{"id":3580,"date":"2023-04-12T15:39:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T15:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quebit.com\/askquebit\/what-is-mariadb\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T17:59:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:59:32","slug":"what-is-mariadb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quebit.com\/askquebit\/what-is-mariadb\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is MariaDB and How Do I Set It Up and Use It on Microsoft Azure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

MariaDB, created by\u00a0the original developers of MySQL<\/a>, is\u00a0an open source relational database management system\u00a0that is a compatible, literal \u201cdrop-in\u201d replacement for the widely used MySQL database technology.<\/p>\n

MariaDB offers\u00a0more and better\u00a0storage engines which are designed to efficiently manage data files, the data, and the index caches. NoSQL support, provided by Cassandra, allows you to run SQL and NoSQL in a single database system. MariaDB also supports various TokuDB versions, to handle big data for large organizations and corporate users.<\/p>\n

Implementing MariaDB using Microsoft Azure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Microsoft Azure<\/a> markets the idea that it makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale MariaDB server deployments in the cloud, so let\u2019s see just how easy!<\/p>\n

First, use a web browser to navigate to the\u00a0Azure portal, enter your credentials and sign into the portal. The default view should be your service dashboard (note, you\u2019ll need a subscription to perform this exercise but if you don’t have an Azure subscription, you can create a\u00a0free Azure account<\/a>\u00a0before you begin.<\/p>\n

You create an Azure Database for MariaDB server within a set or \u201cgroup\u201d of\u00a0\u201ccompute and storage\u201d resources that you define and control, so you need to set up those resources first. To do that, you select the\u00a0Create a resource<\/strong>\u00a0button (+) in the upper left corner of the portal:<\/p>\n

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Next, type\u00a0MariaDB<\/strong>\u00a0in the search box to find the service:<\/p>\n

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Scroll through the search results until you see \u201cAzure Database for MariaDB<\/strong>\u201d and then click on Create<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Configuring the Azure MariaDB Server<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the resources can be allocated, you need to define the basic details of the deployment. Specially, the Subscription<\/u> to be used (for billing), names<\/em> to use for the Resource group<\/u> and Server name<\/u>, a Server admin login name<\/u> (and password), a Location<\/u> where the resources will reside (Microsoft recommends that you try to choose a location that is closest to your users or to your other Azure applications you may be using). Most importantly, you also need to select the Compute + storage<\/u> limitations, Backup<\/u> retention<\/u> and redundancy<\/u> parameters and the Auto Grow<\/u> value. The portal \u201csteps you through\u201d these selections and then offers an \u201coverview\u201d tab so you can review your choices (shown below). Note that for this exercise, I picked the lowest and most cost effective values:<\/p>\n

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Once you are happy with your choices you can click Review + create<\/strong>\u00a0to provision the server. Provisioning can take up to 20 minutes (typically less).<\/p>\n

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Accessing the MariaDB Server<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of the deployment process, a firewall is created at the server level. This firewall prevents external applications and tools from connecting to the server or to any databases on the server unless a firewall rule is created to open the firewall for specific IP addresses. Once you are informed that your deployment is completed (see below), you can click on Go to resource<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Now, under Settings<\/strong>, click on Connection security<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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On the Firewall rules<\/strong> page you can add the IP addresses of those users that will need to access the new database. In this example I just clicked Add current client IP address<\/strong> so that my machine will be the only authorized IP. At any time you can use this page to add or remove IPs.<\/p>\n

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Next click Save<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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MySQL Workbench<\/strong><\/p>\n

My favorite way to connect to an Azure MariaDB is though MySQL Workbench<\/a>. MySQL Workbench is a unified visual tool for database architects, developers, and DBAs proving data modeling, SQL development, and comprehensive administration tools for server configuration, user administration, backup, and much more.<\/p>\n

To connect using this tool, you first need to create a new connection by selecting the plus icon (+<\/strong>) next to the\u00a0MySQL Connections<\/strong>\u00a0heading.<\/p>\n

To create a connection, in the\u00a0Setup New Connection<\/strong>\u00a0dialog box, on the\u00a0Parameters<\/strong>\u00a0tab, enter the server connection information (Hostname<\/strong>,\u00a0Username<\/strong>, and\u00a0Password<\/strong>). You can find the server\u2019s name and sign-in information that you entered earlier on the server\u00a0Overview<\/strong>\u00a0page or on the\u00a0Properties<\/strong>\u00a0page in the Azure portal. The Connection Method should be Standard (TCP\/IP) and the Port can remain 3306. Once you entered your parameters, check that everything is entered and configured correctly by selecting\u00a0Test Connection<\/strong>. Then, select\u00a0OK<\/strong>\u00a0to save the connection.<\/p>\n

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Trying out MariaDB<\/strong><\/p>\n

To get stared, you\u2019ll first need to create a schema<\/strong> (or a database name) for your MySQL Workbench session and then set the default schema for the connection. To do that, from the MySQL Workbench home screen, you can\u00a0right-click on a MySQL connection, choose Edit Connection<\/strong>, and set the desired default schema on the Default Schema box. Once you\u2019ve set a schema (I named mine \u201ccycle_sales\u201d<\/strong>) you can view it in the Navigator pane<\/em> under SCHEMAS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll notice that there are currently no objects<\/em> in the schema! To create a new table, you can right-click on Tables<\/strong> and select Create Table\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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MySQL Workbench then opens a panel where you can \u201cfill in\u201d the information to define a new table, column by column.<\/p>\n

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My new table name is \u201ccycle_price\u201d which will have 2 columns \u201cProduct\u201d and \u201cPrice\u201d which I have defined as shown. Once you are ready, you click Apply<\/strong>. You will be \u201cled\u201d through 2 dialogs; the first is where you can review the generated SQL script that will create the new table. If it is what you expect, click on Apply<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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After clicking on Apply<\/strong>, the script runs, and the 2nd<\/sup><\/em> dialog shows the results of executing the SQL script.<\/p>\n

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When you click Finish<\/strong>, you can then see that the new table has been created:<\/p>\n

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Loading Data<\/strong><\/p>\n

To load some data into our new table, you can again right-click<\/em> on Tables<\/strong> and then select Table Data Import Wizard:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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MySQL Workbench will then provide a \u201cwizard\u201d to build and execute a data import. First, we can Browse\u2026<\/strong> to and select a file:<\/p>\n

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Next, we can set the Destination<\/strong> (to our existing table). Notice I checked Truncate table before import<\/strong> so that if we would run this process again, any existing data in the table would first be cleared:<\/p>\n

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Now we configure the fields to columns:<\/p>\n

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Finally, we can click Next<\/strong> to start the import:<\/p>\n

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And lastly, the results:<\/p>\n

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Querying the Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now we can go ahead and query our new table:<\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Azure Database for MariaDB is a managed service<\/em> which you can use to run, manage, and scale highly available MariaDB databases in the cloud. At a glance, this narrative showed how easy it really is to setup an Azure Database for a MariaDB server in the cloud, create a new schema, build a table, and load data to it \u2013 all in about five minutes using the Azure portal.<\/p>\n

Although we haven\u2019t created what would be considered a production environment (although it could be scaled to meet production requirements), we do<\/em> have a working environment that we can use for proof of concept development, presales demonstrations or just investigation.<\/p>\n

Azure Database for MariaDB delivers:<\/p>\n