Benefits of MariaDB

So what are the benefits of MariaDB over MySQL for Moodle?

There are a number of benefits of MariaDB that are referred to. Let’s see how they pan out for Moodle Administrators…

• MariaDB development is more open and vibrant
  • Important if you are a developer, far less so for a typical Moodle admin
• Quicker and more transparent security releases
  • Again, something for developers and DB gurus, but MySQL is a secure as it needs to be
• More cutting edge features
  • Probably not relevant to Moodle – the DB doesn’t need to be cutting-edge
• More storage engines
  • Moodle uses just one storage engine, so largely irrelevant
• Better performance
  • Some statistics show great leaps, but anecdotal reports suggest maybe 5% faster (which isn’t earth-shattering)
• Galera active-active master clustering
  • Clustering is only relevant to the largest of installations
• Oracle stewardship is uncertain
  • Nothing bad has happened yet, and Oracle and MySQL are coexisting nicely
• MariaDB has leapt in popularity
  • See last months post – the increase is primarily Windows servers, in Russia, USA and Germany.
• Compatible and easy to migrate
  • Cool. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
• Migration might become difficult in the future
  • As MariaDB and MySQL diverge they may lose compatibility?

So, there is nothing above that indicates Moodle admins should be scrambling to move to MariaDB. There are however few obvious downsides.

So more thinking about MariaDB, MySQL, and Moodle next month.

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Stuart Mealor

Managing Director at HRDNZ

Stuart is interested in all things e-learning, with specific interests in Moodle, e-learning strategy, and business development.His experience in education over 30 years, MBA in International Business, and knowledge of e-learning systems implementation, together with graphic design background, give him a unique skill set for e-learning projects.

Latest posts by Stuart Mealor (see all)

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