# Install MariaDB or MySQL with Docker: Users, Volumes and Backups

> Run MariaDB (or MySQL) in a container with a persistent volume, create databases and users, load initial SQL, back up with mariadb-dump and connect from your apps.

- Source: https://www.itwonderlab.com/install-mariadb-docker/
- Published: 2026-09-20
- Updated: 2026-09-20
- Author: Javier Ruiz Jiménez (https://www.javierruizjimenez.com/)
- Site: IT Wonder Lab (https://www.itwonderlab.com/)

---

## MariaDB and MySQL

[MariaDB](https://www.itwonderlab.com/mariadb/) is a fork of [MySQL](https://www.itwonderlab.com/mysql/) and they use the same protocol, so the same client library connects to both. The commands in this tutorial use MariaDB; for MySQL replace the image with `mysql:8` and the `mariadb` commands with `mysql` and `mysqldump`.

## Run MariaDB

```bash
docker run -d --name mariadb \
  -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=change-me \
  -e MARIADB_DATABASE=appdb \
  -e MARIADB_USER=app -e MARIADB_PASSWORD=app-secret \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3306:3306 \
  -v mariadb-data:/var/lib/mysql \
  mariadb:11
```

The variables create a database and a user the first time the container starts. The volume `mariadb-data` keeps the data (see [Docker volumes](https://www.itwonderlab.com/docker-volumes-bind-mounts/)). Wait a few seconds and connect:

```bash
docker exec -it mariadb mariadb -u app -papp-secret appdb
```

## First SQL

```sql
CREATE TABLE notes (id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, body VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL, created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);
INSERT INTO notes (body) VALUES ('hello MariaDB');
SELECT * FROM notes;
SHOW DATABASES;
SHOW TABLES;
```

Create another user with limited rights as `root`:

```sql
CREATE USER 'reporter'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'report-secret';
GRANT SELECT ON appdb.* TO 'reporter'@'%';
```

## Docker Compose with initial data

```yaml title="compose.yaml"
services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:11
    environment:
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: change-me
      MARIADB_DATABASE: appdb
      MARIADB_USER: app
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: app-secret
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3306:3306"
    volumes:
      - mariadb-data:/var/lib/mysql
      - ./init:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d:ro
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  mariadb-data:
```

Files in `init/` (`.sql`, `.sql.gz` or `.sh`) run once on an empty data directory. Other services connect to the host `db` on port 3306.

## Configuration

Mount a file in `/etc/mysql/conf.d/` for server options:

```ini title="custom.cnf"
[mysqld]
character-set-server = utf8mb4
collation-server = utf8mb4_unicode_ci
max_connections = 200
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 256M
```

## Backup and restore

```bash
docker exec mariadb mariadb-dump -u root -pchange-me --single-transaction appdb > appdb.sql
docker exec -i mariadb mariadb -u root -pchange-me appdb < appdb.sql
```

`--single-transaction` produces a consistent backup of InnoDB tables without locking them.

## MariaDB on AWS

In AWS use [Amazon RDS](https://www.itwonderlab.com/aws-rds/) instead of running the database yourself. The tutorial [MariaDB on RDS with Terraform](https://www.itwonderlab.com/terraform-aws-mariadb-rds-database/) creates one with infrastructure as code.