Install MariaDB on CentOS 7

MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system, backward compatible, binary drop-in replacement of MySQL. It is developed by some of the original developers of the MySQL and by many people in the community. With the release of CentOS 7, MySQL was replaced with MariaDB as the default database system.

If you, for any reason need to install MySQL, check the How to Install MySQL on CentOS 7 tutorial. If your application does not have any specific requirements, you should stick with MariaDB, the default database system in CentOS 7.

In this tutorial we will show you how to install the latest version of MariaDB on CentOS 7 using the official MariaDB repositories.

Prerequisites #

Make sure you are logged in as a user with sudo privileges before proceeding with the tutorial.

Install MariaDB 5.5 on CentOS 7 #

The version of the MariaDB server provided in default CentOS repositories is version 5.5. This is not the latest version though, but it is quite stable.

Follow the steps below to install and secure MariaDB 5.5 on CentOS 7:

1. Install the MariaDB package using the yum package manager:

   sudo yum install mariadb-server

   Press y when prompted to proceed with the installation.

2. Once the installation is complete, start the MariaDB service and enable it to start on boot using the following commands:

   sudo systemctl start mariadbsudo systemctl enable mariadb

3. To verify that the installation was successful, check the MariaDB service status by typing:

   sudo systemctl status mariadb

   The output should show that the service is active and running:

4. Run the mysql_secure_installation script which will perform several security related tasks:

   sudo mysql_secure_installation

   You will be prompted to set up the root user password, remove anonymous user accounts, restrict root user access to the local machine, and remove the test database.

   The steps are explained in detail. It is recommended to answer Y (yes) to all questions.

Install MariaDB 10.3 on CentOS 7 #

At the time of writing this article, the latest version of MariaDB is version 10.3. If you need to install any other version of MariaDB, head over to the MariaDB repositories page , and generate a repository file for a specific MariaDB version.

To install MariaDB 10.3 on CentOS 7, follow these steps:

1. The first step is to Enable the MariaDB repository. Create a repository file named MariaDB.repo and add the following content:

   /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo

   # MariaDB 10.3 CentOS repository list - created 2018-05-25 19:02 UTC
   # http://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/
   [mariadb]
   name = MariaDB
   baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/10.3/centos7-amd64
   gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
   gpgcheck=1

2. Install the MariaDB server and client packages using yum, same as other CentOS package:

   sudo yum install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client

   Yum may prompt you to import the MariaDB GPG key:

   Retrieving key from https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
   Importing GPG key 0x1BB943DB:
    Userid     : "MariaDB Package Signing Key <package-signing-key@mariadb.org>"
    Fingerprint: 1993 69e5 404b d5fc 7d2f e43b cbcb 082a 1bb9 43db
    From       : https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB

   Type y and hit Enter.

3. Once the installation is complete, enable MariaDB to start on boot and start the service:

   sudo systemctl enable mariadbsudo systemctl start mariadb

4. To verify the installation check the MariaDB service status by typing:

   sudo systemctl status mariadb

   ● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.3.7 database server
      Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d
              └─migrated-from-my.cnf-settings.conf
      Active: inactive (dead)
        Docs: man:mysqld(8)
              https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/

5. The last step is to run the mysql_secure_installation script which will perform several security related tasks:

   sudo mysql_secure_installation

   The script will prompt you to set up the root user password, remove the anonymous user, restrict root user access to the local machine, and remove the test database.

   All steps are explained in detail and it is recommended to answer Y (yes) to all questions.

Connect to MariaDB from the command line #

To connect to the MariaDB server through the terminal as the root account type:

mysql -u root -p

You will be prompted to enter the root password you have previously set when the mysql_secure_installation script was run.

Once you enter the password you will be presented with the MariaDB shell as shown below:

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 8
Server version: 10.3.7-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.

Conclusion #

In this tutorial, we’ve shown you how to install and secure MariaDB on a CentOS 7 server.

Now that your MariaDB server is up and running and you know how to connect to the MariaDB server from the command line, you might want to check the following guides:

• How to manage MySQL user accounts and databases
• How to reset a MySQL root password
• How to Create a MySQL Database
• How to Create MySQL Users Accounts and Grant Privileges
• How to Show MySQL Users
• How to Back Up and Restore MySQL Databases with Mysqldump

If you prefer a web interface over command line, you can install phpMyAdmin and manage your MariaDB databases through it.