This book provides an introduction to MariaDB with enough information to get us started. MariaDB is a large system with many parts, options, and capabilities.

So where do we go from here? If we have a question, where do we go for help?

Here is a list of the various online resources available to help us on our way to becoming a MariaDB expert.

Let's begin with the official MariaDB website. MariaDB downloads, the MariaDB Foundation blog, and other official MariaDB information can be found at the following location:

http://mariadb.org

Next is the MariaDB Knowledge Base found at the following location:

https://mariadb.com/kb

The MariaDB Knowledge Base is the official location of the MariaDB documentation. New information is added here on a daily basis. Whenever something is added to or changed in MariaDB, it is documented here. Release notes and change logs for MariaDB releases are also posted here.

There is also an Ask a Question feature that can be used if we have a question about something in MariaDB. We just navigate to the section or the item that we are interested in, click on the button and ask away. We can also provide our own tips and tricks by leaving comments on the page. Registration is required (to cut down on spam), but it is free and all content is released under a Creative Commons, GFDL, or GPL license.

If we need to talk to someone immediately there are, again, a few options. First is IRC, where we can engage in real-time chat conversations with other users and with the developers of MariaDB. The official MariaDB channel is #maria on the Freenode IRC network. See the knowledge base entry on IRC (https://mariadb.com/kb/en/irc) for more information.

There are also three official MariaDB e-mail lists: a developers list for technical discussions about MariaDB development, a discuss list for general discussions about using MariaDB, and a docs list for discussion and planning related to the MariaDB documentation. All three lists are hosted on launchpad.net. The most useful list for end users is the discuss list. Following are the links to these lists:

Lastly, MariaDB is active on the major social media platforms. Following are the locations of the official MariaDB accounts on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook:

I hope you enjoy working with MariaDB!