> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mariadb.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/starting-and-stopping-mariadb-automatically.md).

# Starting and Stopping Overview

Complete Starting and Stopping Overview guide for MariaDB. Complete reference documentation for implementation, configuration, and usage for production use.

There are several different methods to start or stop the MariaDB Server process. There are two primary categories that most of these methods fall into: starting the process with the help of a service manager, and starting the process manually.

## Service Managers

[sysVinit](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md) and [systemd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/systemd.md) are the most common Linux service managers. [launchd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/launchd.md) is used in MacOS X. [Upstart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstart_\(software\)) is a less common service manager.

### Systemd

RHEL/CentOS 7 and above, Debian 8 Jessie and above, and Ubuntu 15.04 and above use [systemd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/systemd.md) by default.

For information on how to start and stop MariaDB with this service manager, see [systemd: Interacting with the MariaDB Server Process](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/systemd/starting.md#interacting-with-the-mariadb-server-process).

### SysVinit

RHEL/CentOS 6 and below, and Debian 7 Wheezy and below use [sysVinit](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md) by default.

For information on how to start and stop MariaDB with this service manager, see [sysVinit: Interacting with the MariaDB Server Process](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md#interacting-with-the-mariadb-server-process).

### launchd

[launchd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/launchd.md) is used in MacOS X.

### Upstart

Ubuntu 14.10 and below use Upstart by default.

## Starting the Server Process Manually

### mariadbd

[mariadbd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-options.md) is the actual MariaDB Server binary. It can be started manually on its own.

### mariadbd-safe

[mariadbd-safe](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-safe.md) is a wrapper that can be used to start the [mariadbd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-options.md) server process. The script has some built-in safeguards, such as automatically restarting the server process if it dies. See [mariadbd-safe](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-safe.md) for more information.

### mariadbd-multi

[mariadbd-multi](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-multi.md) is a wrapper that can be used to start the [mariadbd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-options.md) server process if you plan to run multiple server processes on the same host. See [mariadbd-multi](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-multi.md) for more information.

### mysql.server

[mysql.server](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mysql-server.md) is a wrapper that works as a standard [sysVinit](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md) script. However, it can be used independently of [sysVinit](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md) as a regular `sh` script. The script starts the [mariadbd](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-options.md) server process by first changing its current working directory to the MariaDB install directory and then starting [mariadbd-safe](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-safe.md). The script requires the standard [sysVinit](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/sysvinit.md) arguments, such as `start`, `stop`, and `status`. See [mysql.server](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mysql-server.md) for more information.

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