Upgrade to MaxScale 25.01

These instructions detail the upgrade to MariaDB MaxScale 25.01 in a MaxScale Instance configuration on a range of supported Operating Systems.

MariaDB MaxScale is an advanced database proxy and query router.

Term Definitions

Term	Definition
MaxScale instance	MariaDB MaxScale running by itself on a single host. It interacts with other hosts, such as deployments using MariaDB Replication, Galera Cluster, and ColumnStore. It serves as the database proxy and load balancer.
upgrade	A change from lower-versioned release of MariaDB MaxScale to a higher-versioned release of MariaDB MaxScale.

Backing Up Configuration

Upgrades can move or change configuration files. Before starting an upgrade, always back up your configuration files to ensure you can revert to the working system in the event that you encounter any issues during the upgrade.

To back up a configuration file, create a copy:

sudo cp /etc/maxscale.cnf /data/backups/config/maxscale.cnf

Upgrade

MariaDB Corporation provides package repositories for YUM (RHEL, CentOS, Rocky Linux), APT (Debian, Ubuntu), and ZYpp (SLES).

Stop the MaxScale Process

Before upgrading MariaDB MaxScale, first stop the current process.

For distributions that use systemd (most supported OSes), you can manage the Server process using the systemctl command:

sudo systemctl stop maxscale

Upgrade MaxScale

Upgrade MaxScale following the instructions for your Linux distribution:

RHEL

Upgrade via DNF (RHEL)

1

Customer Download Token

Retrieve your Customer Download Token at https://customers.mariadb.com/downloads/token/ and substitute for CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN in the following directions.

2

Configure YUM / DNF package repository

Pass the version you want to install using the --mariadb-maxscale-version flag to the mariadb_es_repo_setup script. The following directions reference 25.01.

To configure YUM package repositories:

sudo yum install curl

curl -LsSO https://dlm.mariadb.com/enterprise-release-helpers/mariadb_es_repo_setup

chmod +x mariadb_es_repo_setup

sudo ./mariadb_es_repo_setup --token="CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN" --apply \
   --mariadb-maxscale-version="25.01"

3

Upgrade MariaDB MaxScale and package dependencies:

sudo dnf update maxscale

4

Configure MaxScale

The upgrade process only loads MaxScale onto the system. MaxScale requires configuration before MaxScale is ready for use.

Debian / Ubuntu

Upgrade via APT (Debian, Ubuntu)

1

Customer Download Token

Retrieve your Customer Download Token at https://customers.mariadb.com/downloads/token/ and substitute for CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN in the following directions.

2

Configure APT package repository

Pass the version you want to install using the --mariadb-maxscale-version flag to the mariadb_es_repo_setup script. The following directions reference 25.01.

To configure APT package repositories:

sudo apt install curl

curl -LsSO https://dlm.mariadb.com/enterprise-release-helpers/mariadb_es_repo_setup

chmod +x mariadb_es_repo_setup

sudo ./mariadb_es_repo_setup --token="CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN" --apply \
   --mariadb-maxscale-version="25.01"

sudo apt update

3

Upgrade MariaDB MaxScale and package dependencies

sudo apt install --only-upgrade maxscale

4

Configure MaxScale

The upgrade process only loads MaxScale onto the system. MaxScale requires configuration before MaxScale is ready for use.

SLES

Upgrade via ZYpp (SLES)

1

Customer Download Token

Retrieve your Customer Download Token at https://customers.mariadb.com/downloads/token/ and substitute for CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN in the following directions.

2

Configure ZYpp package repository

Pass the version you want to install using the --mariadb-maxscale-version flag to the mariadb_es_repo_setup script. The following directions reference 25.01.

To configure ZYpp package repositories:

sudo zypper install curl

curl -LsSO https://dlm.mariadb.com/enterprise-release-helpers/mariadb_es_repo_setup

echo "4d483b4df193831a0101d3dfa7fb3e17411dda7fc06c31be4f9e089c325403c0  mariadb_es_repo_setup" \
    | sha256sum -c -

chmod +x mariadb_es_repo_setup

sudo ./mariadb_es_repo_setup --token="CUSTOMER_DOWNLOAD_TOKEN" --apply \
   --mariadb-maxscale-version="25.01"

3

Upgrade MariaDB MaxScale and package dependencies

sudo zypper update maxscale

4

Configure MaxScale

The upgrade process only loads MaxScale onto the system. MaxScale requires configuration before MaxScale is ready for use.

Configuration

Configuration parameters can change between releases of MariaDB MaxScale, which can have unexpected results.

1. Determine which parameters have changed by reviewing all the changes made between your current release and the upgrade release.

2. Change the specific parameters in maxscale.cnf.

Changes in MaxScale Versions

MaxScale 23.02

Changes in MaxScale 23.02

When upgrading from MaxScale 22.08 and earlier to MaxScale 25.01, the changes introduced in MaxScale 23.02 must be taken into consideration.

MariaDB MaxScale 22.08 is fully compatible with MariaDB MaxScale 23.02 with the exception that some features have been removed.

Removed Features

• The csmon monitor has been removed after previously being deprecated in MaxScale 22.08.2.

• The auroramon monitor has been removed after previously being deprecated in MaxScale 22.08.2.

• The maxctrl cluster commands have been removed after previously being deprecated in MaxScale 22.08.2

• The maxctrl drain command has been removed, because it is obsolete.

Removed Deprecated maxctrl Commands

In MariaDB MaxScale 23.02, some deprecated MaxCtrl commands were removed:

• maxctrl cluster

• maxctrl drain has been removed and can be replaced with maxctrl set server SERVER_NAME drain

Removed Deprecated maxctrl Options

In MariaDB MaxScale 23.02, several deprecated MaxCtrl command-line options were removed, since MaxScale previously added the ability to specify module parameters to MaxCtrl as key-value pairs.

This change can impact backward compatibility. Some scripts and tools written for previous versions of MaxCtrl will require updates to continue functioning with MaxCtrl from MaxScale 23.02. The old command-line parameters have been deprecated since MaxScale 22.08. The new syntax to specify parameters as key-value pairs has been supported since MariaDB MaxScale 6.2.0.

For example, in previous releases, the following maxctrl create monitor command could be executed:

maxctrl create monitor mdb_monitor mariadbmon \
   --monitor-user mxs \
   --monitor-password 'maxscale_passwd' \
   replication_user='repl_user' \
   replication_password='repl_pass' \
   --servers node1 node2 node3

Starting with MariaDB MaxScale 23.02, some deprecated command-line options have been removed and must be replaced with a key-value pair using the corresponding module parameter:

maxctrl create monitor mdb_monitor mariadbmon \
   user='mxs' \
   password='maxscale_passwd' \
   replication_user='repl_user' \
   replication_password='repl_pass' \
   --servers node1 node2 node3

For maxctrl create listener, the following deprecated command-line options were removed and must be replaced with a key-value pair using the listed parameter:

Command-line Option	Replaced by Parameter
--authenticator	authenticator
--authenticator-options	authenticator_options
--interface	interface
--protocol	protocol
--tls-ca-cert	ssl_ca
--tls-cert	ssl_cert
--tls-cert-verify-depth	ssl_cert_verify_depth
--tls-crl	ssl_crl
--tls-key	ssl_key
--tls-verify-peer-certificate	ssl_verify_peer_certificate
--tls-verify-peer-host	ssl_verify_peer_host
--tls-version	ssl_version

For maxctrl create monitor, the following deprecated command-line options were removed and must be replaced with a key-value pair using the listed parameter:

Command-line Option	Replaced by Parameter
--monitor-password	password
--monitor-user	user

MaxScale 22.08

Changes in MaxScale 22.08

When upgrading from MaxScale 6 and earlier to MaxScale 25.01, the changes introduced in MaxScale 22.08 must be taken into consideration.

Database Firewall Filter

• The dbfwfilter that was deprecated in MaxScale 6 has been removed in MaxScale 22.08.

Deprecated Parameters

• The server parameter ssl_ca_cert has been renamed to ssl_ca and ssl_ca_cert has been deprecated. ssl_ca_cert is now an alias for ssl_ca and can still be used, but MariaDB recommends using ssl_ca, as support for ssl_ca_cert will be removed in a future release.

• The server parameter admin_ssl_ca_cert has been renamed to admin_ssl_ca and admin_ssl_ca_cert has been deprecated. admin_ssl_ca_cert is now an alias for admin_ssl_ca and can still be used, but MariaDB recommends using admin_ssl_ca, as support for admin_ssl_ca_cert will be removed in a future release.

Removed Parameters

• The following MariaDB Monitor (mariadbmon) parameters have been removed:

  • ignore_external_masters

  • detect_replication_lag

  • detect_standalone_master

  • detect_stale_master (replaced by master_conditions)

  • detect_stale_slave (replaced by slave_conditions)

Default Changed for Logging Behavior

• Prior to MaxScale 22.08.1, by default MaxScale logs to syslog in addition to the MaxScale log.

• Starting with MaxScale 22.08.1, by default MaxScale only logs to the MaxScale log and no longer logs to syslog.

• To retain the behavior of prior releases, in your MaxScale configuration, under the [maxscale] section, specify syslog=true:

  [maxscale]
  syslog=true

REST API Endpoint Removed

• The /v1/maxscale/tasks/ endpoint has been removed from the REST API.

MaxScale 6

Changes in MaxScale 6

When upgrading from MaxScale 2.5 and earlier to MaxScale 25.01, the changes introduced in MaxScale 6 must be taken into consideration.

TLS/SSL

• MaxScale's ssl parameter can no longer be set to required or disabled:

  • ssl=true replaces ssl=required

  • ssl=false replaces ssl=disabled

Deprecated Features

• dbfwfilter is deprecated (but not removed) in MaxScale 6.

• Multi-line configuration parameters are deprecated (but not removed) in MaxScale 6.

Defaults Changed

• The default value of threads has changed from 1 to auto

ColumnStore

• When using MaxScale with ColumnStore 5 and later, MariaDB Monitor (mariadbmon) is used instead of ColumnStore Monitor (csmon).

MaxScale 2.5

Changes in MaxScale 2.5

When upgrading from MaxScale 2.4 and earlier to MaxScale 25.01, the changes introduced in MaxScale 2.5 must be taken into consideration.

Passwords

• MaxScale's password encryption features have been updated to be more secure. Passwords encrypted in old versions will still work, but it is recommended to generate a new encryption key with the maxkeys command and to re-encrypt passwords with the maxpasswd command.

User Account Privileges

MaxScale's user account requires additional privileges in MaxScale 2.5.

Ensure that the user account has the following privileges:

GRANT SHOW DATABASES ON *.*
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.columns_priv
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.db
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.procs_priv
        TO 'mxs'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.proxies_priv
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.roles_mapping
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.tables_priv
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.user
     TO 'maxscale'@'192.0.2.1';

MariaDB Monitor

MaxScale 2.5 includes configuration changes for MariaDB Monitor (mariadbmon):

• The detect_stale_master and the detect_standalone_master parameters have been deprecated. They can still be used, but they will be removed in a later version of MaxScale. Users should use the master_conditions parameter instead.

  For example:

  [repl-monitor]
  type          = monitor
  module        = mariadbmon
  servers       = server1,server2,server3
  user          = maxscale
  password      = max_passwd
  auto_failover = ON
  auto_rejoin   = ON
  master_conditions = connected_slave,running_slave

• The detect_stale_slave parameter has been deprecated. It can still be used, but it will be removed in a later version of MaxScale. Users should use the slave_conditions parameter instead.

  For example:

  [repl-monitor]
  type          = monitor
  module        = mariadbmon
  servers       = server1,server2,server3
  user          = maxscale
  password      = max_passwd
  auto_failover = ON
  auto_rejoin   = ON
  slave_conditions  = running_master,writable_master

ColumnStore Monitor

MaxScale 2.5 includes configuration changes for ColumnStore Monitor (csmon):

• The version parameter was previously optional, but it is now required.

  For example:

  [col-monitor]
  type          = monitor
  module        = csmon
  servers       = server1,server2,server3
  user          = maxscale
  password      = max_passwd
  version       = 1.2

Binlog Router

MaxScale 2.5 includes a completely re-implemented Binlog Router (binlogrouter):

• Thoroughly test your configuration with the new implementation to ensure that the new version meets your needs.

Starting the MaxScale Instance

MariaDB MaxScale installations includes configuration to start, stop, restart, enable/disable on boot, and check the status of the MaxScale Instance using the operating system default process management system.

For distributions that use systemd (most supported OSes), you can manage the MaxScale process using the systemctl command:

Operation	Command
Start	sudo systemctl start maxscale
Stop	sudo systemctl stop maxscale
Restart	sudo systemctl restart maxscale
Enable during startup	sudo systemctl enable maxscale
Disable during startup	sudo systemctl disable maxscale
Status	sudo systemctl status maxscale

Testing

When you have MariaDB MaxScale up and running, you should test it to ensure that it is working and that weren't any issues during startup.

Checking MaxScale Status

Check that MaxScale is running properly by using the MaxCtrl utility:

sudo maxctrl show maxscale

┌──────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Version      │ 25.01.2                                                              │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Commit       │ 61b8bbf7f63c38ca9c408674e66f3627a0b2192e                             │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Started At   │ Fri, 03 Jan 2025 18:05:18 GMT                                        │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Activated At │ Fri, 03 Jan 2025 18:05:18 GMT                                        │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Uptime       │ 109                                                                  │
├──────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Parameters   │ {                                                                    │
│              │     "libdir": "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/maxscale",                  │
│              │     "datadir": "/var/lib/maxscale",                                  │
│              │     "process_datadir": "/var/lib/maxscale/data3850",                 │
│              │     "cachedir": "/var/cache/maxscale",                               │
│              │     "configdir": "/etc",                                             │
│              │     "config_persistdir": "/var/lib/maxscale/maxscale.cnf.d",         │
│              │     "module_configdir": "/etc/maxscale.modules.d",                   │
│              │     "piddir": "/var/run/maxscale",                                   │
│              │     "logdir": "/var/log/maxscale",                                   │
│              │     "langdir": "/var/lib/maxscale",                                  │
│              │     "execdir": "/usr/bin",                                           │
│              │     "connector_plugindir": "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/mysql/plugin", │
│              │     "threads": 1,                                                    │
│              │     "thread_stack_size": 8388608,                                    │
│              │     "writeq_high_water": 0,                                          │
│              │     "writeq_low_water": 0,                                           │
│              │     "auth_connect_timeout": 3,                                       │
│              │     "auth_read_timeout": 1,                                          │
│              │     "auth_write_timeout": 2,                                         │
│              │     "skip_permission_checks": false,                                 │
│              │     "admin_auth": true,                                              │
│              │     "admin_enabled": true,                                           │
│              │     "admin_log_auth_failures": true,                                 │
│              │     "admin_host": "127.0.0.1",                                       │
│              │     "admin_port": 8989,                                              │
│              │     "admin_ssl_key": "",                                             │
│              │     "admin_ssl_cert": "",                                            │
│              │     "admin_ssl_ca_cert": "",                                         │
│              │     "admin_pam_readwrite_service": "",                               │
│              │     "admin_pam_readonly_service": "",                                │
│              │     "passive": false,                                                │
│              │     "query_classifier": "",                                          │
│              │     "query_classifier_cache_size": 155008819,                        │
│              │     "retain_last_statements": 0,                                     │
│              │     "dump_last_statements": "never",                                 │
│              │     "session_trace": 0,                                              │
│              │     "load_persisted_configs": true,                                  │
│              │     "max_auth_errors_until_block": 10                                │
│              │ }                                                                    │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘