For a free, open-source, community-supported system, MariaDB has some very strong development talent backing it. MariaDB is a fork of MySQL and it was created in 2009 as a response to Oracle Corporation taking over Sun Microsystems and therefore, acquiring the free-to-use MySQL. The original creator of MySQL was worried that Oracle would make MySQL commercial-only and so copied the entire system and gave it the name MariaDB.

Oracle Corporation wasn’t as greedy as its opponents feared it would be. Therefore, MySQL is still very widely used, especially for website databases. This continued free availability of MySQL has possibly reduced the growth of MariaDB. MySQL outranks MariaDB in a number of implementations to a great degree.

Here is our list of the seven best MariaDB monitoring tools:

  • AppOptics EDITOR’S CHOICE This is a cloud-based infrastructure and applications monitor that includes monitoring procedures to track the performance of relational databases, including MariaDB. Start a 30-day free trial.
  • ManageEngine Applications Manager (FREE TRIAL) This package monitors a long list of DBMSs, including MariaDB and MySQL, and covers servers and cloud platforms as well. Runs on Windows Server, Linux, AWS, and Azure. Start 30-day free trial.
  • Site24x7 Server Monitoring (FREE TRIAL) This cloud-based package of monitoring services allows you to observe the full stack and put its MariaDB performance tracking into a system-wide context. Start a 30-day free trial.
  • Sematext MariaDB Monitoring (FREE TRIAL) This service is part of an Infrastructure Monitoring package that will also monitor networks, servers, and applications. Offered as a SaaS package or a virtual appliance. Access the 14-day free trial.
  • Datadog A cloud platform that offers a range of monitoring tools and the Infrastructure module covers services and the servers they run on. This service will identify all of your services and, with an integration, keep a close eye on MariaDB
  • Opsview A system monitor with a plugin for specialized MariaDB monitoring capabilities. It is available for installation on Linux or as a cloud-based service.
  • LogicMonitor A flexible cloud-based monitoring tool that includes AI processes and has MariaDB monitoring capabilities.

Database monitoring considerations

The current structure of the IT industry is very diverse. The creation of cloud services means businesses take on subscriptions to bundles of applications and services, choosing a specific headline system, not paying attention to the backend systems that support it. As a result, it is very likely that a typical business has many different services hosting in geographically dispersed locations to monitor and they could very well all have different DBMSs supporting them.

It isn’t unexpected that you have a mix of DBMSs even if you made a corporate decision to use MariaDB for your in-house development. Although this guide is focused on monitoring tools for MariaDB, getting a system that is able to monitor other DBMSs as well is a big help.

The best MariaDB monitoring tools

When looking for MariaDB monitoring tools, we focused on systems that had a wide range of capabilities, not those that only monitor MariaDB. This will save you a lot of money because you won’t need to buy other monitoring systems whenever you discover that some online service you subscribe to actually has a different DBMS behind it.

Luck favors the prepared, so having the capability to monitor many different DBMSs means that your business is ready for anything. You don’t want to wade through very long menus of service that you don’t need and you don’t want to have to install a very large software package that has all of the code to monitor databases that you might not use in the future.

The ideal database monitoring system is one that allows you to add on the capability of monitoring a specific DBMS, so you end up with just those screens you need to monitor the systems that you know you have. Of course, the database monitors that made it onto our list all have MariaDB monitoring capabilities.

With these selection criteria in mind, we identified database monitoring tools that can save money by monitoring a range of DBMSs, including MariaDB.

Our methodology for selecting a MariaDB monitoring tool

We reviewed the market for MariaDB monitoring systems and analyzed tools based on the following criteria:

  • Instance query activity
  • SQL performance tuning
  • Recommendations to optimize database objects
  • Live tracking of supporting server resource availability
  • Historical analysis tools
  • A free trial or a demo system that enables the monitor to be tested before buying
  • Value for money from a monitoring tool that efficiently tracks and tunes MariaDB performance for a fair price

1. AppOptics (FREE TRIAL)

AppOptics by SolarWinds is a cloud-based application performance monitor. This monitoring service can watch the performance of on-premises and SaaS systems and it can unify the monitoring of all systems no matter where they are hosted. This service has database monitoring capabilities, which include performance tracking for MariaDB.

Key Features:

  • Cloud-based
  • Monitor databases
  • Monitor cloud-based MariaDB
  • Track 60 metrics
  • Alerts for problems

The base package of AppOptics covers standard services and applications and is also able to check on server resources. You need to add on the capability to monitor MariaDB. However, the procedure to activate the MariaDB plugin is very straightforward and the extra modules are free.  The module for MariaDB monitoring is actually a MySQL add-on. However, it works just as well with MariaDB instances.

The MariaDB service monitors about 60 factors. These are measured from within the database and cover a range of factors including actual query activity and administration actions. The monitor also checks on the resources of the host for your database and looks out for resource shortages.

AppOptics is a subscription service and it is offered in two editions. The lower of these is called Infrastructure Monitoring and this includes the MariaDB capabilities. So, it is all you need to monitor your databases. The higher plan is called Infrastructure and Application Monitoring. SolarWinds offers AppOptics on a 30-day free trial.

Pros:

  • Consolidate monitoring for multiple instances on many sites
  • Unify the monitoring of on-site and cloud-based databases
  • Identifies application dependencies and creates a map
  • Monitors PostgreSQL, Cassandra, MariaDB, Aurora, and MySQL
  • Applies distributed tracing to record module interactions

Cons:

  • No self-hosted option

2. ManageEngine Applications Manager (FREE TRIAL)

EDITOR’S CHOICE

AppOptics is our first choice for monitoring MariaDB! We particularly like how it automatically builds an application dependency map that supports root cause analysis for performance problem-solving. SolarWinds AppOptics includes an alerting mechanism that triggers email and SMS notifications to technicians if problems arise.

Start 14-day FREE Trial: https://my.appoptics.com/sign_up

OS: Cloud-based

ManageEngine Applications Manager provides monitoring services for custom code and off-the-shelf applications with an extensive list of database systems that it can track. Maria DB is on that list, as are MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Oracle. The tool is able to extract activity metrics from within running databases to enable the measurement of responses as well as capacity issues.

  • MariaDB performance analysis
  • Resource demand examination
  • Server resource availability monitoring
  • Application dependency mapping

The Applications Manager includes a discovery service that scours your servers and cloud accounts and lists all of the software that it encounters. It then follows process threads to identify all of the supporting modules and microservices that the application triggers. The system then looks at interconnections between applications such as a frontend interaction with a database. This creates an application dependency map that enables Application Manager to lay down plans for root cause analysis in case problems arise.

The system focuses on response time and calls for services. This serves as a chain of reliance that can pinpoint the exact cause of a user-facing app running badly. For example, if the synthetic monitoring tool in the package records a slow response in a Web page, it can see straightaway if a call to a MariaDB instance is the cause. Then the issue is going to be whether the connection, the DBMS, or the specific query was slow. Identifying this issue solves the problem automatically.

Carrying into solutions for slow-running queries in MariaDB, the monitor shows the objects – tables and indexes – involved in delivering a result. It also shows you whether locks were to blame for slow responses or whether file I/O was involved.

Looking beneath the MariaDB instance, Applications Manager links the running events inside the database with access to server resources. If the CPU is overloaded or memory is sparse, the monitor has found the cause of the response time problem.

Alongside the automated scrutiny of database activity, the Applications Manager offers distribute tracing and code profiling that simultaneously identifies each line of code as it is being executed. Maybe the system problem wasn’t caused by the database at all, but you will immediately know what other issue was in play at the time that an issue arose.

The Applications Manager includes a series of thresholds for performance and you can also formulate your own. When one of these thresholds gets crossed, Applications Manager generates an alert and you can get those notifications sent to your phone, email account, or Service Desk ticketing system.

ManageEngine Applications Manager is available as a free edition but that version is limited to tracking five applications. Two paid editions offer monitoring for a single network or a multi-site conglomerate. The software package installs on Windows Server or Linux or and it is also available as a service on AWS and Azure. You can get a 30-day free trial of either of the paid editions. If you decide not to buy, the package switches to the free edition at the end of the trial period.

  • Query analysis and live execution tracking

  • Database resource availability monitoring

  • Root cause analysis

  • Tracks issues on servers and cloud platforms

  • Not a SaaS package

ManageEngine Applications Manager Access 30-day FREE Trial

3. Site24x7 Server Monitoring (FREE TRIAL)

Site24x7 is a cloud-based monitoring service. This is another monitoring system that doubles up its MySQL sensors to monitor MariaDB as well. The MySQL/MariaDB service needs to be added to the base package of the monitoring system. This extends the dashboard of the service, adding extra screens for database monitoring.

  • Database resource monitoring
  • Alert notifications by email and SMS
  • Tracks replication and backup

The MariaDB monitor looks inside each database instance and assesses its structure. It makes notes on the types and numbers of objects and records this information on a details screen in the dashboard. It will then continuously monitor actions such as memory and cache activity, disk interactions, and network interface activity. It counts all queries as they occur and identifies the user account and source for each request.

The monitor also checks on DBMS administrative activities, such as replication. It will give a rundown of top query targets and sources for each instance and also aggregate all of the statistics that it gathers for an overview of the performance of all instances.

Site24x7 sets performance thresholds that trigger alerts when crossed. Those alerts can be sent out to technicians by email or SMS. This notification allows data center staff to assume that the MariaDB database instances are all running smoothly because they will be drawn back to the console by a notification if problems are building.

Site24x7 is a subscription package that provides an allowance for a range of services, which include network, server, and application monitors. You are only allowed one add-in per server. However, if you need more, you can raise that limit for a fee. The standard subscription account is able to monitor up to 10 servers. You can try Site24x7 Infrastructure on a 30-day free trial.

  • Monitors Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB

  • Records access to databases

  • Watches server memory, CPU, and disk I/O capacity

  • No self-hosting option

Site24x7 Server Monitoring Access the 30-day FREE Trial

4. Sematext MariaDB Monitoring (FREE TRIAL)

Sematext Infrastructure Monitoring is a package of monitoring services that will watch over networks, servers, and applications. This system is very strong at monitoring databases and MariaDB is one of the DBMSs that it will track. The service is also able to monitor SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and other DBMSs.

  • Database performance metrics
  • MariaDB log collection
  • Server status tracking

The MariaDB Monitoring service records important metrics from your MariaDB instances and it can watch over databases on multiple sites and cloud platforms, consolidating the reporting for all of them and offering drill-down paths through to data on the performance of each individual instance.

The package provides full-stack observability, so if your applications that access the MariaDB instances experience problems, the monitoring service can identify which of the two systems is the cause of the issue. The monitor goes beneath the database to watch over the supporting server and it also measures network activity and performance.

If a performance problem arises anywhere on your system, the Sematext service will raise an alert. This notification will be sent to you by email, Slack message, or Webhooks and it will identify which component of the stack is the real cause of the problem. So, you will know immediately whether your MariaDB instances are in trouble or just badly served by supporting infrastructure.

You can choose to use the Sematext system as a SaaS package or run the package on your own server as a virtual appliance over Docker. The starter plan is called Basic and it is free to use. This edition is limited to monitoring five hosts and has a data retention period of 30 minutes. Longer retention periods or the ability to monitor more servers costs money and the price increases as you lengthen your required data retention period. You can get a 14-day free trial of an unlimited plan.

  • Full stack observability with root cause analysis

  • Deployment options of SaaS or a virtual appliance

  • Database statistics and resource usage

  • Long data retention periods rack up the bill

Sematext MariaDB Monitoring Start 14-day FREE Trial

5. Datadog Infrastructure

Since the Datadog platform is based in the cloud it is able to monitor systems anywhere. So, whether you are looking to monitor your local site, remote sites, or cloud resources, this tool should be of interest. It can even combine the monitoring of resources located in different locations – including the cloud – to create a system-wide overview.

  • SaaS package
  • Monitor on-premises and cloud-based instances
  • Gathers more than 80 metrics
  • Machine learning to create thresholds

The Datadog Infrastructure module can be expanded by a library of 400 free plugins, called “integrations.” There is an integration available that adds on MariaDB monitoring capabilities. As well as the integration for monitoring your on-premises MariaDB instances, the integrations library offers a special plugin to monitor Azure DB for MariaDB and another for AWS RDS.

The core of the Datadog Infrastructure package monitors those applications and services that support user-facing software and it also keeps track of the availability of server resources. The abilities of this monitoring system extend to virtual systems and cloud resources. This service includes databases, such as MariaDB. The monitor can also track the performance of many other database management systems and provide you with a single console to supervise all of them.

The MariaDB monitor collects statistics on more than 80 database statuses. These include query performance data taken from within operating instances. The monitor assesses issues such as cache performance and disk interactions when it examines how the database interfaces to server resources. It can also track the availability of capacity to account for typical requirements of the running database.

The Datadog Infrastructure system is able to use machine learning to apply thresholds that predict typical performance levels and identify when a potential resource shortage could impair performance.

By tracking all of the applications that access the database, Datadog creates a dependency map – this feature is called Correlations and it is based on AI processes. The Correlations service is a preparatory system that sets up paths of investigations when applications start to perform badly. This speeds up root cause analysis and buys you time to take evasive action.

The alerts that Datadog Infrastructure generates can all be sent out to technicians as notifications by email or messaging system. So, everyone can leave the monitoring of MariaDB and other services to the automated processes of the Datadog system.

Datadog Infrastructure is also great for MariaDB monitoring because it covers the performance of queries within the database as well as factors related to resources needed by the database management system. This tool is able to monitor MariaDB instances running on cloud platforms as well as those instances that you have running on your own servers. It can even consolidate the reporting on a mix of on-site and SaaS databases.

Datadog Infrastructure is packaged in three editions: Free, Pro, and Enterprise. The Free service will only monitor up to five hosts. The Pro has all the monitoring services that you need to support MariaDB databases. The higher-level features of Datadog Infrastructure, such as Correlations and machine learning for performance thresholds are reserved for the Enterprise plan. You can get a 14-day free trial of either of the paid plans.

  • Application dependency mapping with AI

  • Integrates with reporting layer of AWS and Azure

  • Identifies application dependencies and creates a map

  • Performs SQL optimization and database tuning

  • Improves with the addition of other modules

6. Opsview

Opsview is an adaptable resource monitoring package that covers networks, servers, and applications. Its capabilities can be augmented by a library of add-ons, called “opspacks.” There is an opspacks available to monitor MariaDB. It is also possible to install Nagios plugins into Opsview.

  • Extension for MariaDB
  • Takes Nagios plug-ins
  • Query analyzer

The MariaDB opspack adds screens to the system dashboard and makes a data collecting agent available. This agent will collect information on replication and interactions with server resources. It also examines the performance of queries. It allows you to select a particular query and watch the variations in its execution performance over time. This is particularly useful for focusing on the performance of a critical database action.

Opsview is able to monitor other database management systems as well as MariaDB. It gives you a single console to monitor all IT resources. As well as monitoring your on-premises services, this tool can check on the performance of cloud resources. It is able to blend together services in overviews that cover resources located on your premises and in the cloud.

The Opsview system includes an autodiscovery service that explores your network and identifies all resources. This extends up to the logging of software and applications. The system scan is continuous, so it spots any changes you make to your infrastructure and updates its records automatically. It will also map VMWare structures. This means that the system sets itself up and keeps itself updated.

Opsview includes a performance threshold system for each of the metrics that it tracks. These trip alerts if crossed and those alerts can be sent out as notifications by email, SMS, or Slack message. The Opsview system creates a stack map and provides support for anomaly detection and root cause analysis.

Opsview plans are available in three editions: SMB, Enterprise, and Opsview Cloud. SMB is for small businesses and Enterprise is designed for larger organizations. These are both on-premises packages for installation on Linux servers. Opsview Cloud is a hosted SaaS system. All versions have the same functions and all will take the MariaDB opspack. Get a free trial of the cloud service.

  • Provides autodiscovery for all applications, including MariaDB database instances

  • Creates an application dependency map

  • Query optimization and database tracking

  • MariaDB has to be added on as a plug-in

7. LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor applies its monitoring system for MySQL to MariaDB monitoring. This service is part of a cloud-based IT resource monitoring package that can be extended by integration. The MySQL service is one of a library of 2000 integrations.

  • Query performance monitoring
  • Replication tracking
  • Server resource planning

The database monitoring service examines query performance, database management system activity, interactions with server resources and the network, and access by applications and users. All of the metrics that the service collects are displayed as graphs and charts in the dashboard.

The LogicMonitor service deploys AI to set performance expectations and it uses these to generate alerts if anomalies are detected. The system creates a full-stack view, crossing networks, servers, and applications and linking their dependencies. This speeds up root cause analysis for problems, which is also AI-supported.

LogicMonitor has a Core system and also a Website Monitor service – these are two separate packages and you only need the Core system to monitor MariaDB. This plan is available in two editions. These are called Pro and Enterprise – these have the same basic facilities but Enterprise will monitor more than 200 devices and includes the AI features of the service. You can assess LogicMonitor for a 14-day free trial.

  • Implements database monitoring in relation to the systems that use it
  • Correlates database activity to server resource usage
  • Uses AI in root cause analysis