How To Install MariaDB on Fedora 42/41/40

This guide will cover all the steps required to install the MariaDB database server on Fedora Linux. MariaDB serves is a drop-in replacement for MySQL, and it is designed to be scalable, robust, and reliable relational database management system (RDBMS). MariaDB ships with production-ready advanced features that were once exclusive to expensive proprietary databases. The software is released as free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License version 2.

Step 1: Update system

MariaDB database server packages are available in the default OS repos. Just start by updating the system.

sudo dnf -y update

You can search for MariaDB packages by running the following command:

sudo dnf search mariadb

To show all available versions run:

sudo dnf --showduplicates list mariadb-server

If using DNF5 run:

dnf5 list --showduplicates  mariadb-server

Sample output from using dnf5 in Fedora 42:

Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Installed packages
mariadb-server.x86_64 3:10.11.11-6.fc42 updates

Available packages
mariadb-server.x86_64 3:10.11.11-1.fc42 fedora
mariadb-server.x86_64 3:10.11.11-6.fc42 updates

Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server

Use the following command to install MariaDB on Fedora system.

sudo dnf install mariadb-server

Agree to start installation.

Transaction Summary
================================================================================================================================================================
Install  52 Packages

Total download size: 66 M
Installed size: 300 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y

After installing MariaDB server, start the service and set it to start at boot.

sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

To confirm service status run:

systemctl status mariadb

Step 3: Secure MariaDB Installation

After installation, MariaDB server is not hardened and can easily be accessed without authentication.

Secure your database by running the following script.

$ sudo 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
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

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

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

Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password: <ENTER NEW PASSWORD>
Re-enter new password: <CONFIRM PASSWORD>
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!


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!

Ensure you:

• Set Database root user password
• Remove anonymous users
• Disallow root user remote logins
• Remove test database and access to it

When done, test access using the root user – without a password.

$ mysql -u root
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

As seen, you need to authenticate to access database console as a root user.

$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password: 
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 19
Server version: 10.11.11-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)]> SELECT VERSION();
+------------------+
| VERSION()        |
+------------------+
| 10.11.11-MariaDB |
+------------------+
1 row in set (0.000 sec)

For developers who need an easier way of managing MariaDB database server, check our guide on Install and Configure phpMyAdmin on Fedora