MariaDB container setup

Jul 10, 2023 - 5 min read

Introduction

MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL database. I use this database, among other things, to store data from Home Assistant. Furthermore, it is very easy to connect MariaDB to Grafana to visualize data.

Setup

Below are the steps you can follow for the Linux terminal or NixOS configuration.

Linux Terminal

1. Create the folders needed by the container

   Run the following commands inside your home folder:

   Linux

   # Open your terminal application
   cd ~
   mkdir -p mariadb/data
   mkdir -p mariadb/config
   cd mariadb

2. Create the script needed to run the container

   Save the following script as mariadb_run.sh:

   Linux

   mariadb_run.sh

   # To create this script use your text editor application, for example Nano
   docker run -d \
   --hostname=mariadb \
   --name=mariadb \
   --net=host \
   -v $PWD/config:/etc/mysql/conf.d \
   -v $PWD/data:/var/lib/mysql \
   -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<password> \
   -e TZ="Europe/Amsterdam" \
   --restart=unless-stopped \
   mariadb
   # IMPORTANT: Please read the instructions below

   Instructions:

   • Optional Replace docker with podman if needed
   • Optional Replace --net=host with ports to pass through if you want to expose ports. Here is described how to check if ports are available
   • Optional Replace $PWD/config with the location of your config if needed. This can be a fileserver mount
   • Optional Replace $PWD/data with the location of your data if needed. This can be a fileserver mount
   • Required Replace <password> with your own password
   • Required Replace Europe/Amsterdam with your own timezone

3. Run the script to create the container

   Run the following command:

   Linux

   # Open your terminal application
   sudo sh mariadb_run.sh

   The image mariadb is automatically pulled and the container is created.

   Tip

   If you need to update this container you can remove the container with sudo docker rm mariadb and run this script again or read my note about updating containers. The data is retained due to the volumes we have set in the script. And it is also possible to run Docker commands without sudo.

4. Check the results

   If needed you can check if the container is running properly.

   To handle the administration of MariaDB I personally use phpMyAdmin.

   Tip

   Please read this note if you want to make (daily) backups of your MariaDB databases.

   Tip

   If you are using MariaDB with Home Assistant then you can add a sensor to monitor the database size.

NixOS Configuration

Note

This configuration uses Podman as container backend.

1. Add virtualisation to configuration.nix

   Add virtualisation and the import to a seperate nix file for the container to configuration.nix:

   Linux

   /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

     # To edit use your text editor application, for example Nano
     virtualisation = {
       podman = {
         enable = true;
         dockerCompat = true; # Create a `docker` alias for podman, to use it as a drop-in replacement
         defaultNetwork.settings.dns_enabled = true; # release 23.05
       };
       oci-containers = {
         backend = "podman";
         containers = {
           mariadb = import ./containers/mariadb.nix;
         };
       };
     };

2. Add the macvlan network to configuration.nix

   The container will use a macvlan network (net_macvlan) with a dedicated IP address. Add the following to configuration.nix:

   Linux

   /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

   # To edit use your text editor application, for example Nano
   systemd.services.create-podman-network = with config.virtualisation.oci-containers; {
     serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot";
     wantedBy = [ "${backend}-mariadb.service" ];
     script = ''${pkgs.podman}/bin/podman network exists net_macvlan || \ ${pkgs.podman}/bin/podman network create --driver=macvlan --gateway=192.168.1.1 --subnet=192.168.1.0/24 -o parent=ens18 net_macvlan'';
   };
   # IMPORTANT: Please read the instructions below

   Instructions:

   • Required Replace 192.168.1.1 with your gateway IP address
   • Required Replace 192.168.1.0 with your subnet
   • Required Replace ens18 with the name of own network interface

3. Add a script to create folders to configuration.nix

   Make sure the folders for use with the container are created by adding the following to configuration.nix:

   Linux

   /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

   # To edit use your text editor application, for example Nano
   system.activationScripts = {
     script.text = ''
       install -d -m 755 /home/<username>/mariadb/config -o root -g root
       install -d -m 755 /home/<username>/mariadb/data -o root -g root
     '';
   };
   # IMPORTANT: Please read the instructions below

   Caution

   Make sure the folders are created with the root user and group, else the container will not work properly

   Instructions:

   • Required Replace <username> with your NixOS username

4. Create the containers folder

   Run the following command:

   Linux

   # Open your terminal application
   mkdir -p /etc/nixos/containers # Make sure the directory exists

5. Add the container configuration to mariadb.nix

   Add the following to mariadb.nix:

   Linux

   /etc/nixos/containers/mariadb.nix

   # To edit use your text editor application, for example Nano
   {
     image = "mariadb:latest";
   
     environment = {
       "TZ" = "Europe/Amsterdam";
       "MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD" = "<password>";
     };
   
     volumes = [
       "/home/<username>/mariadb/data:/var/lib/mysql"
       "/home/<username>/mariadb/config:/etc/mysql/conf.d"
     ];
   
     extraOptions = [
       "--pull=newer" # Pull if the image on the registry is newer than the one in the local containers storage
       "--name=mariadb"
       "--hostname=mariadb"
       "--network=net_macvlan"
       "--ip=<IP address>"
       "--mac-address=<MAC address>"
     ];
   }
   # IMPORTANT: Please read the instructions below

   Instructions:

   • Required Replace Europe/Amsterdam with your own timezone
   • Required Replace <password> with your MariaDB root password
   • Required Replace <username> with your NixOS username
   • Optional Replace --pull=newer with --pull=never if you do not want the image to be automatically replaced by new versions
   • Optional Replace net_macvlan with the name of your macvlan network if needed
   • Required Replace <IP address> with the IP address for this container. Make sure it is within the range of the macvlan network
   • Required Replace <MAC address> a (randomly generated) MAC address. Otherwise, every time the container is started, a new mac address will be used, which for example will be created as a new device within the Unifi Network Application. Or temporarily disable this option, and add the MAC address that is generated the first time when this container is started. Use inspect to get the MAC address if needed: sudo podman inspect <container name> |grep MacAddress|tr -d ' ,"'|sort -u

6. Switch NixOS configuration

   Now you can switch to the new configuration within NixOS, the image will be downloaded and the container will be created:

   Run the following command:

   Linux

   # Open your terminal application
   sudo nix-collect-garbage # Optional: clean up
   sudo nixos-rebuild switch

7. Check the results

   Run the following command to check if the container is working properly:

   Linux

   # Open your terminal application
   journalctl -u podman-mariadb.service

   To handle the administration of MariaDB I personally use phpMyAdmin.

   Tip

   Please read this note if you want to make (daily) backups of your MariaDB databases.

   Tip

   If you are using MariaDB with Home Assistant then you can add a sensor to monitor the database size.

Favorites

MariaDB Knowledge Base

phpMyAdmin

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Tags:

• Virtualisation
• Databases
• Linux

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