MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3.3-0 ES BETA is now available for testing, the first beta build of the upcoming MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 release line. Built on the foundation of MariaDB Community Server 12.3 LTS, this Enterprise beta adds a set of commercial-only capabilities built for mission-critical, multi-node deployments: conflict handling for replication, a new Raft-based clustering option, and a modern passwordless authentication method for TLS-secured connections.

What is MariaDB Enterprise Server?

MariaDB Enterprise Server is a core component of our flagship product MariaDB Enterprise Platform, delivering a hardened, production-grade edition of MariaDB Community Server. MariaDB Enterprise Server is enhanced with specific features that meet enterprise requirements such as advanced audit logging, non-blocking backup support, and data-at-rest encryption, along with backported fixes and professional support agreements.

This beta gives customers and partners early access to test the upcoming release ahead of GA, where it will be fully integrated into MariaDB Platform alongside the rest of the enterprise toolset.

What’s New in MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 Beta

1. Conflict Detection and Resolution for MariaDB Replication

Multi-node, multi-region replication setups have long faced a hard problem: what happens when the same data is modified independently on two different nodes before the changes replicate to each other? Resolving these conflicts has typically meant reaching for external tooling or a manual, after-the-fact reconciliation.

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 Beta introduces Conflict Detection and Resolution for MariaDB Replication, which automatically detects when a row has been modified concurrently by more than one node participating in a replication topology. Rather than silently applying the last write or halting replication, the server surfaces the conflict as it happens and gives applications a structured way to react to it.

Resolution logic is left in the hands of the people who understand the data best: your own application and business rules. When a conflict is detected, MariaDB fires a trigger that you define, so you can implement whatever resolution strategy fits your use case — for example, preferring the most recent timestamp, merging fields from both versions, favoring a particular node/region, or logging the conflict for manual review. 

This capability is particularly relevant for organizations running active-active or multi-region replication topologies where write conflicts are a normal, expected part of operating at scale rather than a rare edge case.

2. MariaDB Raft Cluster

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 Beta also brings in MariaDB Raft Cluster, a new high-availability architecture built on the Raft consensus protocol, first introduced as a Technical Preview. For full technical details, see the original announcement: Redefining High Availability: Introducing MariaDB Advanced Cluster Technical Preview.

In short, Raft Cluster complements MariaDB’s existing Galera-based clustering with a leader/follower model in which a write is considered committed once a majority of nodes, including the leader, have durably stored the log entry. Because commits only require a majority of nodes to acknowledge rather than every node, Raft Cluster is designed to significantly reduce write latency in geo-distributed deployments, where the round-trip time to the slowest or most distant node would otherwise dictate cluster performance. It also automates failover: if the leader fails, the remaining followers quickly elect a new leader, keeping the cluster available without manual intervention.

Choose MariaDB Raft Cluster when writes span regions or high-latency links, since committing on a majority beats waiting on your slowest node. 

3. Passwordless TLS Authentication Plugin

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 Beta introduces a new authentication plugin for connecting over TLS without a password. Unlike the authentication methods currently shipped with MariaDB, this plugin is designed specifically for encrypted TLS connections and lets clients authenticate without transmitting or storing a static password at all.

This approach reduces the attack surface associated with password management — no passwords to rotate, leak, or brute-force — while still enforcing strong, certificate-backed identity verification over an encrypted channel. It’s a natural fit for automated services, microservices, and any environment where centralizing trust in TLS certificates (rather than shared secrets) fits your security model better than traditional password- or token-based authentication.

Built on a Strong LTS Foundation: MariaDB Community Server 12.3

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 inherits everything that made the underlying Community Server 12.3 LTS release a milestone for the project. As covered in the MariaDB Community Server 12.3 LTS blog post, the 12.3 series consolidates a full year of rolling-release innovation (12.0–12.2) into a single, stable, long-term-maintained codebase. Highlights carried into the Enterprise beta include:

  • A re-engineered binary log that moves core binlog logic directly into the InnoDB engine, eliminating redundant synchronization points and delivering up to a 4x throughput improvement for write-intensive applications.
  • Faster vector search for AI workloads, thanks to optimized distance calculations for modern embeddings (such as those from OpenAI and Gemini) and new extrapolation techniques that speed up similarity search — so that MariaDB can act as both the relational store and the vector store behind RAG applications.
  • Broader Oracle and MySQL compatibility, including Oracle-style (+) joins, TO_DATE, associative arrays and SYS_REFCURSOR, plus native support for MySQL’s caching_sha2_password, lowering the barrier to migrating legacy applications onto MariaDB.
  • Expanded observability, with additional Performance Schema metrics and improved Galera audit logging to help operations teams keep clusters healthy and reduce time to resolution.

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 takes this same engine and adds the hardening, tooling, and advanced capabilities that mission-critical environments require — three of which are previewed for the first time in this beta.

What This Beta Means for the Road to GA

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3.3-0 ES BETA is an early look at these three enterprise capabilities running together on top of the Community Server 12.3 LTS base. We’re releasing it now so customers and partners can start testing conflict-aware replication, Raft Cluster, and passwordless TLS authentication ahead of general availability.

MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 is planned to reach General Availability as part of MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2027, expected later this year. Feedback gathered during this beta period will directly shape the final GA release, so we encourage enterprise customers to test in non-production environments and share what you find.

Get Started

We look forward to your feedback as we work toward General Availability with MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions

It’s the first beta build (12.3.3-0 ES BETA) of the upcoming MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3 release line, built on MariaDB Community Server 12.3 LTS. It previews three commercial-only capabilities for mission-critical, multi-node deployments: conflict-aware replication, Raft-based clustering, and passwordless TLS authentication.

Enterprise Server 12.3 is built directly on the Community Server 12.3 LTS codebase, so it inherits that release’s engine work: the InnoDB-integrated binary log, faster vector search for AI workloads, expanded Oracle and MySQL compatibility, and additional observability through Performance Schema. The beta adds enterprise-only hardening and tooling on top of that foundation.

It’s a feature that detects when the same row has been modified independently on more than one node in a replication topology. Instead of silently applying the last write or halting replication, the server flags the conflict and fires a trigger you define, so your application can resolve it according to its own rules, whether that’s preferring the latest timestamp, merging fields, favoring a specific node or region, or logging it for manual review.

Organizations running active-active or multi-region replication, where concurrent writes to the same data are routine rather than exceptional.

A high-availability architecture built on the Raft consensus protocol, first introduced as a Technical Preview. It uses a leader/follower model where a write commits once a majority of nodes (including the leader) have durably stored it, rather than waiting for every node to acknowledge. It also handles failover automatically: if the leader fails, the remaining followers elect a new one without manual intervention.

Raft Cluster complements Galera rather than replacing it. Because it only requires a majority of nodes to acknowledge a write, it’s designed to reduce write latency in geo-distributed setups, where Galera-style clusters can be bottlenecked by the round-trip time to the slowest or most distant node. It’s the better fit when writes span regions or high-latency links.

A new authentication plugin, specific to encrypted TLS connections, that lets clients authenticate using certificate-backed identity instead of a static password. No password is transmitted or stored, which removes password rotation, leakage, and brute-forcing from the threat model while still requiring strong identity verification.

It’s suited to automated services, microservices, and any environment where centralizing trust in TLS certificates fits better than managing shared secrets or tokens.

GA is planned as part of MariaDB Enterprise Platform 2027, expected later this year. Feedback from this beta period will shape the final release.

Customers can download the MariaDB Enterprise Server 12.3.3-0 ES BETA build directly from the MariaDB Download page or install it via the MariaDB Enterprise repository. If you run into access issues or have questions about your subscription, reach out to your MariaDB account team or MariaDB Support.

See the MariaDB Community Server 12.3 LTS blog post for the engine improvements, and Redefining High Availability: Introducing MariaDB Advanced Cluster Technical Preview for the clustering technology behind Raft Cluster.