Installing MariaDB

Now we’ve come to the fun part, installing MariaDB. To get the ball rolling, we’ll install the mariadb-server package:

sudo apt install mariadb-server 

If your organization prefers to stick with MySQL, the package to install is mysql-server instead:

sudo apt install mysql-server 

Although it might be tempting to try out both MySQL and MariaDB to compare and contrast their differences, I don’t recommend switching from MariaDB to MySQL (or vice versa) on the same server. I’ve seen some very strange configuration issues occur on servers that had one installed and then were switched to the other (even after wiping the configuration). For the most part, it’s best to pick one solution per server and stick with it. As a general rule, MySQL should be used if you have legacy databases to support. For brand-new installations, go with MariaDB.

After you install the mariadb-server package, check to make sure the service...