How to install MariaDB on Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a minimalist distribution with a focus on security and simplicity.

MariaDB is one of the most popular database servers in the world, created by the original MySQL developers and initially conceived as a direct and improved MYSQL replacement. MariaDB is fast, scalable, and robust, with a rich ecosystem of storage engines, plugins, and other tools that make it versatile and flexible in different scenarios. MariaDB is developed as free software under the GPL license. The latest versions of MariaDB also include GIS and JSON functions.

Install

# apk add mariadb

Handle the server process

In this part we will learn how to start, stop or restart the mariadb service, for this we will use the OpenRC initialization system . OpenRC is the default initialization system on distributions like Gentoo and Alpine Linux.

Check status

# rc-service mariadb status
 * status: stopped

Start

# rc-service mariadb start
 * Caching service dependencies ...         [ ok ]
 * Datadir '/var/lib/mysql' is empty or invalid.
 * Run '/etc/init.d/mariadb setup' to create new database.
 * ERROR: mariadb failed to start

The previous error tells us that we have not initialized/installed the databases so we must execute the following command:

# /etc/init.d/mariadb setup
 * Creating a new MySQL database ...
Installing MariaDB/MySQL system tables in '/var/lib/mysql' ...
OK
...

Now we can start the DB server

# rc-service mariadb start
 * Starting mariadb ...
210413 22:11:45 mysqld_safe Logging to syslog.
210413 22:11:45 mysqld_safe Starting mariadbd daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql            [ ok ]

Check the status again

# rc-service mariadb status
 * status: started

Start with the OS

If you want MariaDB will start automatically after a system reboot exec the following command:

# rc-update add mariadb default
 * service mariadb added to runlevel default

Stop

# rc-service mariadb stop
 * Stopping mariadb ...             [ ok ]

Connect to the server

To connect to the DB server we must install the package mariadb-client

# apk add mariadb-client

The mariadb-client package includes the mysql shell so we can run:

# mysql -u root 
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 4
Server version: 10.5.8-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)]>

Show databases

MariaDB [(none)]> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| performance_schema |
| test               |
+--------------------+
4 rows in set (0.000 sec)

Improve the DB server security:

mysql_secure_installation is a shell script available on Unix systems, and enables you to improve the security of your MariaDB installation in the following ways:

You can set a password for root accounts.
You can remove root accounts that are accessible from outside the local host.
You can remove anonymous-user accounts.
You can remove the test database, which by default can be accessed by anonymous users.

$ mariadb-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
haven't set the root password yet, you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): 
OK, successfully used password, moving on...

Setting the root password or using the unix_socket ensures that nobody
can log into the MariaDB root user without the proper authorisation.

You already have your root account protected, so you can safely answer 'n'.

Switch to unix_socket authentication [Y/n] Y
Enabled successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!


You already have your root account protected, so you can safely answer 'n'.

Change the root password? [Y/n] n
 ... skipping.

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!