MariaDB demonstrates automated cloud deployment using OpenTofu and Kamatera

The MariaDB Foundation has highlighted new deployment workflows for MariaDB and WordPress on Kamatera, a cloud provider that recently joined the foundation as a Silver Sponsor. The guide demonstrates how users can leverage Kamatera's customizable cloud servers to host database workloads with granular control over CPU, memory, and storage resources.

By utilizing OpenTofu, an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool managed by the Linux Foundation, the deployment process can be fully automated. The workflow supports two distinct architectural patterns: a single-VM setup for testing and a multi-VM architecture that separates the web server from a dedicated MariaDB instance via a private network.

Infrastructure-as-Code deployment patterns

• Automation Tooling: The deployment utilizes OpenTofu (v1.13.2) and Kamatera's Terraform-compatible provider to declaratively manage cloud resources.
• Architectural Flexibility: Users can toggle between a monolithic 'all-in-one' VM or a split architecture using a single boolean variable (split_database) in the OpenTofu configuration.
• Network Security: In the dedicated server model, MariaDB is configured to bind to a private network interface (e.g., 10.77.40.11) with firewall rules restricting TCP port 3306 access to the web server's private IP.
• Resource Customization: The workflow allows for specific provisioning of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS instances, including configurable CPU cores, RAM, disk size, and monthly network traffic packages via the Kamatera API.

Why it matters

This development demonstrates the growing integration between open-source database projects and cloud infrastructure providers through standardized IaC tools. For sysadmins and DevOps engineers, it provides a repeatable, automated method for deploying secure, scalable LAMP stacks using OpenTofu rather than proprietary cloud management tools.