MariaDB 11.4

MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system and a drop-in replacement for MySQL. It is widely used for web applications, content management systems, and general-purpose data storage.

Software included

Component	Version
MariaDB Server	11.4.x (LTS)
Ubuntu	24.04 LTS

Getting started

1. Connect to your VM

ssh ubuntu@<your-vm-ip>

2. Wait for first-boot configuration

On the first boot, a setup script runs automatically. It:

Sets a random root password
Removes anonymous users and the test database
Creates an app database and an app user with a random password
Writes all credentials to /etc/mariadb/credentials.txt
Configures /root/.my.cnf so root can connect without typing a password

This takes under 30 seconds. Track progress:

journalctl -u mariadb-first-boot.service -f

3. Retrieve credentials

sudo cat /etc/mariadb/credentials.txt

This file contains the root password, application database name, application user, and application password. It is only readable by root.

4. Connect to MariaDB

As root (no password prompt):

sudo mariadb

As the application user:

APP_PASS=$(sudo awk '/^Application password:/{print $NF}' /etc/mariadb/credentials.txt)
mariadb -u app -p"$APP_PASS" app

Managing MariaDB

# Check service status
systemctl status mariadb

# Restart
sudo systemctl restart mariadb

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mariadb -f

Configuration directory: /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/

To allow remote connections, edit /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf and change bind-address from 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0, then restart MariaDB. Open the firewall for specific IPs only (see Security).

Security

Port 3306 is not open externally by default. UFW is enabled and allows SSH (port 22) only.

To allow access from a specific IP:

sudo ufw allow from <trusted-ip> to any port 3306

To connect without opening the firewall (recommended), use an SSH tunnel:

# Run this on your local machine
ssh -L 3306:localhost:3306 ubuntu@<your-vm-ip>

# Then connect locally
mariadb -u app -p"<app-password>" app