Install MariaDB 11.4 on Ubuntu 24.04

Summary: Ubuntu 24.04’s repo installs MariaDB 10.11.x. This guide adds MariaDB’s official APT repo to install MariaDB 11.4, secures the server, creates a database/user, and verifies remote access.

MariaDB vs MySQL

Origin: MariaDB is a community fork of MySQL (by the original MySQL creators).
Compatibility: Basic SQL is similar, but they’ve diverged—don’t assume drop-in compatibility for advanced features.
JSON: MySQL has a native JSON type; MariaDB’s JSON is a LONGTEXT alias with JSON functions (semantics/indexing differ).
Clustering: MariaDB integrates Galera (multi-primary); MySQL offers Group Replication / InnoDB Cluster.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 24.04 server with sudo
(Optional) UFW for firewall rules

Add MariaDB’s repo (11.4) with keyring + .sources

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https curl
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -o /etc/apt/keyrings/mariadb-keyring.pgp 'https://mariadb.org/mariadb_release_signing_key.pgp'

Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mariadb.sources with this content:

X-Repolib-Name: MariaDB
Types: deb
URIs: https://deb.mariadb.org/11.4/ubuntu
Suites: noble
Components: main main/debug
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/mariadb-keyring.pgp

Update APT:

sudo apt-get update

Install MariaDB 11.4

sudo apt-get install -y mariadb-server
sudo systemctl enable --now mariadb
mariadb --version

Secure the server

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Tip: On Ubuntu/Debian, root@localhost usually authenticates via unix_socket. Use sudo mariadb to log in as root; create separate admin/app users for password logins.

Create a database and local app user

# Login as root via socket
sudo mariadb

CREATE DATABASE appdb
  DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
  COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

CREATE USER 'appuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'CHANGE_ME';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON appdb.* TO 'appuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Local test:

mariadb -u appuser -p -e "SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'appdb';"

Enable and test remote access (safe pattern)

Configure MariaDB to listen on the network & use IP-based grants

Edit /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf:

[mysqld]
bind-address = 0.0.0.0
skip_name_resolve = ON

Apply:

sudo systemctl restart mariadb

Why skip_name_resolve=ON?
It disables reverse DNS so host matching uses the client IP, making patterns like '192.168.0.%' work reliably.

Create a network-scoped user (least privilege)

sudo mariadb

CREATE USER 'appuser'@'192.168.0.%' IDENTIFIED BY 'CHANGE_ME';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON appdb.* TO 'appuser'@'192.168.0.%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
FLUSH HOSTS;
EXIT;

Open the firewall (server)

# Replace with your trusted CIDR or a single IP
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 3306 proto tcp

Remote access test (from another machine)

Install a client if needed:

sudo apt-get install -y mariadb-client

Run the test:

mariadb --protocol=TCP -h <SERVER_IP> -u appuser -p \
  -e "SELECT VERSION() AS version, @@hostname AS server, CURRENT_USER() AS you;"

Sample output (working):

+------------------------+--------+----------------------+
| version                | server | you                  |
+------------------------+--------+----------------------+
| 11.4.8-MariaDB-ubu2404 | test   | appuser@192.168.0.90 |
+------------------------+--------+----------------------+

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