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MariaDB offers enhanced performance and additional features over traditional MySQL, making it an excellent choice for web applications requiring robust relational database capabilities. With Clouddley, you can deploy a MariaDB database on DigitalOcean without the typical complexity of manual database setup. This tutorial shows you how to use Clouddley, a backend infrastructure for compute to get MariaDB running on your Droplet. You’ll skip the tedious configuration steps and focus on what matters.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

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Create a DigitalOcean Droplet

Let’s create a Droplet using doctl, the official CLI for DigitalOcean. Make sure you’ve installed doctl, have your DigitalOcean API token ready, added your SSH key to your account, and taken note of your VPC UUID.
  • Authenticate with your DigitalOcean account by running the following command in your terminal:
doctl auth init
  • Enter your API token when prompted. This connects doctl to your DigitalOcean account.
Open your terminal and run the command:
doctl compute vpc list
This will display all your VPCs along with their UUIDs. Choose the one you want to use for your Droplet.
Open your terminal and run the command:
doctl compute ssh-key list
If you do not have a previously created one, follow the steps below.Step 1: To generate an SSH key, run the command:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"
Press Enter to accept the default file location and choose a passphrase if you want one.Step 2: To add your SSH key to digitalocean, run:
doctl compute ssh-key create "my-key-name" --public-key-file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Replace my-key-name with a name you’ll recognize.
  • Now, let’s create a Droplet by running the following command in your terminal:
doctl compute droplet create db-droplet \
  --image ubuntu-24-10-x64 \
  --size s-1vcpu-1gb \
  --ssh-keys <your_ssh_key_id> \
  --region nyc1 \
  --vpc-uuid <your_vpc_uuid>
Replace the placeholders <your_vpc_uuid> and <your_ssh_key_id> with your actual values. The SSH key added here allows Clouddley to securely connect to your Droplet during deployments.
You will see the output below Creating a droplet in DigitalOcean You’ve created a droplet named db-droplet with Ubuntu 24.10 x64 image in the nyc1 region.
  • After the Droplet is created, you can check its status by running:
doctl compute droplet list
You should see your new Droplet listed with its IP address and status. Listing all droplets in DigitalOcean Make sure to note the IP address of your Droplet, as you will need it later.

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Deploy

Your Droplet is now ready, you can deploy your MariaDB database using Clouddley. Step 1: Access Databases
  • Log in to your Clouddley account.
  • Navigate to the Databases on the left sidebar.
  • Click on Deploy Database

Accessing Triggr Databases


Step 2: Configure your virtual machine(VM)
  • In the choose or add server dropdown, select your VM if it’s listed. If not, select + Add Virtual Machine and enter your droplet’s IP address as the VM host, along with the VM User and SSH port.
  • After adding the details, verify the connection with the Clouddley CLI (recommended) or SSH.
  • Open your local machine’s command line, then connect to the remote VM you want to configure with Clouddley. Use this command to SSH into your DigitalOcean Droplet:
ssh root@<your-instance-ip>
  • Install Clouddley CLI by running the command:
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/clouddley/cli/main/install.sh | sh
  • To add the SSH public key, run the command:
clouddley add key
Using the CLI, you can deploy resources, manage configurations, and automate tasks efficiently.
  • Click on Verify to ensure the connection is successful.
  • Once verified, click on Next to proceed.

Configure virtual machine on Triggr


Step 3: Configure your database name
  • Input a name for your MariaDB database.
  • Click on Next to continue.

Defining a unique name for the MariaDB database


Step 4: Select your database type and version
  • Select MariaDB as your database type.
  • Choose the version of MariaDB you want to deploy.
    Ensure you select a version that is compatible with your application requirements.
  • Enable delete protection to prevent accidental deletions.
  • Click on Deploy DB

Selecting the MariaDB database type and specifying the version


Step 5: Validate deployment
  • Once your deployment is complete, you will see a confirmation message Deployed successfully!

MariaDB database successfully deployed

  • Your MariaDB database is ready to connect to your application.

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Manage your database

Managing your MariaDB database on DigitalOcean is simple with the Database dashboard. It gives you everything you need in one place. Here’s what you can do:
  • Monitor your database with real-time logs and quickly spot issues.
  • Reset passwords safely with secure authentication and encryption
  • Avoid accidental deletions with built-in delete protection.
  • Control who can access your database with easy user management.

Database dashboard

It’s designed to keep your database secure, organized, and running smoothly.

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Conclusion

You’ve now deployed MariaDB on a DigitalOcean Droplet using Clouddley, no complex configurations and no time-consuming setup. Just a simple, fast, and smooth experience that gets your database ready to go in minutes. Got feedback or ideas to improve the experience? We’d love to hear from you. We can’t wait to see what you deploy next!

Getting started with Clouddley?

A backend infrastructure for your own compute. Run apps, databases, brokers, and AI workloads on your VMs, bare metal, or VPS.

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Additional Resources

Faith Kovi