On this page we state the minimum requirements for a MariaDB installation to support PhixFlow, and present an example installation.

The example installation incorporates the minimum requirements for MariaDB. It is suitable as an initial configuration for many instances of PhixFlow, but note that some of the options may need to change over time as the work carried out by PhixFlow increases.

Windows/Antivirus

MariaDB is not compatible with on-access anti-virus software, so this must be disabled for the MariaDB data folder(s).

For full details for creating an exception see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/add-an-exclusion-to-windows-security-811816c0-4dfd-af4a-47e4-c301afe13b26#:~:text=Go%20to%20Start%20%3E%20Settings%20%3E%20Update,%2C%20file%20types%2C%20or%20process. However, for example, if you are on Windows, and using Windows Defender, do the following:

• Start → Settings → Update & Security → Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → [Virus & threat protection Manage settings] → Exclusions [Add or remove exclusions] → Add an exclusion

• Select Process and enter the exact path and name of the executable for the service e.g. C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.4\bin\mysqld.exe

Minimum requirements

The following are the minimum requirements for a MariaDB installation to support PhixFlow.

Installation

Example

If you add all parameters above to my.cnf, including the optional parameters, then the [mysqld] section of your my.cnf file should look something like this:

[mysqld]
...
datadir = /var/lib/mysql
...
wait_timeout = 28800
...
binlog_format = mixed
log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1

Database

The following settings are required for the PhixFlow database. All of these parameters are reflected in the example MariaDB database creation command given here: Install the PhixFlow Database Schema.

You will need a database, and a login with all privileges on that database. The database should be created with the following options:

Example installation

The following configuration is suggested as a guide. It incorporates the minimum requirements for MariaDB databases above.

It is based on an installation of MariaDB on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. Installation on other distributions of Linux will follow a very similar pattern. For Debian-based distributions, many of the commands will be identical. For RHEL-based distributions, the commands will be similar, replacing apt with yum. However, in all cases, please check with in the MariaDB documentation (https://mariadb.com/kb/en/getting-installing-and-upgrading-mariadb/) to check the exact details for installation on your platform. In particular, instructions for downloading and installing tailored to your Linux distribution and target version of MariaDB are provided here: https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and MariaDB 10.3/10.4:

Configure repository

• Install the prerequisites and add the signing key:

  sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
  sudo apt-key adv --fetch-keys 'https://mariadb.org/mariadb_release_signing_key.asc'

• Either add the repo for 10.3:

  sudo add-apt-repository 'deb [arch=amd64,arm64,ppc64el] https://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/mariadb/repo/10.3/ubuntu bionic main'

• Or 10.4:

  sudo add-apt-repository 'deb [arch=amd64,arm64,ppc64el] https://mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/mariadb/repo/10.4/ubuntu bionic main'

Install

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install mariadb-server

Edit my.cnf

Open your my.cnf file:

sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

In the [mysqld] section, update or add the below variables to match these values:

[mysqld]
...
datadir = /var/lib/mysql
...
wait_timeout = 28800
...
binlog_format = mixed
log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1
...
binlog_expire_logs_seconds = 172800
...
slow_query_log = 1
long_query_time = 5
log_slow_verbosity = query_plan,explain

Also in the [mysqld] section check that the following are either present, and if not add them (next to other innodb settings, although the placement of these does not actually matter, as long as they are in the [mysqld] section):

innodb_default_row_format = dynamic
innodb_file_per_table = 1
innodb_strict_mode = ON

Bounce MariaDB:

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service

Hardening

To harden the installation, run:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Respond to the questions in the following way:

- Switch to unix_socket authentication [Y/n] y
- Set root password? [Y/n] n (although if you set a secure password on installation you can safely answer n)
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y

Switching to unix_socket authentication means there is no password for root, instead anybody with sudo access can log in using sudo mysql. 

If the first option does not come up, respond to Set root password? with y instead. This should only happen if you're installing an old version of MariaDB.

Post-install

Firewall

If you want to access your database from another server:

• Open your firewall for inbound TCP connections to your server's port (default port is 3306).

Add Admin Users

You could now use the root user for everything, but

1. it is better practice from a security viewpoint to create individual users with their own passwords,

2. by default, the root user doesn't allow remote access

You can add admin users using mysql:

cmd> mysql -uroot -p
password: ****
mysql> grant all privileges on *.* to 'auser'@'%' identified by 'apassword' with grant option;