Installing MaxScale Using a Tarball

Install MariaDB MaxScale manually using generic tarball binaries. Learn the system requirements, directory setup, and configuration steps to run MaxScale without a package manager.

Installing MariaDB MaxScale using a tarball

MariaDB MaxScale is also made available as a tarball, which is named likemaxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz where x.y.z is the same as the corresponding version and OS identifies the operating system, e.g. maxscale-2.5.6.centos.7.tar.gz.

In order to use the tarball, the following libraries are required:

• libcurl

• libaio

• OpenSSL

• gnutls

• libatomic

• unixODBC

In addition, in order to use the maxctrl command line client, you'll need to install Node.js. The minimum required version is Node.js 10 but we recommend using the latest LTS release of Node.js if the one in the operating system repositories is old.

The tarball has been built with the assumption that it will be installed in /usr/local. However, it is possible to install it in any directory, but in that case MariaDB MaxScale must be invoked with a flag.

Installing as root in /usr/local

If you have root access to the system you probably want to install MariaDB MaxScale under the user and group maxscale.

The required steps are as follows:

$ sudo groupadd maxscale
$ sudo useradd -g maxscale maxscale
$ cd /usr/local
$ sudo tar -xzvf maxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz
$ sudo ln -s maxscale-x.y.z.OS maxscale
$ cd maxscale
$ sudo chown -R maxscale var

Creating the symbolic link is necessary, since MariaDB MaxScale has been built with the assumption that the plugin directory is /usr/local/maxscale/lib/maxscale.

The symbolic link also makes it easy to switch between different versions of MariaDB MaxScale that have been installed side by side in /usr/local; just make the symbolic link point to another installation.

In addition, the first time you install MariaDB MaxScale from a tarball you need to create the following directories:

$ sudo mkdir /var/log/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /run/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /var/cache/maxscale

and make maxscale the owner of them:

$ sudo chown maxscale /var/log/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /var/lib/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /run/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /var/cache/maxscale

The following step is to create the MariaDB MaxScale configuration file /etc/maxscale.cnf. The file etc/maxscale.cnf.template can be used as a base. Please refer to Configuration Guide for details.

When the configuration file has been created, MariaDB MaxScale can be started.

$ sudo bin/maxscale --user=maxscale -d

The -d flag causes maxscale not to turn itself into a daemon, which is advisable the first time MariaDB MaxScale is started, as it makes it easier to spot problems.

If you want to place the configuration file somewhere else but in /etc you can invoke MariaDB MaxScale with the --config flag, for instance, --config=/usr/local/maxscale/etc/maxscale.cnf.

Note also that if you want to keep everything under /usr/local/maxscale you can invoke MariaDB MaxScale using the flag --basedir.

$ sudo bin/maxscale --user=maxscale --basedir=/usr/local/maxscale -d

That will cause MariaDB MaxScale to look for its configuration file in/usr/local/maxscale/etc and to store all runtime files under /usr/local/maxscale/var.

Installing in any Directory

Enter a directory where you have the right to create a subdirectory. Then do as follows.

$ tar -xzvf maxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz

The next step is to create the MaxScale configuration file maxscale-x.y.z/etc/maxscale.cnf. The file maxscale-x.y.z/etc/maxscale.cnf.template can be used as a base. Please refer to Configuration Guide for details.

When the configuration file has been created, MariaDB MaxScale can be started.

$ cd maxscale-x.y.z.OS
$ bin/maxscale -d --basedir=.

With the flag --basedir, MariaDB MaxScale is told where the lib, etc and var directories are found. Unless it is specified, MariaDB MaxScale assumes the lib directory is found in /usr/local/maxscale, and the var and etc directories in /.

It is also possible to specify the directories and the location of the configuration file individually. Invoke MaxScale like

$ bin/maxscale --help

to find out the appropriate flags.

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