Category: Linux Server

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If you’re looking to run a robust relational database in your Dockerized environment, MariaDB is an excellent open-source choice. With Portainer, managing your databases and application stacks becomes super easy—even with little Docker experience. In this post, I’ll walk you step by step through deploying MariaDB using Portainer Stacks (which leverages Docker Compose).

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Why Use MariaDB with Portainer?

• MariaDB: Powerful open-source database, compatible with MySQL.
• Portainer: Friendly web UI to easily deploy, manage, and monitor Docker containers, stacks, and services.

Using them together lets you:

• Quickly spin up databases.
• Take advantage of persistent storage.
• Easily manage your containers and stacks through a visual interface.

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Step 1: Access Your Portainer Dashboard

You need your Portainer instance up and running. Log in at
http://<your-server>:9000
Replace <your-server> with your server’s IP or domain.

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Step 2: Open Portainer Stacks

• On the left sidebar, click Stacks.
• Then, click the “+ Add stack” button.

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Step 3: Compose the MariaDB Stack

1. Name your stack (e.g., mariadb-stack).
2. In the Web editor area, paste the following Docker Compose YAML (and adjust credentials as needed):

   version: '3.8'

   services:
     mariadb:
       image: mariadb:11.3
       container_name: mariadb
       restart: unless-stopped
       environment:
         - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=YourRootPassword123
         - MARIADB_DATABASE=mydatabase
         - MARIADB_USER=myuser
         - MARIADB_PASSWORD=userpassword
       ports:
         - "3306:3306"
       volumes:
         - mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql

   volumes:
     mariadb_data:

What does this do?

• Pulls the latest MariaDB image (v11.3).
• Sets up root/user passwords and a database.
• Persists your data in a Docker volume (mariadb_data).
• Exposes MariaDB on the default port 3306.

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Step 4: Deploy Your MariaDB Stack

Scroll to the bottom and click Deploy the stack.

Portainer will pull the required images and create your MariaDB container.

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Step 5: Connect & Use Your Database

The MariaDB instance is now running! You can connect to it:

• From any app on the server:
  localhost:3306, user myuser, password userpassword
• From another machine (if port 3306 is accessible):
  your-server-ip:3306, same credentials

Use your favorite MariaDB/MySQL client, or connect from other containers via the Docker network.

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Optional: Add phpMyAdmin for Easy Database Management

Want a web interface for MariaDB? Just add phpMyAdmin to the stack by updating your YAML:

version: '3.8'

services:
  mariadb:
    image: mariadb:11.3
    container_name: mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=YourRootPassword123
      - MARIADB_DATABASE=mydatabase
      - MARIADB_USER=myuser
      - MARIADB_PASSWORD=userpassword
    ports:
      - "3306:3306"
    volumes:
      - mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql

  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      - PMA_HOST=mariadb
      - PMA_USER=myuser
      - PMA_PASSWORD=userpassword

volumes:
  mariadb_data:

Now, after redeploying the stack, visit:
http://<your-server>:8080 for a full-featured GUI!

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Tips & Best Practices

• Secure Your Database: Don’t expose port 3306 to the internet unless necessary.
• Persistent Storage: Docker volumes make it easy to back up or move data.
• Stack Upgrades: Edit the stack YAML and re-deploy for future changes.

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Conclusion

With just a few clicks and a simple YAML file, you can have a resilient MariaDB server up and running using Portainer Stacks and Docker Compose. Add phpMyAdmin for web-based administration, and you have a powerful, easy-to-manage development or production setup!

Have questions or run into trouble? Drop a comment below! 🚀

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PhpMyAdmin is easy to set up for any app and fix the table database or troubleshoot. So, we will set up PhpMyAdmin with NGINX SSL secure for our HTTPS. Due to the possibility of a grabber username and password exploit, we would prefer not to expose this on HTTP.

Please ensure that you complete this first. Before starting, we should make sure that this tutorial prevents hacking and exposes our port to the public. We do not want that to happen. We only want 80 and 443 to be open.

How to set up Portainer with nginx Proxy Manager

After you complete Portainer and nginx, we are good to go to build this app with nginx and PhpMyAdmin.

Open Portainer → Stacks→ create stacks

version: '3'
services:
  pma:
    networks:
      - nginx
      - mariadb
    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin
    container_name: pma
    environment:
      PMA_ARBITRARY: 1
    restart: always
    #ports:
     # - 8081:80
networks:
  nginx:
    external: true
  mariadb:
    external: true

I put hashtags on ports and port numbers because we don’t need them. We’ll just use nginx network on this app. Nginx proxy can talk to PhpMyAdmin instead of port or public. It is more secure to build our app before it is published to the public. Your sites can be injected with any insecure port.

After deploying the stacks, your PhpMyAdmin is now online, but it won’t show up on the site because you didn’t set up the nginx proxy info. That would be our next step.

You should open the nginx proxy manager for your site. My will be nginx__.richardapplegate.io.

Thereafter, you’ll need to access your admin account. Add proxy host, then fill this detail.

Now you may be able to open your site with a domain without port. My will be phpmyadmin.richardapplegate.io. and working!

You’re in the MariaDB database.

This baserow is my absolute favorite, it’s more like a spreadsheet with more options and an easy-to-use database. It also had a Grid and Form and a Gallery and a Calendar! It’s great for our list of things to do.

Look over Baserow.io!

You’ll need Portainer and nginx running, remember? If not, here are my instruction to set up on your server.

Let’s build stacks now.

Open Portainer site → stacks → add stacks

version: "3.4"
services:
  baserow:
    container_name: applegate-baserow
    image: baserow/baserow:1.24.2
    networks:
      - nginx
      - mariadb
    environment:
      BASEROW_PUBLIC_URL: 'https://sub.domain.com'
    volumes:
      - /yourpath/baserow/data:/baserow/data
networks:
  nginx:
    external: true
  mariadb:
    external: true
    

Before you deploy, please ensure you follow the high light and modify and edit the networks to match your nginx proxy manager and MariaDB Database Network. Then, deploy the stack and this app is online but not show on site. We need to go to nginx proxy manager to set up a proxy host for baserow.

The sign-up form should appear when you open the base row. Please complete it for the first user, and this account will provide you with an admin account.