MariaDB¶

MariaDB is a community-developed, commercially supported fork of the MySQL relational database management system. In the brennan.page homelab, MariaDB is used specifically for the Flarum forum service.

Overview¶

Purpose: Database server for Flarum forum
Version: Latest stable (Docker Hub)
Location: mariadb container
Network: internal_db network
Data Volume: flarum_mariadb_data

Configuration¶

Docker Compose¶

services:
  flarum_mariadb:
    image: mariadb:latest
    container_name: flarum_mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
      MYSQL_DATABASE: flarum
      MYSQL_USER: flarum
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${FLARUM_DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - flarum_mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - internal_db
    mem_limit: 256m

volumes:
  flarum_mariadb_data:

Environment Variables¶

MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: MariaDB root password
MYSQL_DATABASE: Default database (flarum)
MYSQL_USER: Database user (flarum)
MYSQL_PASSWORD: User password

Database Schema¶

Flarum Database Structure¶

-- Users table
CREATE TABLE users (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(100) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    email VARCHAR(255) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    password_hash VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

-- Discussions table
CREATE TABLE discussions (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    user_id INT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id)
);

-- Posts table
CREATE TABLE posts (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    discussion_id INT,
    user_id INT,
    content TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    FOREIGN KEY (discussion_id) REFERENCES discussions(id),
    FOREIGN KEY (user_id) REFERENCES users(id)
);

Management¶

Connect to Database¶

# Connect as root
docker exec -it flarum_mariadb mysql -u root -p

# Connect as flarum user
docker exec -it flarum_mariadb mysql -u flarum -p flarum

Common Operations¶

-- List databases
SHOW DATABASES;

-- List tables
USE flarum;
SHOW TABLES;

-- Check users
SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user;

-- Show table structure
DESCRIBE users;

-- Check database size
SELECT 
    table_schema AS 'Database',
    ROUND(SUM(data_length + index_length) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS 'Size (MB)'
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'flarum'
GROUP BY table_schema;

Backup Database¶

# Backup flarum database
docker exec flarum_mariadb mysqldump -u root -p flarum > flarum_backup.sql

# Restore database
docker exec -i flarum_mariadb mysql -u root -p flarum < flarum_backup.sql

Performance¶

Resource Usage¶

Memory Limit: 256MB
CPU: Shared with other containers
Storage: Persistent volume
Connections: Limited to Flarum container

Optimization¶

-- Check performance metrics
SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Connections';
SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Queries';
SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Uptime';

-- Optimize tables
OPTIMIZE TABLE users;
OPTIMIZE TABLE discussions;
OPTIMIZE TABLE posts;

Security¶

Access Control¶

Database only accessible from internal_db network
Separate user for Flarum with limited privileges
Root access restricted to container

Best Practices¶

Regular backups of database
Strong passwords for all users
Monitor connection attempts
Keep MariaDB updated to latest version

Monitoring¶

Health Checks¶

# Check if MariaDB is running
docker ps | grep flarum_mariadb

# Check database connectivity
docker exec flarum_mariadb mysqladmin ping -h localhost

# Check logs
docker logs flarum_mariadb --tail 50

Metrics to Monitor¶

Database connections
Query performance
Disk usage
Memory usage

Troubleshooting¶

Common Issues¶

Connection Refused

# Check if container is running
docker ps | grep flarum_mariadb

# Restart container
docker restart flarum_mariadb

Database Not Found

-- Create database if missing
CREATE DATABASE flarum;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON flarum.* TO 'flarum'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Performance Issues

-- Check slow queries
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'slow_query_log';
SHOW PROCESSLIST;

-- Optimize queries
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM discussions WHERE user_id = 1;

Integration¶

Flarum Configuration¶

Flarum connects to MariaDB using the following configuration:

// config.php
'database' => [
    'driver' => 'mysql',
    'host' => 'flarum_mariadb',
    'port' => '3306',
    'database' => 'flarum',
    'username' => 'flarum',
    'password' => '${FLARUM_DB_PASSWORD}',
    'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
    'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
    'prefix' => '',
    'strict' => false,
],

Maintenance¶

Regular Tasks¶

Weekly database backups
Monthly optimization
Quarterly security updates
Monitor disk usage

Backup Schedule¶

# Daily backup (cron job)
0 2 * * * docker exec flarum_mariadb mysqldump -u root -p${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD} flarum | gzip > /backups/flarum_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql.gz

Version Information¶

MariaDB Version: Latest stable from Docker Hub
Deployed: 2026-01-17
Last Updated: 2026-01-17
Compatibility: Flarum forum software

Flarum: Primary consumer of this database
PostgreSQL: Other services use PostgreSQL
Caddy: Reverse proxy for Flarum web interface