MariaDB is a multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server that is developed as an open source alternative to the popular MySQL database. It is designed to be a drop-in replacement for MySQL, and is developed by a team of experienced open-source developers led by Michael “Monty” Widenius, the original author of MySQL. MariaDB was first released in 2009, and has since gained significant popularity as an open source database server with features that match or exceed those of MySQL. The MariaDB development project was founded by Michael “Monty” Widenius, the original author of MySQL, in 2009. Widenius had grown dissatisfied with the direction of MySQL under Oracle Corporation's ownership, and decided to begin a new project with the same goals as MySQL but without the corporate baggage. MariaDB began as an independent fork of the MySQL codebase, and was developed by Monty Program Ab, a company founded by Widenius. In 2013, the MariaDB Foundation was created to serve as the parent organization of MariaDB and its related projects. The MariaDB Foundation is a non-profit organization, whose primary aims are to support the development and adoption of MariaDB as an open source database. Today, MariaDB is the most popular open source database, and is used by organizations such as Wikipedia, Google, and Facebook. It is also the default database on many Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Introduction

MariaDB is an open source, relational database management system (RDBMS) based on the popular MySQL database. It is designed to be a drop-in replacement for MySQL, providing a high-performance SQL engine, strong data integrity, and up-to-date security features. It is written in C and C++ and is primarily used on Linux servers, though it also runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and other operating systems. MariaDB is owned by several independent companies and organizations, including SkySQL AB, MariaDB Corporation AB, and the MariaDB Foundation.

History

MariaDB was first developed in 2009 by Monty Widenius, the original author of MySQL, as a fork of the original MySQL codebase. He created the fork because he felt that MySQL had become too commercialized, and wanted to create an open source version of the software. Since then, MariaDB has been steadily gaining popularity.

In 2013, MariaDB was adopted for use by Google’s Compute Engine, and in 2015, it was included in the official Debian 8 and Ubuntu 16 releases. In 2016, Microsoft announced that it would be including MariaDB in its Azure cloud platform, and in 2019, Oracle announced that it had acquired MariaDB Corporation AB.

Features

MariaDB is designed to be a drop-in replacement for MySQL. It is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to manage data. MariaDB is built on the standard MySQL database server, and many of its features and capabilities are similar or identical to those of MySQL.

MariaDB has many features that make it attractive as a database server:

• Storage Engines: MariaDB supports a variety of storage engines, including the InnoDB, MyISAM, TokuDB, and XtraDB storage engines. This allows for great flexibility when selecting the appropriate storage engine for a particular application.
• Scalability: MariaDB is designed to be easily scaled from single-server to distributed systems.
• Replication: MariaDB supports both master-slave and master-master replication, allowing for efficient scaling of databases.
• Security: MariaDB includes a range of security features such as authentication, authorization, encryption and secure connections.
• Performance: MariaDB is designed to be fast and efficient, and includes a number of tuning options that can be used to optimize performance.
• Open Source: MariaDB is released under the GPLv2 license, making it free and open source software.

Adoption

MariaDB is used by a wide variety of organizations and applications. It is the default database for many Linux distributions, including Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. MariaDB is also the database of choice for many large-scale web applications, such as Wikipedia and Google.

MariaDB is well-suited for applications that require scalability and high performance. It is also suitable for applications that need to interact with other databases or use real-time analytics. It can be deployed in distributed or cloud environments, allowing for easy horizontal scaling.

Usages

MariaDB is used in many different types of applications. It is a popular choice for web applications due to its robustness and ability to handle large amounts of traffic. It is also used in embedded devices such as smartphones and smart TVs, as well as in enterprise applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and e-commerce solutions. MariaDB can also be used in data warehousing, reporting, and data mining applications.

MariaDB is also often used as a replacement for MySQL in existing applications. This is because MariaDB supports all of the same features as MySQL, while also providing access to additional features that are not available in MySQL.

Code Examples

The following code will create a new MariaDB database:

CREATE DATABASE my_database;
USE my_database;

The following code will create a table in the database:

CREATE TABLE products (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    name VARCHAR(255),
    price DECIMAL(9,2)
);

The following code will add data to the table:

INSERT INTO products (name, price)
VALUES ('Product 1', 9.99);

The following code will query the table for all products:

SELECT * FROM products;

The following code will update the price of a product:

UPDATE products
SET price = 11.99
WHERE id = 1;

The following code will delete a product from the table:

DELETE FROM products
WHERE id = 1;

Here is an example of a simple query written in SQL that can be used to retrieve data from a MariaDB database:

SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

The following example is used to insert data into a table in a MariaDB database:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2)
VALUES (value1, value2)

And here is an example of an update query which can be used to modify existing data in a MariaDB database:

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2
WHERE condition

Here is an example of how to create a database using MariaDB:

CREATE DATABASE my_database;                                                      
USE my_database;                                                                   
CREATE TABLE users (                                                               
  user_id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,                                 
  username VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,                                           
  email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,                                              
  password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL                                                   
);     

This code creates a database named my_database, and within that database a table named users. The table contains four columns: user_id, username, email and password. The user_id column is set to auto-increment whenever a new user is added.

Conclusion

In conclusion, MariaDB is a powerful, reliable, and secure open source RDBMS. With its scalability, efficient query processing, wide language support, and compatibility with MySQL, it is becoming increasingly popular among developers and organizations. MariaDB can be used for a variety of tasks, from website development to data analysis and more.