In this chapter, we discussed the preliminary tasks that we need to perform before we can start working with MariaDB. In particular, we discussed the way to choose a MariaDB version and install it. We learned how to start and stop MariaDB, and how to efficiently use the mysql command-line client. Several other clients exist, but this is the one we will use for all the examples in this book. We learned how to set the MariaDB options in the configuration files or at the mysqld invocation. Some settings can be set at runtime, and sometimes they can be adjusted on a per-session basis: we discussed how to do this. MariaDB upgrades were also been discussed in the chapter. Finally, we learned how to install, uninstall, and configure MariaDB plugins.

In the next chapter, we will learn how to create new databases and tables, the data types that are available, how storage engines work, and the use of indexes.