MariaDB Enterprise Server Docker Official Image Environment Variables

Complete guide to MariaDB in Docker. Complete resource for container deployment, volume management, networking, and environment setup for production use.

When you start the image, you can adjust the initialization of the MariaDB Server instance by passing one or more environment variables on the docker run command line. Do note that all of the variables below, except MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE, will have no effect if you start the container with a data directory that already contains a database: any pre-existing database will always be left untouched on container startup.

All tags from 10.6 and above, MARIADB_* variables will be used in preference to MYSQL_* variables.

One of the following is required: MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_HASH, MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD, MARIADB_ALLOW_EMPTY_ROOT_PASSWORD, or MARIADB_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD (including *_FILE equivalents).

Other environment variables are optional.

Environment Variables

MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_HASH / MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD / MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

This specifies the password that will be set for the MariaDB root superuser account.

MARIADB_ALLOW_EMPTY_ROOT_PASSWORD / MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD

Set to a non-empty value, like 1, to allow the container to be started with a blank password for the root user.

Setting this variable to yes is not recommended unless you really know what you are doing, since this will leave your MariaDB instance completely unprotected, allowing anyone to gain complete superuser access.

MARIADB_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD / MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD

Define a non-empty value, such as "yes," to auto-generate a random initial password for the root user. The password will be output to stdout, prefixed with "GENERATED ROOT PASSWORD: ...".

MARIADB_ROOT_HOST / MYSQL_ROOT_HOST

% is the default hostname part of the root user in MariaDB. This can be changed to any valid hostname. Setting it to localhost restricts root access to only the local machine via the Unix socket.

MARIADB_USER_HOST

% is the default hostname part of the user created through MYSQL_USER / MARIADB_USER in MariaDB. This can be changed to any valid hostname or IP. Setting it to localhost restricts user access to only the local machine via the Unix socket.

MARIADB_DATABASE / MYSQL_DATABASE

This variable allows you to specify the name of a database to be created on image startup.

MARIADB_USER / MYSQL_USER, MARIADB_PASSWORD_HASH / MARIADB_PASSWORD / MYSQL_PASSWORD

To create a new user with full access permissions in MariaDB, both user and password variables are required, along with a designated database. This new user will be granted comprehensive privileges (GRANT ALL) to the specified MARIADB_DATABASE. Note that this method should not be utilized for creating the root superuser, as this user is automatically created with the password provided by the MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD or MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD variable.

MARIADB_MYSQL_LOCALHOST_USER / MARIADB_MYSQL_LOCALHOST_GRANTS

Set MARIADB_MYSQL_LOCALHOST_USER to a non-empty value to create the mysql@localhost database user. This user is useful for health checks and backup scripts. The mysql@localhost user gets USAGE privileges by default. If more access is needed, additional global privileges can be provided as a comma-separated list. Be cautious when sharing a volume containing MariaDB's unix socket (/var/run/mysqld by default) as privileges beyond USAGE may pose security risks. This user can also be used with mariadb-backup. Refer to healthcheck.sh for required privileges for each health check test.

MARIADB_HEALTHCHECK_GRANTS

Set MARIADB_HEALTHCHECK_GRANTS to the grants required to be given to the healthcheck@localhost, healthcheck@127.0.0.1, healthcheck@::1, users. When not specified the default grant is USAGE.

The main value used here will be [REPLICA MONITOR](../../../reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/grant.md#replica-monitor) for the [healthcheck --replication](using-healthcheck-sh.md) test.

MARIADB_INITDB_SKIP_TZINFO / MYSQL_INITDB_SKIP_TZINFO

By default, the entrypoint script automatically loads the timezone data needed for the CONVERT_TZ() function. If it is not needed, any non-empty value disables timezone loading.

MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE / MARIADB_DISABLE_UPGRADE_BACKUP

Set MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE to a non-empty value to have the entrypoint check whether mariadb-upgrade needs to run, and if so, run the upgrade before starting the MariaDB server.

Before the upgrade, a backup of the system database is created in the top of the datadir with the name system_mysql_backup_*.sql.zst. This backup process can be disabled by setting MARIADB_DISABLE_UPGRADE_BACKUP to a non-empty value.

If MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE is set, and the .my-healthcheck.cnf file is missing, the healthcheck users are recreated if they don't exist, MARIADB_HEALTHCHECK_GRANTS grants are given, the passwords of the healthcheck users are reset to a random value and the .my-healthcheck.cnf file is recreated with the new password populated.

MARIADB_MASTER_HOST

When specified, the container will connect to this host and replicate from it.

MARIADB_REPLICATION_USER / MARIADB_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_HASH / MARIADB_REPLICATION_PASSWORD

When MARIADB_MASTER_HOST is defined, MARIADB_REPLICATION_USER and MARIADB_REPLICATION_PASSWORD will be used to connect to the master. When not specified, the MARIADB_REPLICATION_USER will be created with the REPLICATION REPLICA grants needed for a client to initiate replication.

Timezone Configuration

By default, the container operates in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timezone. To configure a specific timezone for the container's operating system and internal processes, utilize the TZ environment variable.

Supported Values

The TZ variable accepts standard tz database (IANA) timezone identifiers. Examples include America/New_York, Europe/London, or Asia/Tokyo.

Usage Examples

Using docker run

You can specify the timezone when starting the container via the command line interface using the -e flag:

docker run -d \
  --name database-container \
  -e TZ="America/New_York" \
  -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD="your_strong_password" \
  docker.mariadb.com/enterprise-server:11.8

Using docker-compose.yml

For deployments managed by Docker Compose, declare the TZ variable within the environment mapping of your service definition:

services:
  db:
    image: docker.mariadb.com/enterprise-server:11.8
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York
      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=your_strong_password

Using _FILE Environment Variables for Secrets

When running Docker containers, it is a security best practice to avoid passing sensitive information, like database passwords, directly as plain-text environment variables. The MariaDB container images allow you to securely read secrets from mounted files by appending _FILE to the standard environment variable name.

List of supported _FILE Environment Variables

Name	Description
MYSQL_ROOT_HOST_FILE	Path to a file containing the host from which the root user is allowed to connect.
MARIADB_ROOT_HOST_FILE	Path to a file containing the host from which the root user is allowed to connect.
MYSQL_DATABASE_FILE	Path to a file containing the name of a database to be created on initialization.
MARIADB_DATABASE_FILE	Path to a file containing the name of a database to be created on initialization.
MYSQL_USER_FILE	Path to a file containing the username for a new user to be created on initialization.
MARIADB_USER_FILE	Path to a file containing the username for a new user to be created on initialization.
MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE	Path to a file containing the password for the user defined by MYSQL_USER.
MARIADB_PASSWORD_FILE	Path to a file containing the password for the user defined by MARIADB_USER.
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE	Path to a file containing the password for the root database user.
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE	Path to a file containing the password for the root database user.
MARIADB_PASSWORD_HASH_FILE	Path to a file containing the hashed password for the created standard user.
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_HASH_FILE	Path to a file containing the hashed password for the root database user.
MARIADB_UNIX_SOCKET_AUTHENTICATION_FILE	Path to a file containing a value to enable/disable Unix socket authentication.
MARIADB_REPLICATION_USER_FILE	Path to a file containing the username to be used for setting up replication.
MARIADB_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_FILE	Path to a file containing the password for the replication user.
MARIADB_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_HASH_FILE	Path to a file containing the hashed password for the replication user.
MARIADB_MASTER_HOST_FILE	Path to a file containing the hostname or IP address of the replication master.
MARIADB_MASTER_PORT_FILE	Path to a file containing the port number of the replication master.

Example

Here is how to set up your MariaDB root password using the MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE environment variable.

Step 1: Create the Secret File

First, create a local file on your host machine that contains your desired environment variable. In this example, we will create a file named mariadb_root_password_secret containing the password MariaDB11!.

echo -n "MariaDB11!" > mariadb_root_password_secret

Using the -n flag with echo is highly recommended, as it ensures no hidden newline characters are accidentally appended to your password!

Step 2: Start the MariaDB Container

Next, run the container. You need to mount the local secret file into the container and set the environment variable to point to that newly mounted path.

docker run -d \
  -v "$(pwd)/mariadb_root_password_secret:/run/secrets/root_password" \
  -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/root_password \
  docker.mariadb.com/enterprise-server:11.8

Understanding the flags:

• -v "$(pwd)/...": This volume mount takes your local file (mariadb_root_password_secret) and securely maps it inside the container to /run/secrets/root_password.

• -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE=...: This instructs the MariaDB initialization script to look inside /run/secrets/root_password and use its contents as the root password.

Step 3: Verify the Connection

Once the container is up and running, you can test the connection to ensure the password was applied correctly.

Grab your container ID (with docker ps) and use docker exec to start an interactive database session using the password you defined in Step 1:

docker exec -it <container_id> mariadb -u root -p'MariaDB11!'

If the secret was read successfully, you will be authenticated and greeted by the MariaDB:

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 5

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