDB MariaDB Server
 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)]>

The output shows we have installed MariaDB 10.6 version and got a shell to manage database operations.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to install MariaDB on Rocky Linux 8. We installed the latest version MariaDB 10.6 from the official repository.

Thanks for reading, please lets us know your suggestions in the below comment section.