How To Install MariaDB 5.5 on CentOS 6

MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. It is easy to install, offers many speed and performance improvements, easy to integrate into most MySQL deployments. Answers for compatibility questions can be found at: MariaDB versus MySQL – Compatibility. MariaDB offers more storage than MySQL, including Cassandra (NoSQL), XtraDB (drop-in replacement for InnoDB), and OQGRAPH.

• These instructions are intended for installing MariaDB on a single CentOS 6 node.
• I’ll be working from a Liquid Web Core Managed CentOS 6.5 server, and I’ll be logged in as root.

First, you’ll follow a simple best practice: ensuring the list of available packages is up to date before installing anything new:

yum -y update

Now find which repo you should use with the MariaDB repository generator. We’re going to add the CentOS 6 (64 bit) MariaDB 5.5 repository.

For a refresher on editing files with vim see: New User Tutorial: Overview of the Vim Text Editor

vim /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB55.repo

# MariaDB 5.5 CentOS repository list – created 2014-10-03 15:57 UTC
# http://mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/
[mariadb] name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/centos6-amd64
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck=1

Then exit and save the file with the command :wq .

Stop MySQL:

service mysqld stop

Remove the existing MySQL packages:

yum -y remove mysql-server mysql

At this point, installing MariaDB is as simple as running just one command:

yum -y install mysql-server mysql

And then start MySQL, now MariaDB, again:

service mysql start

Run mysql_upgrade:

mysql_upgrade

Verify MySQL is now MariaDB by using the command client:

mysql

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 2
Server version: 5.5.39-MariaDB MariaDB Server

Copyright (c) 2000, 2014, Oracle, Monty Program Ab and others.

Type ‘help;’ or ‘\h’ for help. Type ‘\c’ to clear the current input statement.

Now, if you want to upgrade to MariaDB 10.0, then check-out our Knowledge Base tutorial: How to Upgrade MySQL 5.1 to MariaDB 10.0 on CentOS 6