ADR 0037 - MariaDB Bitnami Replacement

Author

Nicolas Bigler

Owner

Schedar

Reviewers

Date Created

2025-07-30

Date Updated

2025-07-30

Status

draft

Tags

mariadb,bitnami,helm,service
Summary

We are switching from the Bitnami MariaDB Helm Chart to the MariaDB Operator due to licensing cost changes and operational advantages.

Problem

For our VSHNMariaDB offering, we have relied on the Bitnami Helm Chart. However, the announced changes to the Bitnami catalog force us to re-evaluate our options. The new licensing model introduces significant costs for accessing versioned container images.

Evaluated Options

Name Type Galera Support Recovery Support Active Project? Metrics Notes

Bitnami Helm Chart

Helm chart

✅

⚠️ Manual only

✅

✅ Sidecar per pod

Very expensive, no automated recovery

MariaDB Operator

Operator

✅

✅ Fully automated

✅

✅ Dedicated + operator

Official solution, active development, free

Codership/Galera

Helm chart

✅

⚠️ Manual only

❌

❌

Designed for MySQL, limited docs, stale project

Comparison

MariaDB Operator

The MariaDB Operator is the official solution for managing MariaDB clusters, including Galera with automated recovery from cluster failures. Developed and maintained by the MariaDB team, it is under active development with frequent updates.

Key Features:

  • Simple upgrades by updating version tags

  • Backup & restore Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs)

  • Restore to existing instances or bootstrap new instances from backups

  • Supported storage backends: PVC and S3

  • Dedicated metrics deployment per MariaDB instance

  • Operator provides its own metrics

  • Proven compatibility with OpenShift

Bitnami Helm Chart

We have been using the Bitnami Helm Charts for MariaDB/Galera deployments. They are well-tested, widely adopted, and generally reliable.

Notable limitations:

  • No automated recovery - Requires manual intervention for cluster failures

  • No built-in backup/restore - Must be implemented separately

  • Expensive access - Version-specific image tags require costly subscription as of 2025-08-28

Self-build attempt: We explored building our own images using Bitnami source components from downloads.bitnami.com/files/stacksmith:

  • ini-file - Can be built from source

  • mariadb-galera - Complex prebuilt component requiring significant reverse-engineering

The complexity and risk of reverse-engineering the mariadb-galera component make this approach unreliable. While we achieved a successful build, no functional validation was performed, creating high risk of unexpected behavior.

Decision

We choose the MariaDB Operator for the following reasons:

  • Official MariaDB solution with guaranteed long-term support

  • Active development with frequent releases

  • Automated cluster recovery eliminates manual intervention

  • Integrated backup and restore capabilities

  • Open-source and free, eliminating licensing costs

  • Proven OpenShift compatibility

Consequences

With the decision to migrate from Bitnami to the MariaDB Operator, we need to:

  • Refactor the MariaDB service in our Appcat and SPKS offerings

  • Properly evaluate and implement a migration path for existing instances

This is a time-consuming effort, but justified given the high cost of Bitnami images.