MySQL & MariaDB in Docker: Setup with Docker Compose

Docker MySQL: pick a tag and start the server

Docker MySQL setups start from the mysql Docker Official Image, maintained by the Docker community and the MySQL team. Oracle now runs two LTS lines and an Innovation line, and the image tags follow them. LTS releases only receive fixes within a series; Innovation releases add features and behaviour changes and are supported until the next Innovation release. For a development database that should behave like production, pin the same LTS line your servers use.

docker run --name mysql -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your-password> -p 3306:3306 -v mysqldata:/var/lib/mysql -d mysql:8.4

docker exec -it mysql mysql -uroot -p

Oracle's own MySQL images

The MySQL Reference Manual documents a separate set of images maintained by the MySQL team at the Oracle Container Registry, pulled as container-registry.oracle.com/mysql/community-server:tag. The manual states that these images are built for Linux platforms only and that other platforms are not supported. Most local setups, including Docker Desktop on Windows 11 and macOS, use the Docker Hub mysql image shown above.

MariaDB in Docker

The mariadb image documents latest as the latest stable version and lts as the last long-term support release. On 8 October 2026 that is 13.0.2 for latest and 12.3.3 for lts, with 11.8, 11.4, 10.11 and 10.6 also tagged. One of MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD, MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD_HASH, MARIADB_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD or MARIADB_ALLOW_EMPTY_ROOT_PASSWORD is required.

Two image defaults differ from a package install: the configuration sets host-cache-size=0 and skip-name-resolve, which disables authentication of user@hostname accounts. Use IP or % host patterns for container accounts, or re-enable name resolution as the image documentation describes. Setting MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE runs mariadb-upgrade when you move an existing volume to a newer image, and keeps a backup of the system tables unless you disable it.

docker run --detach --name mariadb -p 3306:3306 -v mariadbdata:/var/lib/mysql --env MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your-password> --env MARIADB_DATABASE=mydb --env MARIADB_USER=app --env MARIADB_PASSWORD=<app-password> mariadb:lts

Docker Compose: MySQL with Adminer or phpMyAdmin

The file below runs MySQL 8.4 with both web tools; keep whichever you prefer. It uses the current Compose Specification without the obsolete top-level version: key. The MySQL healthcheck uses mysqladmin ping, which the MySQL manual documents as returning 0 when the server is running, even if the connection is refused with Access denied, so no password is needed in the check.

services:
  db:
    image: mysql:8.4
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD:?set MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD in .env}
      MYSQL_DATABASE: mydb
      MYSQL_USER: app
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_PASSWORD:?set MYSQL_PASSWORD in .env}
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3306:3306"
    volumes:
      - mysqldata:/var/lib/mysql
      - ./initdb:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d:ro
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 30s

  adminer:
    image: adminer:6
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      ADMINER_DEFAULT_SERVER: db
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin:5.2
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: db
    ports:
      - "8081:80"
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

volumes:
  mysqldata:

MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your-root-password>
MYSQL_PASSWORD=<your-app-password>

  db:
    image: mariadb:lts
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD:?set MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD in .env}
      MARIADB_DATABASE: mydb
      MARIADB_USER: app
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_PASSWORD:?set MYSQL_PASSWORD in .env}
    volumes:
      - mariadbdata:/var/lib/mysql
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
      start_period: 10s
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

Start it and sign in

1. Run docker compose up -d in the folder, then docker compose ps until db shows healthy.
2. Adminer: open http://localhost:8080. ADMINER_DEFAULT_SERVER sets the default server to db; sign in as app or root.
3. phpMyAdmin: open http://localhost:8081. PMA_HOST points it at db, and it signs in with your MySQL credentials.

The Adminer image supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SimpleDB and Elasticsearch out of the box, so the same container can also manage the Postgres stack from the PostgreSQL in Docker guide. phpMyAdmin is for MySQL and MariaDB only. If you use the MariaDB variant, rename the volume in the top-level volumes: section to mariadbdata.

Loading init SQL and existing dumps

On the first start, both images run files found in /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d in alphabetical order: .sh, .sql, .sql.gz, .sql.xz and .sql.zst for both, plus .sql.bz2 for the mysql image. SQL files are imported into the database named by MYSQL_DATABASE (or MARIADB_DATABASE). That makes this folder the simplest way to seed a container from a dump: put 01-schema.sql and 02-data.sql.gz in ./initdb and start from an empty volume.

Nothing in the folder runs again once the volume contains a database. With an initialised volume the images also ignore the password and database variables; for the mysql image, MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD should be omitted in that case because it will be ignored anyway. To load a dump into an existing container, pipe it to the client instead, as shown in the backup section.

CREATE TABLE customers (
    customer_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    name        VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    created_at  TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

INSERT INTO customers (name) VALUES ('Ada'), ('Grace');

Docker MySQL host: connecting from your machine and other containers

From the host. With -p 3306:3306, tools such as MySQL Workbench, DBeaver or the mysql client connect to host 127.0.0.1 on port 3306. The Compose file publishes the port as 127.0.0.1:3306:3306, which Docker documents as keeping the port local to the machine. If a local MySQL or MariaDB service already uses 3306, map another host port, such as 3307:3306.

From other containers. In Compose, every service joins a default network and is reachable by its service name, so the host name for the database is db, not localhost. With plain docker run, create a user-defined network and start both containers on it, then use the container name as the host. The mysql image documentation warns that setting a MYSQL_HOST variable is known to cause issues with the image, so set your application's own host variable instead.

Server options can be passed after the image name, for example mysql:8.4 --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci, or placed in a .cnf file mounted at /etc/mysql/conf.d.

Backing up and restoring a MySQL or MariaDB container

The image documentation recommends running the dump tool inside the container with docker exec, so it can reach the server without extra networking. Note the single quotes: the password variable is expanded inside the container, not on your host.

docker exec mysql sh -c 'exec mysqldump --all-databases -uroot -p"$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD"' > all-databases.sql

docker exec -i mysql sh -c 'exec mysql -uroot -p"$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD"' < all-databases.sql

docker exec mariadb sh -c 'mariadb-dump --all-databases -u root -p"$MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD" > backup/db.sql'

Notes for Windows and MariaDB

In PowerShell, < cannot be used for input redirection, so run the restore line from cmd or Git Bash, or copy the file into the container with docker cp first. The MariaDB example assumes a volume mounted at /backup as in MariaDB's container backup documentation. From MariaDB 11.0 the mysqldump name is deprecated and removed from the mariadb image, so scripts must call mariadb-dump. For physical backups, the image also includes mariadb-backup.

Options for consistent dumps (--single-transaction, --routines, --events), restoring to another server and scheduling are covered in the mysqldump guide listed under related pages.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• mysql Docker Official Image documentation (docker-library/docs)
• mariadb Docker Official Image documentation (docker-library/docs)
• adminer Docker Official Image documentation (docker-library/docs)
• phpmyadmin Docker Official Image documentation (docker-library/docs)
• MySQL Community Server downloads
• MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual: MySQL Releases, Innovation and LTS
• MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual: Basic Steps for MySQL Server Deployment with Docker
• MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual: mysqladmin
• MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual: Troubleshooting problems connecting to MySQL
• MariaDB documentation: Using Healthcheck.sh
• MariaDB documentation: Container Backup and Restoration
• MariaDB documentation: mariadb-dump
• Docker docs: Control startup order in Compose
• Docker docs: Compose version and name elements
• Docker docs: Networking in Compose
• Docker docs: Publishing and exposing ports
• MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual: Reloading SQL-Format Backups

Checked 8 October 2026.

How we research guides: our editorial method. We link only to official downloads and never host installers.