A Beginner's Guide to MariaDB

MariaDB started life as a database to host the Maria storage engine in 2009. Not long after its inception, the MySQL community went through yet another change in ownership, and it was deemed that MariaDB will be a complete database branch developed to extend MySQL, but with constant merging of upstream changes.

The goal of the MariaDB project is to ensure that everyone is part of the community, including employees of the major steering companies. MariaDB also features enhanced features, some of which are common with the Percona Performance Server. Most importantly, MariaDB is a drop-in replacement and is completely backward compatible with MySQL. In 2010, MariaDB released 5.1 in February, and 5.2 in November – two major releases in a span of one calendar year is a feat that was achieved!

DBAs and developers alike will gain an introduction to MariaDB, what is different with MySQL, how to make use of the feature enhancements, and more.