How To Upgrade MariaDB on AlmaLinux 9 -Step by Step-%sitename%

This guide intends to teach you to Upgrade or Update MariaDB on AlmaLinux 9. If you have a MariaDB running on your server but not in the latest version, you can follow this guide to update it to the latest version or the one you wish to use.

Steps To Upgrade MariaDB on AlmaLinux 9

To complete this guide, you must log in to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow our guide the Initial Server Setup with AlmaLinux 9.

Check Current MariaDB Version on AlmaLinux 9

First, you must check the current MariaDB version and AlmaLinux OS version using the below commands:

mysql -V

Output
mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.5.16-MariaDB, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper

cat /etc/almalinux-release

Output
AlmaLinux release 9.2 (Turquoise Kodkod)

Create a Backup of Existing MariaDB Databases

Then, you must create a backup or a dump of the existing databases. To do this, run the following command:

mysqldump -u root -p --all-databases > /tmp/database-backup.sql

Next, copy the database directory into a separate folder with the following command:

cp -a /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql.backup

Now you must back up the configuration file with the following command:

cp -a /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf_bk

Note: In case of any failures in the upgrade, you can use one of the above copies to restore your databases.

Uninstall Old MariaDB Repositories

In this step, you need to uninstall the old MariaDB repositories. To do this, stop your MariaDB service on AlmaLinux 9:

systemctl stop mariadb

Verify that your service is stopped:

systemctl status mariadb

Output
mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.5 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; preset: >
     Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2023-05-15 08:57:21 EDT; 3s ago
   Duration: 1min 14.107s
       Docs: man:mariadbd(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
...

Move the current MariaDB repository with the following command:

mv /etc/yum.repos.d/mariadb.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/mariadb_bk

Then, update your local package index with the following command:

dnf update

Add the new MariaDB Repository on AlmaLinux 9

Next, you need to add the new MariaDB repository. To do this, create a new repo file for the latest version with your favorite text editor, here we use vi:

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo

Copy and paste the following contents into the file:

[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/10.11/rhel9-amd64
module_hotfixes=1
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck=1

When you are done, save and close the file.

Remove Old MariaDB Server

Now, you need to remove the MariaDB old version by using the command below on AlmaLinux 9:

dnf remove mariadb-server

Clean the repository cache:

dnf clean all

Upgrade and Install Latest MariaDB

At this point, you can install the latest version of MariaDB on your server:

dnf install MariaDB-server

To install the latest version of MariaDB and the most common packages, run the following command:

dnf install MariaDB-server galera-4 MariaDB-client MariaDB-shared MariaDB-backup MariaDB-common

Start and enable your MariaDB service to start on boot:

# systemctl start mariadb
# systemctl enable mariadb

Next, use the following command to upgrade your MariaDB on AlmaLinux 9:

mysql_upgrade -u root -p

Output
....
Processing databases
information_schema
performance_schema
sys
sys.sys_config                                     OK
Phase 7/7: Running 'FLUSH PRIVILEGES'
OK

Verify that you have the latest MariaDB on your server by checking its version:

mysql -V

Output
mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.11.3-MariaDB, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper

Also, you can check your MariaDB status:

systemctl status mariadb

Output
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.11.3 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; preset: >
    Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d
             └─migrated-from-my.cnf-settings.conf
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2023-05-15 09:03:46 EDT; 1min 42s ago
       Docs: man:mariadbd(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
...

For more information, you can visit the MariaDB Documentation page.