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MariaDB

Deploy MariaDB on Kubernetes using the official mariadb Docker image. Supports standalone and GTID-based asynchronous replication, six built-in configuration presets, TLS, Prometheus metrics via mysqld-exporter, and scheduled mariadb-dump backups to S3-compatible storage.

Replication mode enables PDB and pod anti-affinity automatically

When architecture: replication, the chart enables a PodDisruptionBudget (replication.pdb) and configures default pod anti-affinity rules (replication.scheduling.enableDefaultPodAntiAffinity) to spread source and replica pods across different nodes. No extra configuration is needed for basic HA scheduling.

Key Features

  • Two architectures — standalone (Deployment) or replication (StatefulSet + GTID)
  • GTID-based replication — MASTER_USE_GTID=slave_pos with parallel replica workers
  • Configuration presets — small, medium, large, oltp, read-heavy, analytics
  • Writable/read-only probes — source readiness requires writable, replica requires read-only
  • Hardened by default — non-root UID 999, ALL caps dropped, seccomp RuntimeDefault
  • Init scripts — SQL/Shell scripts executed on docker-entrypoint-initdb.d at first boot
  • S3 backup — mariadb-dump with --routines --events --triggers flags
  • NetworkPolicy — optional ingress-only policy for cluster isolation

Installation

HTTPS repository:

helm repo add helmforge https://repo.helmforge.dev
helm repo update
helm install mariadb helmforge/mariadb -f values.yaml

OCI registry:

helm install mariadb oci://ghcr.io/helmforgedev/helm/mariadb -f values.yaml

Deployment Examples

# values.yaml — MariaDB standalone with preset and metrics
architecture: standalone

auth:
  rootPassword: 'strong-root-password'
  database: myapp
  username: myapp
  password: 'strong-app-password'

config:
  preset: oltp # optimized for transactional workloads
  myCnf: |
    # extra my.cnf content appended after the generated config
    max_connections = 500

standalone:
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    size: 20Gi

metrics:
  enabled: true
  serviceMonitor:
    enabled: true
    interval: 30s
    labels:
      release: prometheus
# values.yaml — MariaDB 1 source + 2 read replicas with GTID
architecture: replication

auth:
  existingSecret: mariadb-credentials
  existingSecretRootPasswordKey: mariadb-root-password
  existingSecretUserPasswordKey: mariadb-user-password
  existingSecretReplicationPasswordKey: mariadb-replication-password
  database: myapp
  username: myapp
  replicationUsername: replicator

config:
  preset: oltp

replication:
  source:
    persistence:
      enabled: true
      size: 50Gi
    probes:
      requireWritable: true # source only becomes ready when confirmed writable

  readReplicas:
    replicaCount: 2
    persistence:
      enabled: true
      size: 50Gi
    probes:
      requireReadOnly: true # replica only ready when read-only
      requireRunningReplication: true # require IO and SQL threads running

  binlog:
    format: ROW
    retentionDays: 7 # overrides expireLogsSeconds when > 0

  replicaTuning:
    parallelWorkers: 4 # parallel binlog applier workers on replicas

  # Automatically enabled in replication mode:
  pdb:
    enabled: true
    minAvailable: 1

  scheduling:
    enableDefaultPodAntiAffinity: true # spread source+replicas across nodes
    enableDefaultTopologySpread: true

metrics:
  enabled: true
  serviceMonitor:
    enabled: true
# values.yaml — MariaDB with daily S3 backup using mariadb-dump
architecture: standalone

auth:
  rootPassword: 'strong-root-password'
  database: myapp
  username: myapp
  password: 'strong-app-password'

standalone:
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    size: 20Gi

backup:
  enabled: true
  schedule: '0 3 * * *'
  archivePrefix: mariadb
  s3:
    endpoint: https://s3.amazonaws.com
    bucket: my-mariadb-backups
    existingSecret: mariadb-s3-credentials
    existingSecretAccessKeyKey: access-key
    existingSecretSecretKeyKey: secret-key
  database:
    mariadbdumpArgs: >-
      --single-transaction --quick --skip-lock-tables
      --no-tablespaces --routines --events --triggers
# values.yaml — MariaDB with server-side TLS
architecture: standalone

auth:
  rootPassword: 'strong-root-password'
  database: myapp
  username: myapp
  password: 'strong-app-password'

tls:
  enabled: true
  existingSecret: mariadb-tls-secret # must contain ca.crt, tls.crt, tls.key
  caFilename: ca.crt
  certFilename: tls.crt
  keyFilename: tls.key
  requireSecureTransport: true # reject plaintext connections
  client:
    enabled: true # use TLS for internal chart client connections (replication bootstrap)

standalone:
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    size: 20Gi

Upgrade to MariaDB 13.0.2

MariaDB 13.0.2 is the stable GA release of the 13.0 rolling line. It adds atomic CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE, single-table UPDATE ... RETURNING, InnoDB log archiving and new routine types. Back up databases and validate startup, replication, application compatibility and restore behavior before this major upgrade. mariadb-backup does not support the new log-archive format while innodb_log_archive=ON.

Configuration Reference

Core

Parameter Type Default Description
architecture string standalone Deployment mode: standalone or replication.
nameOverride string "" Override the chart name.
fullnameOverride string "" Override the full release name.
commonLabels object {} Extra labels added to all resources.
clusterDomain string cluster.local Kubernetes cluster domain.

Image

Parameter Type Default Description
image.repository string docker.io/library/mariadb MariaDB container image.
image.tag string "13.0.2" Image tag.
image.pullPolicy string IfNotPresent Image pull policy.

Authentication

Parameter Type Default Description
auth.rootPassword string "" Root password. Auto-generated if empty.
auth.database string app Application database created on first bootstrap.
auth.username string app Application user created on first bootstrap.
auth.password string "" Application user password. Auto-generated if empty.
auth.replicationUsername string replicator Replication user (only used in replication mode).
auth.replicationPassword string "" Replication password. Auto-generated if empty.
auth.existingSecret string "" Existing secret with all MariaDB passwords.
auth.existingSecretRootPasswordKey string mariadb-root-password Key for root password in existingSecret.
auth.existingSecretUserPasswordKey string mariadb-user-password Key for application user password in existingSecret.
auth.existingSecretReplicationPasswordKey string mariadb-replication-password Key for replication password in existingSecret.

Configuration

Parameter Type Default Description
config.preset string none Built-in tuning preset: none, small, medium, large, oltp, read-heavy, analytics.
config.myCnf string "" Extra my.cnf content appended to the generated configuration.

Initialization

Parameter Type Default Description
initdb.scripts object {} SQL or Shell scripts injected into docker-entrypoint-initdb.d at first boot.
initdb.existingConfigMap string "" Existing ConfigMap also mounted into docker-entrypoint-initdb.d.

Persistence

Parameter Type Default Description
persistence.subPath string mysql Data volume subdirectory mounted as /var/lib/mysql; set "" for legacy volume-root installs.
persistence.prepareDataDir.enabled boolean false Opt-in root initContainer for storage drivers that do not honor fsGroup; requires a Pod Security exception.

The default subPath path relies on podSecurityContext.fsGroup and does not render a root initContainer, keeping it compatible with Pod Security restricted. Enable persistence.prepareDataDir.enabled only for storage drivers that do not honor fsGroup for subPath directories.

Extra Objects

Parameter Type Default Description
extraObjects array [] Additional Kubernetes manifests rendered with the release.

Standalone Mode

Parameter Type Default Description
standalone.serverId integer 1 MariaDB server ID.
standalone.persistence.enabled boolean true Enable PVC for data.
standalone.persistence.size string 8Gi PVC size.
standalone.persistence.storageClass string "" StorageClass for the PVC.
standalone.resources object {} CPU and memory for the pod.

Replication Mode

Set replication passwords before first deployment

All passwords (root, user, replication) must be stable before the StatefulSet first starts. Auto-generated passwords will change on Helm upgrades if not stored in an existingSecret, causing replicas to lose their replication credentials.

Parameter Type Default Description
replication.source.serverId integer 1 Source server ID.
replication.source.persistence.size string 20Gi PVC size for the source pod.
replication.source.probes.requireWritable boolean true Source only becomes ready when confirmed writable.
replication.readReplicas.replicaCount integer 2 Number of read replica pods.
replication.readReplicas.serverIdBase integer 100 Base server ID for replicas (replica ordinal added to this).
replication.readReplicas.persistence.size string 20Gi PVC size per replica pod.
replication.readReplicas.probes.requireReadOnly boolean true Replica only ready when confirmed read-only.
replication.readReplicas.probes.requireRunningReplication boolean false Require IO and SQL replication threads running.
replication.binlog.format string ROW Binlog format used by the source.
replication.binlog.retentionDays integer 7 Binlog retention in days. Overrides expireLogsSeconds when > 0.
replication.binlog.syncBinlog integer 1 sync_binlog value on the source (1 = fully durable).
replication.replicaTuning.parallelWorkers integer 4 Parallel binlog applier workers on replicas.
replication.pdb.enabled boolean true Enable PodDisruptionBudget (default enabled in replication mode).
replication.pdb.minAvailable integer 1 Minimum available pods.
replication.scheduling.enableDefaultPodAntiAffinity boolean true Spread source and replicas across different nodes automatically.
replication.scheduling.enableDefaultTopologySpread boolean true Enable topology spread constraints for replication pods.

TLS

Parameter Type Default Description
tls.enabled boolean false Enable MariaDB server-side TLS.
tls.existingSecret string "" Existing Secret with CA, certificate, and private key.
tls.caFilename string ca.crt CA certificate filename in the secret.
tls.certFilename string tls.crt Server certificate filename.
tls.keyFilename string tls.key Server private key filename.
tls.requireSecureTransport boolean false Reject plaintext connections (enforce TLS for all clients).
tls.client.enabled boolean false Use TLS for internal chart client connections.

Backup

Parameter Type Default Description
backup.enabled boolean false Enable scheduled mariadb-dump S3 backup.
backup.schedule string "0 3 * * *" Cron schedule.
backup.archivePrefix string mariadb Prefix for backup archive filenames.
backup.s3.endpoint string "" S3-compatible endpoint URL.
backup.s3.bucket string "" Target bucket name.
backup.s3.existingSecret string "" Existing secret with S3 credentials.
backup.database.mariadbdumpArgs string --single-transaction ... Extra args for mariadb-dump. Includes --routines --events --triggers by default.

Metrics

Parameter Type Default Description
metrics.enabled boolean false Enable mysqld-exporter sidecar.
metrics.image.repository string docker.io/prom/mysqld-exporter Exporter image.
metrics.image.tag string "v0.17.2" Exporter image tag.
metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled boolean false Create a Prometheus Operator ServiceMonitor.
metrics.serviceMonitor.interval string 30s Scrape interval.

When metrics are enabled, the chart writes a locked-down mysqld-exporter client config from the same MariaDB Secret used by the database container. This avoids exposing the root password through DATA_SOURCE_NAME and keeps TLS client settings aligned with the MariaDB pod.

To inspect exporter startup issues:

kubectl logs -n mariadb mariadb-0 -c mysqld-exporter

NetworkPolicy

Parameter Type Default Description
networkPolicy.enabled boolean false Create an ingress-only NetworkPolicy.
networkPolicy.ingress.allowSameNamespace boolean true Allow traffic from pods in the same namespace.
networkPolicy.ingress.extraFrom array [] Extra ingress peer selectors.
networkPolicy.metrics.enabled boolean false Allow ingress to the metrics port.

Security Context

MariaDB runs hardened by default:

Parameter Default Description
podSecurityContext.fsGroup 999 Filesystem group for volume ownership.
podSecurityContext.seccompProfile.type RuntimeDefault Seccomp profile.
securityContext.runAsUser 999 Container UID.
securityContext.runAsNonRoot true Enforce non-root execution.
securityContext.allowPrivilegeEscalation false Disallow privilege escalation.
securityContext.capabilities.drop ["ALL"] Drop all Linux capabilities.

Scheduling

Parameter Type Default Description
terminationGracePeriodSeconds integer 120 Grace period. Allows in-progress transactions to commit cleanly.
nodeSelector object {} Node selector for scheduling.
tolerations array [] Tolerations for scheduling.
affinity object {} Affinity rules (replaces default anti-affinity if set).

More Information

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