MariaDB or MySQL

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#1 Thu, 04/13/2017 - 19:26
Blueforce

MariaDB or MySQL

Hi everyone,

We have just bought a new dedicated server running latest CentOS 7. On our old servers we always have used MySQL, but CentOS 7 comes with MariaDB.

We heard that people have problems with MariaDB, have you have problems with MariaDB?

Is it possible to replace MariaDB with MySQL in Virtualmin Pro, and if so, am I in risk of running in to trouble with updates and so later on?

Our new box is still "under configuration" and a change should be done at this point. We have a many customers and they all use rater heavy DB use. I have felt rater safe running MySQL and with friends words on MariaDB make my a bit worried when we put this box in production. Our old box is running CentOS 5.11 and we need to get the new box online as soon as possible.

What do you guys in the community think, change to MySQL or stick with MariaDB?

We use Virtualmin Pro and have done that for about 12 years now.

Thanks! Best regards, Leffe

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 01:02
Joe
Joe's picture

We recommend you stick with MariaDB unless you have a very good reason to switch. I'm not aware of any incompatibilities in major applications. Certainly we had no problems with our Drupal and WordPress and MediaWiki sites, all with a ton of plugins and custom code.

Certainly, you should test your workloads on MariaDB, but it is a fork of MySQL, so software that worked on older MySQL versions should work fine on MariaDB. There is some minor divergence in newer versions of each project since the fork (though even those tends to converge, if the features are good and popular). I would be very surprised if MariaDB is any less reliable or compatible than newer versions of MySQL.

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Fri, 04/14/2017 - 01:07
Diabolico
Diabolico's picture
  1. People are in general stupid.
  2. Dont listen to people but rather facts.
  3. MariaDB is way better and faster than MySQL.
  4. MariaDB is fully compatible with anything what would run on MySQL.
  5. Centos 7 is great OS and its top choice when it comes to hosting (sorry Ubuntu fanboys you should stick with laptops not servers).

TL;DR Just stay with MariaDB, there isnt any problem with this software and it will run much better than MySQL.

- I often come to the conclusion that my brain has too many tabs open. -
Failing at desktop publishing & graphic design since 1994.

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 05:34
volk

Your friends are dummies :)

MariaDB is MySQL. It's the same developers !!!

Oracle purchased MySQL, and since some people are afraid Oracle will stop releasing it as open source someday or close features, MariaDB was started as a fork. But it's the same thing. MariaDB has things that you only get in the paid MySQL Enterprise edition.

There is absolutely no problem running MariaDB. Absolutely every application that says requires MySQL works fine with MariaDB because MariaBD is completely backwards compatible and actually it will run better.

Someone that claim this is like saying your application will have problems with CentOS and you should run Red Hat instead. It's again the same thing !!! CentOS is Red Hat but without the Red Hat names and logos on it. It's the same software. While MariaDB has some new features not available in MySQL, that is better, not worse.

Don't listen to your friends. Do you trust a company that is worth billions like Red Hat or your friends? There is a reason why Red Hat decided to replace MySQL with MariaDB and why it's the default on CentOS. Default means you will get security updates from Red Hat as they push them to the open source community.

I think I will put my bet on Red Hat vs. what someone told you.

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 17:50
Blueforce

Thanks guys!

This is why I love this community so much! You guys here know what you are talking about, and I felt it's better to ask the ones who knows... And fortunately ,those people that told me are not really my friends :) It felt a bit strange that the developers should replace the database with a less good version. But again, it felt better to ask what you think.

I will stick with MariaDB!

Thanks again! //Leffe

Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:15
Francewhoa
Francewhoa's picture

I recommend MariaDB. For 4 main benefits: Stronger Security, Easy Drop-in Replacement, Increasingly More Users, More Free Features

Details and sources below

Stronger Security

MariaDB is more secure than MySQL. Because MariaDB source code is fully open source. For those not familiar with "open source", it means that MariaDB is more secure. Because its code is fully publicly available for review and contributions. The more people are able to review the code the more secure the code is.
• Source 1 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MariaDB
• Source 2 at https://mariadb.org/about/

Compare to MySQL source code which is not fully open source. Only part of its code is publicly available for review and contributions. In other words, less people able to review the code means less secure. The other part of its code is not open source. It's proprietary. Meaning you have to pay to use it.
• Source 1 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL
• Source 2 at https://www.mysql.com/downloads/
• Alternative source 2 at https://archive.fo/TvaPZ

MariaDB is owned by the not-for-profit MariaDB Foundation. Often the first priority of not-for-profit organization is to serve you and protect your privacy and data.
• Source at https://twitter.com/mariadbfdn

Compare to MySQL which is owned by the for-profit Oracle Corporation. Often corporation first priority is to hoard money for their anonymous share holders, not serve you and not protect your privacy and data.
• Source at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation

MariaDB is guaranteed to stay free and open source.
• Source 1 at https://mariadb.org/about/
• Alternative source 1 at https://archive.fo/CW4sw

Compare to MySQL which is not guaranteed to stay free and open source. Which means that without notice tomorrow morning, the Oracle for-profit corporation could ask you to pay to continue using MySQL.

Easy Drop-in Replacement

MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. This means it's usually relatively easy, quick, and cheap to migrate from MySQL to MariaDB.
• Source at https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/mariadb-vs-mysql-compatibility/
• Source alternative at https://archive.fo/R7FJZ

MariaDB is a fork of MySQL. So software that worked on older MySQL versions should work fine on MariaDB.  There is some minor divergence in newer versions of each project since the fork. Though even those tends to converge, if the features are good and popular.

Increasingly More Users

MariaDB is use and sponsor by multiple well known and large organizations. Including but not limited to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Mozilla, the Wikimedia Foundation, DBS Bank, Debian, Archlinux, RedHat, Fedora, and CentOS.
• Source 1 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MariaDB#Prominent_users
• Source 2 at https://mariadb.org/about/supporters/

Compare to MySQL usage and sponsors which are declining to the benefit of MariaDB. Mostly due to the benefits with MariaDB. Which are listed above. This is based on my personal experience as Senior Product Manager at Ubertus.org and most of our clients. Disclaimer: My opinions, suggestion, or recommendation expressed above are solely my own and do not express the views of others people or other organizations. To each their own :)

More Free Features

With the fully free MariaDB you get things that you would have to pay for with MySQL Enterprise edition.

- - -
Senior Product Manager, and Co-Founder at Ubertus.org Inc.
Love back your Virtualmin & Webmin community

Wed, 06/20/2018 - 18:31
jimscarver
jimscarver's picture

I need MySQL8 for an application using subqueries in from clauses in views.

However webmin does not recognise it. I get the following error:

The MySQL client program /usr/bin/mysql does not appear to be the correct version. Webmin only supports MySQL versions 3 and above. The command /usr/bin/mysql -V returned :

/usr/bin/mysql Ver 8.0.11 for Linux on x86_64 (MySQL Community Server - GPL)

Sun, 07/22/2018 - 11:28
michelv

MariaDB is the way to go. Question is why the virtualmin install still installs mysql as the standard, and not mariadb.

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