Recover a MariaDB database

Check logs

Before trying to recover a MariaDB database, you should check the exact error in the log file. To check the latest entries in the MariaDB log file, run the command below:

$ sudo tail -n 100 /opt/bitnami/mariadb/logs/mysqld.log

Restart and repair the database

Assume the following error in the log file:

110108 10:37:45 [ERROR] Fatal error: Can't open and lock privilege tables: Table 'user' is marked as crashed

• The MariaDB database is configured to use InnoDB engine by default. You can add the innodb_force_recovery=1 option in the main MariaDB configuration file at /opt/bitnami/mariadb/my.cnf to try and fix the database:

    [mysqld]
    innodb_force_recovery = 1
  

• Start the MariaDB database with the following command:

    $ mysqld --skip-grant-tables --user=mysql --skip-external-locking --port=3306 --sock=/opt/bitnami/mariadb/tmp/mysql.sock
  

• Open a new console and try to log in to the database:

    $ mysql -u root -p
  

• In this case, the error was related to the mysql.user table. Run these commands:

    MariaDB> use mysql;
    MariaDB> repair table user;
    MariaDB> check table user;
    MariaDB> exit;
  

If the table is recovered, you should see “OK” in the mysql.user status table. Do not forget to remove the innodb_force_recovery option from the my.cnf file and restart the MariaDB server again.

$ sudo service bitnami restart mariadb

If you find a different error or cannot fix an issue, we can try to help at https://github.com/bitnami/vms.