MariaDB

MariaDB Offers Tighter Security Measures

Security is a major concern for any website owner. Hacking attempts are on the rise every year, and a breach can have serious consequences. As a result, it’s important to make sure that your database management software is properly secured.
The most recent MySQL update did include some new security-focused features. However, MariaDB comes with a much wider range of additional safety measures, including:

Internal security and password checks
PAM and LDAP authentication
User roles
Database encryption
The other unique selling point of MariaDB is its Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). This has been implemented into the system from version 10.0.5 onward, and eases the management of access rights. So far, MySQL has been unsuccessful at implementing similar features, making it somewhat more vulnerable.

Performance Is Faster and More Efficient

Your site’s performance is incredibly important – especially when it comes to loading speeds. For example, most users expect a website to load in less than two seconds. Failing to hit that mark could result in a high ‘bounce rate’ (the number of people who leave your site immediately), as well as numerous additional issues.

Although both MySQL and MariaDB are efficient, the latter has managed to take the lead in performance. This is due in part to its large selection of alternative database engines. In other words, when optimizing queries, MariaDB takes into account engine-independent table statistics.

The MariaDB website also offers a range of helpful resources on how to optimize performance further, as well as performance strategies for various queries. This includes system variables, buffers, caches, threads, database-type performance improvements, and encryption technology. For the lay person, this all means that MariaDB is a lot less likely to have a negative impact on your site’s page speeds (and may even have a positive effect).

You’ll Get Access to Better User Support

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, it’s likely there will come a time when you need further support. Those who hold a license for proprietary MySQL products get access to Oracle Premier Support, which provides around-the-clock help.

The service offered by MariaDB is similar, but comes with the additional promise of a 30-minute maximum reaction time. This, coupled with a notification service, patches, and bug fixes, puts the platform’s user support slightly ahead of MySQL’s.

In addition, the MariaDB software is used by some of the world’s largest companies – including Nokia, Intel, and Samsung. Each of these clients (and more) have left glowing testimonials, which is another sign that you’ll be in capable hands.

SQL Compatibility

MariaDB supports most SQL statements, functions, procedures, definitions, variables, etc. There are several client programs, such as mysqladmin and mysqldump (these popular solutions for command-line come with MariaDB). Besides, there are many useful plugins, e.g., the audit plugin. All these options make the database-related tasks more straightforward in MariaDB.

Parallel Execution of Queries

Recent MariaDB versions from 10.0 and higher include this helpful option. Several queries can be executed simultaneously. The essence is replicating some queries from the main database in the secondary databases. In practice, it makes the task performance much faster. That provides OLAP capabilities for analytical queries at a much faster pace and in a smoother manner. MySQL does not provide this opportunity.

Thread Pooling

The concept of Thread Pooling accelerates work on MariaDB in regards to multiple connections to the database. Instead of opening a separate thread for each connection, MariaDB offers a pool of already open threads. A new connection takes a thread and sends the query. All queries become faster and produce quicker results. MySQL has a similar feature, but only in the Enterprise edition, which is paid. In MariaDB, it is available to all free of charge.

Database Views

Another performance optimization feature relates to database views. The main difference is in involving virtual tables when querying a view. In MariaDB, the process will involve only that dedicated, particular table. MySQL involves all tables connected to that view, no matter if the query targets them. The optimized query of a database view provides more speed and less load.

Virtual Columns

One of MariaDB’s prominent features is the support of virtual columns. Such columns can do calculations at the database level. When several apps access one column, users won’t need to write calculations in every app separately. Instead, the database will do it.

ColumnStore

The feature of ColumnStore relates to the overall performance improvement. A distributed data architecture ensured correct scaling of MariaDB linearly. This way, it is possible to store excessive data volumes across various MariaDB servers in a database cluster.

Flash Storage

MyRocks storage engine adds the RocksDB database to MariaDB. This database provides a higher level of data compression and thus performs better in flash storage.