This book provides an introduction to MariaDB, with enough information to get us started. MariaDB is a large system with many parts, options, and capabilities. So where do we go from here? If we have a question, where do we go for help? Here is a list of various online resources available to help us on our way to becoming a MariaDB expert.

Let's begin with the official MariaDB website. MariaDB downloads, the MariaDB Foundation blog, and other official MariaDB information is found at http://mariadb.org.

Next is the MariaDB Knowledge Base available at https://mariadb.com/. This is the official location of MariaDB documentation. New information is being added here on a daily basis. Whenever something is added to or changed in MariaDB it is documented here. Release notes and change logs for MariaDB releases are also posted here.

There is also an Ask a Question feature that can be used if you have a question about something in MariaDB. Just navigate to the section or item you are interested in, click on the button and ask away. You can also provide your own tips and tricks by leaving comments on the page. Registration is required (to cut down on spam) but it is free and all the content is released under either a Creative Commons, GFDL, or GPL license. The direct link to MariaDB Knowledge Base is https://mariadb.com/kb/.

If we want to talk to someone right now, there are a few options. First is IRC, where we can engage in real-time chat conversations with other users and with the developers of MariaDB. The official MariaDB channel is #maria on the Freenode IRC network. See the Knowledge Base entry on IRC (https://mariadb.com/kb/en/irc) for more information.

To engage in a direct conversation, there are three MariaDB e-mail lists. The developers list is for technical discussions about MariaDB development. The discuss list is for general discussions about using MariaDB. The docs list is for discussion and planning related to MariaDB documentation. All three lists are hosted on launchpad.net. The most useful list for end users is the discuss list. Following are the links to these lists:

Lastly, MariaDB is active on the major social media platforms. Here are the locations of the official MariaDB accounts on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook:

I hope you enjoy working with MariaDB!