systemd
MariaDB starting with 10.1.8
The MariaDB systemd service was first released in MariaDB 10.1.8 on supported Linux distributions.
systemd is a sysVinit replacement that is the default service manager on the following Linux distributions:
- RHEL 7 and above
- CentOS 7 and above
- Fedora 15 and above
- Debian 8 and above
- Ubuntu 15.04 and above
- SLES 12 and above
- OpenSUSE 12.2 and above
MariaDB's systemd unit file is included in the server packages for RPMs and DEBs. It is also included in certain binary tarballs.
The service name is mariadb.service. Aliases to mysql.service and mysqld.service are also installed for convenience.
When MariaDB is started with the systemd unit file, it directly starts the mysqld process as the mysql user. Unlike with sysVinit, the mysqld process is not started with mysqld_safe. As a consequence, options will not be read from the [mysqld_safe] option group from option files.
Contents
Locating the MariaDB Service's Unit File
By default, the unit file for the service will be installed in a directory defined at build time by the INSTALL_SYSTEMD_UNITDIR option provided to cmake.
For example, on RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, and other similar Linux distributions, INSTALL_SYSTEMD_UNITDIR is defined as /usr/lib/systemd/system/, so it will be installed to:
/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service
And on Debian, Ubuntu, and other similar Linux distributions, INSTALL_SYSTEMD_UNITDIR is defined as /lib/systemd/system/, so it will be installed to:
/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service
Interacting with the MariaDB Server Process
The service can be interacted with by using the systemctl command.
Starting the MariaDB Server Process on Boot
MariaDB's systemd service can be configured to start at boot by executing the following:
systemctl enable mariadb
Starting the MariaDB Server Process
MariaDB's systemd service can be started by executing the following:
systemctl start mariadb
MariaDB's systemd unit file has a default startup timeout of about 90 seconds on most systems. If certain startup tasks, such as crash recovery, take longer than this default startup timeout, then systemd will assume that mysqld has failed to startup, which causes systemd to kill the mysqld process. To work around this, you can reconfigure the MariaDB systemd unit to have an infinite timeout.
Note that systemd 236 added the EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC environment variable that allows services to extend the startup timeout during long-running processes. Starting with MariaDB 10.1.33, MariaDB 10.2.15, and MariaDB 10.3.6, on systems with systemd versions that support it, MariaDB uses this feature to extend the startup timeout during certain startup processes that can run long. Therefore, if you are using systemd 236 or later, then you should not need to manually override TimeoutStartSec, even if your startup tasks, such as crash recovery, run for longer than the configured value. See MDEV-14705 for more information.
Stopping the MariaDB Server Process
MariaDB's systemd service can be stopped by executing the following:
systemctl stop mariadb
Checking the Status of the MariaDB Server Process
The status of MariaDB's systemd service can be obtained by executing the following:
systemctl status mariadb
Interacting with Multiple MariaDB Server Processes
A systemd template unit file with the name mariadb@.service is installed in INSTALL_SYSTEMD_UNITDIR on some systems. See Locating the MariaDB Service's Unit File to see what directory that refers to on each distribution.
This template unit file allows you to interact with multiple MariaDB instances on the same system using the same template unit file. When you interact with a MariaDB instance using this template unit file, you have to provide an instance name as a suffix. For example, the following command tries to start a MariaDB instance with the name node1:
systemctl start mariadb@node1
On Linux distributions that use RPM packages, the template unit file is only installed on those distributions that provide cmake 3.3.0 or later, since earlier versions of cmake have a bug that causes issues when the template unit file is present and you attempt to use cmake to include it in an RPM package
systemd will also look for an option file for a specific MariaDB instance based on the instance name. By default, it will look for the option file in a directory defined at build time by the INSTALL_SYSCONF2DIR option provided to cmake.
For example, on RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, and other similar Linux distributions, INSTALL_SYSCONF2DIR is defined as /etc/my.cnf.d/, so it will look for an option file that matches the format:
/etc/my.cnf.d/my%I.cnf
And on Debian, Ubuntu, and other similar Linux distributions, INSTALL_SYSCONF2DIR is defined as /etc/mysql/conf.d//, so it will look for an option file that matches the format:
/etc/mysql/conf.d/my%I.cnf
In all distributions, the %I is the MariaDB instance name. In the above node1 case, it would use the option file at the path/etc/my.cnf.d/mynode1.cnf for RHEL-like distributions and /etc/mysql/conf.d/mynode1.cnf for Debian-like distributions.
When using multiple instances, each instance will of course also need their own datadir. See mysql_install_db for information on how to initialize the datadir for additional MariaDB instances.
Systemd and Galera Cluster
Bootstrapping a New Cluster
When using Galera Cluster with systemd, the first node in a cluster has to be started with galera_new_cluster. See Getting Started with MariaDB Galera Cluster: Bootstrapping a New Cluster for more information.
Recovering a Node's Cluster Position
When using Galera Cluster with systemd, a node's position in the cluster can be recovered with galera_recovery. See Getting Started with MariaDB Galera Cluster: Determining the Most Advanced Node for more information.
SSTs and Systemd
MariaDB's systemd unit file has a default startup timeout of about 90 seconds on most systems. If an SST takes longer than this default startup timeout on a joiner node, then systemd will assume that mysqld has failed to startup, which causes systemd to kill the mysqld process on the joiner node. To work around this, you can reconfigure the MariaDB systemd unit to have an infinite timeout. See Introduction to State Snapshot Transfers (SSTs): SSTs and Systemd for more information.
Note that systemd 236 added the EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC environment variable that allows services to extend the startup timeout during long-running processes. Starting with MariaDB 10.1.35, MariaDB 10.2.17, and MariaDB 10.3.8, on systems with systemd versions that support it, MariaDB uses this feature to extend the startup timeout during long SSTs. Therefore, if you are using systemd 236 or later, then you should not need to manually override TimeoutStartSec, even if your SSTs run for longer than the configured value. See MDEV-15607 for more information.
Configuring the Systemd Service
You can configure MariaDB's systemd service by creating a "drop-in" configuration file for the systemd service. On most systems, the systemd service's directory for "drop-in" configuration files is /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/. You can confirm the directory and see what "drop-in" configuration files are currently loaded by executing:
$ sudo systemctl status mariadb.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.1.37 database server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d
└─migrated-from-my.cnf-settings.conf, timeoutstartsec.conf
...
If you want to configure the systemd service, then you can create a file with the .conf extension in that directory. The configuration option(s) that you would like to change would need to be placed in an appropriate section within the file, usually [Service]. If a systemd option is a list, then you may need to set the option to empty before you set the replacement values. For example:
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/numactl --interleave=all /usr/sbin/mysqld ${MYSQLD_OPTS} ${_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER} ${_WSREP_START_POSITION}
After any configuration change, you will need to execute the following for the change to go into effect:
systemctl daemon-reload
Useful Systemd Options
Useful systemd options are listed below. If an option is equivalent to a common mysqld_safe option, then that is also listed.
| mysqld_safe option | systemd option | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| no option | ProtectHome=false | If any MariaDB files are in /home/ |
| no option | PrivateDevices=false | If any MariaDB storage references raw block devices |
| no option | ProtectSystem= | If any MariaDB write any files to anywhere under /boot, /usr or /etc |
| no option | TimeoutStartSec={time} | Service startup timeout. See Configuring the Systemd Service Timeout. |
| no option (see MDEV-9264) | OOMScoreAdjust={priority} | e.g. -600 to lower priority of OOM killer for mysqld |
open-files-limit | LimitNOFILE={limit} | Limit on number of open files. See Configuring the Open Files Limit. |
core-file-size | LimitCORE={size} | Limit on core file size. Useful when enabling core dumps. See Configuring the Core File Size. |
LimitMEMLOCK={size} or infinity | Limit on how much can be locked in memory. Useful when large-pages or memlock is used | |
nice | Nice={nice value} | |
syslog | StandardOutput=syslog | |
| StandardError=syslog | ||
| SyslogFacility=daemon | ||
| SyslogLevel=err | ||
syslog-tag | SyslogIdentifier | |
flush-caches | ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sync | |
| ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/sysctl -q -w vm.drop_caches=3 | ||
numa-interleave | ExecStart=/usr/bin/numactl --interleave=all /usr/sbin/mysqld ${MYSQLD_OPTS} ${_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER} ${_WSREP_START_POSITION} | |
no-auto-restart | Restart={exit-status} |
Note: the systemd manual contains the official meanings for these options. The manual also lists considerably more options than the ones listed above.
There are other options and the mariadb-service-convert script will attempt to convert these as accurately as possible.
Configuring the Systemd Service Timeout
MariaDB's systemd unit file has a default startup timeout of about 90 seconds on most systems. If a service startup takes longer than this default startup timeout, then systemd will assume that mysqld has failed to startup, which causes systemd to kill the mysqld process. To work around this, it can be changed by configuring the TimeoutStartSec option for the systemd service. For example, you can reconfigure the MariaDB systemd service to have an infinite timeout by executing one of the following commands:
If you are using systemd 228 or older, then you can execute the following to set an infinite timeout:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/timeoutstartsec.conf <<EOF [Service] TimeoutStartSec=0 EOF sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Systemd 229 added the infinity option, so if you are using systemd 229 or later, then you can execute the following to set an infinite timeout:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/timeoutstartsec.conf <<EOF [Service] TimeoutStartSec=infinity EOF sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Note that systemd 236 added the EXTEND_TIMEOUT_USEC environment variable that allows services to extend the startup timeout during long-running processes. On systems with systemd versions that support it, MariaDB uses this feature to extend the startup timeout during certain startup processes that can run long.
Configuring the Open Files Limit
When using systemd, rather than setting the open files limit by setting the open-files-limit option for mysqld_safe or the open_files_limit system variable, the limit can be changed by configuring the LimitNOFILE option for the MariaDB systemd service. For example, you can reconfigure the MariaDB systemd service to have an infinite limit on open files by executing the following commands:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/limitnofile.conf <<EOF [Service] LimitNOFILE=infinity EOF sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Configuring the Core File Size
When using systemd, if you would like to enable core dumps, rather than setting the core file size by setting the core-file-size option for mysqld_safe, the limit can be changed by configuring the LimitCORE option for the MariaDB systemd service. For example, you can reconfigure the MariaDB systemd service to have an infinite size for core files by executing the following commands:
tee /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/limitcore.conf <<EOF [Service] LimitCORE=infinity EOF systemctl daemon-reload
Logging
systemd has its own logging system called the systemd journal. The systemd journal contains information about the service startup process. It is a good place to look when a failure has occurred.
The MariaDB systemd service's journal can be queried by using the journalctl command. For example:
$ sudo journalctl -u mariadb -- Logs begin at Fri 2019-01-25 13:49:04 EST, end at Fri 2019-01-25 18:07:02 EST. -- Jan 25 13:49:15 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.1.37 database server... Jan 25 13:49:16 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal mysqld[2364]: 2019-01-25 13:49:16 140547528317120 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.37-MariaDB) starting as process 2364 ... Jan 25 13:49:17 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Started MariaDB 10.1.37 database server. Jan 25 18:06:42 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Stopping MariaDB 10.1.37 database server... Jan 25 18:06:44 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Stopped MariaDB 10.1.37 database server. Jan 25 18:06:57 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.1.37 database server... Jan 25 18:08:32 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: mariadb.service start-pre operation timed out. Terminating. Jan 25 18:08:32 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.1.37 database server. Jan 25 18:08:32 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: Unit mariadb.service entered failed state. Jan 25 18:08:32 ip-172-30-0-249.us-west-2.compute.internal systemd[1]: mariadb.service failed.
Converting mysqld_safe Options to Systemd Options
mariadb-service-convert is a script included in many MariaDB packages that is used by the package manager to convert mysqld_safe options to systemd options. It reads any explicit settings in the [mysqld_safe] option group from option files, and its output is directed to /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/migrated-from-my.cnf-settings.conf. This helps to keep the configuration the same when upgrading from a version of MariaDB that does not use systemd to one that does.
Implicitly high defaults of open-files-limit may be missed by the conversion script and require explicit configuration. See Configuring the Open Files Limit.
Known Issues
Memlock
Prior to MariaDB 10.1.10, the --memlock option could not be used with the MariaDB systemd service.
