Using Liquibase with MariaDB, skySQL, or MariaDB AWS RDS
MariaDB delivers operational agility with key enterprise features, including real ACID compliance and full SQL. It provides two solutions:
- MariaDB Platform, which includes an open-source database solution—MariaDB Server along with ColumnStore and MaxScale.
Note: MariaDB Xpand is not currently supported.
- MariaDB Cloud (or MariaDB SkySQL), which is a cloud database service (DBaaS) that delivers MariaDB Platform on the expert-maintained cloud infrastructure from MariaDB Corporation.
You can also use MariaDB on Amazon RDS. For more information about MariaDB, see the MariaDB Knowledge Base.
Supported versions
- 10.X
Prerequisites
- Install Liquibase.
- Create a Liquibase project folder to store all Liquibase files. You can do this manually or with the init project command.
- Create a new Liquibase properties file or use the
liquibase.properties
file included in the installation package. For more information, see Create and Configure a liquibase.properties File.
Warning: If you create the Liquibase properties file, do not name it mariadb.properties
. This file name conflicts with a properties file that is released with the MariaDB driver.
Install drivers
To use Liquibase and MariaDB, you need the JDBC driver JAR file (Maven download).
liquibase/internal/lib
directory.
If you use Maven, pom.xml
file.
<dependency>
<groupId>org.mariadb.jdbc</groupId>
<artifactId>mariadb-java-client</artifactId>
<version>3.0.6</version>
</dependency>
Test your connection
- Ensure your MariaDB is configured:
- Specify the database URL in the Liquibase properties file. Liquibase does not parse the URL. You can either specify the full database connection string or specify the URL using your database's standard JDBC format:
Tip: To apply a Liquibase Pro key to your project, add the following property to the Liquibase properties file: licenseKey: <paste code here>
- Create a text file called changelog (
.xml
,.sql
,.json
, or.yaml
) in your project directory and add a changeset. - Navigate to your project folder in the CLI and run the Liquibase status command to see whether the connection is successful:
- Inspect the SQL with the update-sql command. Then make changes to your database with the update command.
- From a database UI tool, ensure that your database contains the
test_table
you added along with the DATABASECHANGELOG table and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK table.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">
<changeSet id="1" author="Liquibase">
<createTable tableName="test_table">
<column name="test_id" type="int">
<constraints primaryKey="true"/>
</column>
<column name="test_column" type="varchar"/>
</createTable>
</changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>

-- liquibase formatted sql
-- changeset liquibase:1
CREATE TABLE test_table (test_id INT, test_column VARCHAR(256), PRIMARY KEY (test_id))
Tip: Formatted SQL changelogs generated from Liquibase versions before 4.2 might cause issues because of the lack of space after a double dash ( -- ). To fix this, add a space after the double dash. For example: -- liquibase formatted sql
instead of --liquibase formatted sql
and -- changeset myname:create-table
instead of --changeset myname:create-table

databaseChangeLog:
- changeSet:
id: 1
author: Liquibase
changes:
- createTable:
columns:
- column:
name: test_column
type: INT
constraints:
primaryKey: true
nullable: false
tableName: test_table

{
"databaseChangeLog": [
{
"changeSet": {
"id": "1",
"author": "Liquibase",
"changes": [
{
"createTable": {
"columns": [
{
"column":
{
"name": "test_column",
"type": "INT",
"constraints":
{
"primaryKey": true,
"nullable": false
}
}
}]
,
"tableName": "test_table"
}
}]
}
}]
}
liquibase status --username=test --password=test --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>
Note: You can pass arguments in the CLI or keep them in the Liquibase properties file.
liquibase update-sql --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>
liquibase update --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>
MariaDB Server
- Check the status of the database by running the
SHOW [GLOBAL | SESSION] STATUS
command. - Specify the database URL in the Liquibase properties file, as follows:
url: jdbc:mariadb://<host>:<port>/<dbname>
MariaDB SkySQL
- Check the connection by referring to the Client Instructions. To connect to MariaDB SkySQL, you need to whitelist your IP, choose a client and a database, and use service details as the connection information.
- Download the
skysql_chain.pem
certificate. Go to your MariaDB SkySQL account and select Your Services > Show Credentials > Certificate authority chain > Download. Place the certificate in your Liquibase project folder. - Specify the database URL in the
liquibase.properties
file as follows:
url: jdbc:mariadb://<host>:<port>/<dbname>?useSSL=true&serverSslCert=skysql_chain.pem
You can find the needed host name under Connect using MariaDB CLI by selecting Your Services > Show Credentials:
Example: url:jdbc:mariadb://sky0001680.mdb0001652.db.skysql.net:5001/myDatabase?useSSL=true&serverSslCert=skysql_chain.pem
MariaDB on AWS RDS
- Check the connection by using the mysql utility and running the following:
mysql -h <endpoint> -P 3306 -u <mymainuser> -p
Note: The alternative way is to connect with the SSL certificate.
You can find the connection information in the AWS Management Console:
- Open the Amazon RDS console
- Select Databases and choose the needed database
- Select Connectivity & security. You will see all information under Endpoint & Port.
To find the connection information using the AWS CLI and RDS API, refer to the Connecting to a DB instance running the MariaDB database engine documentation.
- Specify the database URL in the Liquibase properties file, as follows:
url: jdbc:mariadb://<endpoint>:<port>/<dbname>
Example: url:jdbc:mariadb://myrds.cz1j1vh9uvuo.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com:3306/mydatabase