Installing MariaDB MaxScale using a tarball

MariaDB MaxScale is also made available as a tarball, which is named like maxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz where x.y.z is the same as the corresponding version and OS identifies the operating system, e.g. maxscale-2.5.6.centos.7.tar.gz.

In order to use the tarball, the following libraries are required:

• libcurl
• libaio
• OpenSSL
• gnutls
• libatomic
• unixODBC

The tarball has been built with the assumption that it will be installed in /usr/local. However, it is possible to install it in any directory, but in that case MariaDB MaxScale must be invoked with a flag.

Installing as root in /usr/local

If you have root access to the system you probably want to install MariaDB MaxScale under the user and group maxscale.

The required steps are as follows:

$ sudo groupadd maxscale
$ sudo useradd -g maxscale maxscale
$ cd /usr/local
$ sudo tar -xzvf maxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz
$ sudo ln -s maxscale-x.y.z.OS maxscale
$ cd maxscale
$ sudo chown -R maxscale var

Creating the symbolic link is necessary, since MariaDB MaxScale has been built with the assumption that the plugin directory is /usr/local/maxscale/lib/maxscale.

The symbolic link also makes it easy to switch between different versions of MariaDB MaxScale that have been installed side by side in /usr/local; just make the symbolic link point to another installation.

In addition, the first time you install MariaDB MaxScale from a tarball you need to create the following directories:

$ sudo mkdir /var/log/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /var/lib/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /var/run/maxscale
$ sudo mkdir /var/cache/maxscale

and make maxscale the owner of them:

$ sudo chown maxscale /var/log/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /var/lib/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /var/run/maxscale
$ sudo chown maxscale /var/cache/maxscale

The following step is to create the MariaDB MaxScale configuration file /etc/maxscale.cnf. The file etc/maxscale.cnf.template can be used as a base. Please refer to Configuration Guide for details.

When the configuration file has been created, MariaDB MaxScale can be started.

$ sudo bin/maxscale --user=maxscale -d

The -d flag causes maxscale not to turn itself into a daemon, which is adviseable the first time MariaDB MaxScale is started, as it makes it easier to spot problems.

If you want to place the configuration file somewhere else but in /etc you can invoke MariaDB MaxScale with the --config flag, for instance, --config=/usr/local/maxscale/etc/maxscale.cnf.

Note also that if you want to keep everything under /usr/local/maxscale you can invoke MariaDB MaxScale using the flag --basedir.

$ sudo bin/maxscale --user=maxscale --basedir=/usr/local/maxscale -d

That will cause MariaDB MaxScale to look for its configuration file in /usr/local/maxscale/etc and to store all runtime files under /usr/local/maxscale/var.

Installing in any Directory

Enter a directory where you have the right to create a subdirectory. Then do as follows.

$ tar -xzvf maxscale-x.y.z.OS.tar.gz

The next step is to create the MaxScale configuration file maxscale-x.y.z/etc/maxscale.cnf. The file maxscale-x.y.z/etc/maxscale.cnf.template can be used as a base. Please refer to Configuration Guide for details.

When the configuration file has been created, MariaDB MaxScale can be started.

$ cd maxscale-x.y.z.OS
$ bin/maxscale -d --basedir=.

With the flag --basedir, MariaDB MaxScale is told where the lib, etc and var directories are found. Unless it is specified, MariaDB MaxScale assumes the lib directory is found in /usr/local/maxscale, and the var and etc directories in /.

It is also possible to specify the directories and the location of the configuration file individually. Invoke MaxScale like

$ bin/maxscale --help

to find out the appropriate flags.