Job for mariadb service failed because the control process exited with error code

I am trying to start mariadb with systemctl start mariadb also tried using sudo along.

This is what it says

Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with
error code. See «systemctl status mariadb.service» and «journalctl
-xe» for details.

I saw this at many places but nothing helped.

It fails, I removed, installed again, nothing happened.

This is a part of /var/log/messages

Jun 17 18:03:09 controller systemd: Starting MariaDB 10.1 database
server... 
Jun 17 18:03:09 controller mysqld: 2016-06-17 18:03:09 140477178509440
       [Note] /usr/libexec/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.12-MariaDB) starting as process 120408 ... 
Jun 17 18:03:12 controller systemd: mariadb.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE 
Jun 17 18:04:13 controller systemd: mariadb.service: control process exited, code=exited status=3 
Jun 17 18:04:13 controller systemd: Failed to start MariaDB 10.1 database server. 
Jun 17 18:04:13 controller systemd: Unit mariadb.service entered failed state. 
Jun 17 18:04:13 controller systemd: mariadb.service failed.

I am really new to CentOS and mariadb, so I don’t know how to proceed.

EDIT

The mariadb.log says

2016-06-17 19:24:39 140652810123392 [Note] Server socket created on IP: ‘::’.
2016-06-17 19:24:39 140652810123392 [ERROR] Can’t start server: Bind on TCP/IP port. Got error: 98: Address already in use
2016-06-17 19:24:39 140652810123392 [ERROR] Do you already have another mysqld server running on port: 3306 ? 2016-06-17 19:24:39 140652810123392 [ERROR] Aborting

This is my my.cnf

#
# This group is read both both by the client and the server
# use it for options that affect everything
#
[client-server]

#
# This group is read by the server
#
[mysqld]
port=5555
bind-address = 10.23.77.68
default-storage-engine = innodb
innodb_file_per_table
collation-server = utf8_general_ci
init-connect = 'SET NAMES utf8'
character-set-server = utf8

# Disabling symbolic-links is recommended to prevent assorted security risks
symbolic-links=0

#
# include all files from the config directory
#
!includedir /etc/my.cnf.d

I tried adding a line in my.cnf

port=5555

Didn’t help, mariadb.log says the same thing as I have mentioned earlier.

Sometimes, in the process of starting the installation of MariaDB on your CentOS 8 system,  you can fail to start the MariaDB services on your system. 

This error happens when there is an issue with the MariaDB installation.

Here at LinuxAPT, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform MariaDB related errors.

In this context, we will look into how to resolve this MariaDB error.

Nature of MariaDB error «Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code» ?

When this error occurs, you will see an error message such as this:

Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code
See “systemctl status mariadb.service” and “journalctl -xe” for details.

You will observe the above error when you try to start the MariaDB services on your system by running the below-given commands:

$ sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
$ sudo systemctl status mariadb.service

How to fix MariaDB error «Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code» ?

To resolve the above-mentioned problem, you need to implement some set of commands on the terminal. 

i. Navigate into the data directories and list all files by using the following commands:

$ cd /var/lib/mysql
$ ls

ii. Remove all data from the directories.

$ rm -r *

iii. Again initialize the database directory by running the following command:

$ mysql_install_db --user=mysql --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql

iv. Start the mysqld by executing the following commands:

$ sudo systemctl start mysqld

v. Now, again start the MariaDB and msql service.

$ sudo systemctl start mysql.service
$ sudo systemctl start mariadb.service

You need to authenticate the user login password. Enter the password.

vi. To get the service status run the below-given command:

$ sudo systemctl status mariadb.service

[Need urgent assistance to fix MariaDB related errors? We are available to help you today. ]

Conclusion

sudo chown mysql:mysql /var/log/mysql/*

I am running Arch Linux 4.8.4-1 on a 64bit installation. I installed MariaDB via pacman. When I try to start it with systemctl start mysqld, it gives me

Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

The output of systemctl status mariadb.service is

● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2016-11-02 16:55:12 IST; 3min 6s ago
  Process: 5123 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 5070 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ]   && systemctl set
  Process: 5067 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 5123 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Status: "MariaDB server is down"

Nov 02 16:55:11 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB database server...
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop mysqld[5123]: 2016-11-02 16:55:12 140082509282496 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.18-MariaDB) starting as process 5
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop mysqld[5123]: 2016-11-02 16:55:12 140082509282496 [Warning] Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/pranav-laptop.lower-te
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop mysqld[5123]: [90B blob data]
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB database server.
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Nov 02 16:55:12 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

If I need to post anything else, let me know…

UPDATE: After trying Jérémy Munoz’s comment, mysql still doesn’t start, but I get a different systemctl status mariadb.service

● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2016-11-02 21:03:24 IST; 4min 7s ago
  Process: 14350 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 14296 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ]   && systemctl se
  Process: 14294 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 14350 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412958252224 [ERROR] Could not open mysql.plugin table. Some plugins may be not lo
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412958235392 [Warning] Failed to load slave replication state from table mysql.gti
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412362684160 [Note] InnoDB: Dumping buffer pool(s) not yet started
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412958252224 [ERROR] Can't open and lock privilege tables: Table 'mysql.servers' d
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412958252224 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop mysqld[14350]: 2016-11-02 21:03:24 140412958252224 [ERROR] Fatal error: Can't open and lock privilege tables: Table 'mys
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB database server.
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Nov 02 21:03:24 pranav-laptop systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

UPDATE: After running mysql_install_db, I get this error:

FATAL ERROR: Could not find ./bin/my_print_defaults

If you compiled from source, you need to either run 'make install' to
copy the software into the correct location ready for operation.
If you don't want to do a full install, you can use the --srcddir
option to only install the mysql database and privilege tables

If you are using a binary release, you must either be at the top
level of the extracted archive, or pass the --basedir option
pointing to that location.

The latest information about mysql_install_db is available at
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installing-system-tables-mysql_install_db

/etc/mysql/my.cnf

In the tutorial you should install mariadb-server in place of mysql-server.
I’ve got the same problem on DEBIAN 9 install and these command worked for me :

sudo apt purge mysql*
sudo apt purge mariadb*
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt autoclean

Check if still something in the system :

dpkg -l | grep -e mysql -e mariadb 

if the list is empty then install mariadb server :

sudo apt install mariadb-server

Now try to check status on stop and start the database :

Status after install :

sudo systemctl status mysql.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2018-03-21 16:08:49 CET; 2min 1s ago
 Main PID: 15699 (mysqld)
   Status: "Taking your SQL requests now..."
   CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
           └─15699 /usr/sbin/mysqld

.../..

Check the PID :

sudo more /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid 
15699

Stop the database :

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl status mysql.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead) since Wed 2018-03-21 16:14:35 CET; 1s ago
 Main PID: 15699 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Status: "MariaDB server is down"

.../...

You could check the PID file is not present as well

sudo more /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid 
more: stat on /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid: No file or folder

Start the database :

sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl status mysql.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2018-03-21 16:14:54 CET; 3s ago
  Process: 15911 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 15908 ExecStartPost=/etc/mysql/debian-start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 15791 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ]   && systemctl set-environment _WSREP_S
  Process: 15787 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 15784 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 15881 (mysqld)
   Status: "Taking your SQL requests now..."
    Tasks: 26 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
           └─15881 /usr/sbin/mysqld

You could check the PID file it should be present.
May help on a empty database. If there is something in the database you should do a backup first.

Content reproduced on this site is the property of its respective owners,
and this content is not reviewed in advance by MariaDB. The views, information and opinions
expressed by this content do not necessarily represent those of MariaDB or any other party.

I was working in a project where I need a local database and I decided to use mariadb. I installed it following the arch wiki and everything worked fine. That was like a week ago. This morning I have reinstalled using pacman -S mariadb and I couldn’t make it work again. I have tried to unistall it using pacman -Rns mariadb and following again the arch wiki, but it does not seem to work. The problem comes when I try to start the mariadb.service:

systemctl start mariadb.service
---
Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

systemctl status mariadb.service
---
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.1.36 database server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendo>
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d
           └─mariadb.conf
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2018-09-29 22:42:11 CEST; >
     Docs: man:mysqld(8)
           https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
 Main PID: 1996 (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)

And executinc journalcl -xe I can’t se anything related to mariadb.

Thanks!

EDIT 1

sudo journalctl _PID=1996
---
-- Logs begin at Sat 2018-08-25 13:14:09 CEST, end at Sat 2018-09-29 23:10:13 CEST. --
Sep 29 22:42:11 leonardo systemd[1996]: mariadb.service: Failed to execute command: No such file or directory
Sep 29 22:42:11 leonardo systemd[1996]: mariadb.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /usr/bin/numactl: No such file or directory

EDIT 2

systemctl cat mariadb.service
---
# /usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service
#
# /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service
#
# This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# Thanks to:
# Daniel Black
# Erkan Yanar
# David Strauss
# and probably others

[Unit]
Description=MariaDB 10.1.36 database server
Documentation=man:mysqld(8)
Documentation=https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
After=network.target
After=syslog.target

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


[Service]

##############################################################################
## Core requirements
##

Type=notify

# Setting this to true can break replication and the Type=notify settings
# See also bind-address mysqld option.
PrivateNetwork=false

##############################################################################
## Package maintainers
##

User=mysql
Group=mysql

# To allow memlock to be used as non-root user if set in configuration
CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_IPC_LOCK

# Prevent writes to /usr, /boot, and /etc
ProtectSystem=full

# Doesn't yet work properly with SELinux enabled
# NoNewPrivileges=true

PrivateDevices=true

# Prevent accessing /home, /root and /run/user
ProtectHome=true

# Execute pre and post scripts as root, otherwise it does it as User=
PermissionsStartOnly=true



# Perform automatic wsrep recovery. When server is started without wsrep,
# galera_recovery simply returns an empty string. In any case, however,
# the script is not expected to return with a non-zero status.
# It is always safe to unset _WSREP_START_POSITION environment variable.
# Do not panic if galera_recovery script is not available. (MDEV-10538)
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c "systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION"
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c "[ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= || 
 VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ] 
 && systemctl set-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION=$VAR || exit 1"

# Needed to create system tables etc.
# ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mysql_install_db -u mysql

# Start main service
# MYSQLD_OPTS here is for users to set in /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/MY_SPECIAL.conf
# Use the [Service] section and Environment="MYSQLD_OPTS=...".
# This isn't a replacement for my.cnf.
# _WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER is for the exclusive use of the script galera_new_cluster
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION


# Unset _WSREP_START_POSITION environment variable.
ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c "systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION"

KillSignal=SIGTERM

# Don't want to see an automated SIGKILL ever
SendSIGKILL=no

# Restart crashed server only, on-failure would also restart, for example, when
# my.cnf contains unknown option
Restart=on-abort
RestartSec=5s

UMask=007

##############################################################################
## USERs can override
##
##
## by creating a file in /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/MY_SPECIAL.conf
## and adding/setting the following under [Service] will override this file's
## settings.

# Useful options not previously available in [mysqld_safe]

# Kernels like killing mysqld when out of memory because its big.
# Lets temper that preference a little.
# OOMScoreAdjust=-600

# Explicitly start with high IO priority
# BlockIOWeight=1000

# If you don't use the /tmp directory for SELECT ... OUTFILE and
# LOAD DATA INFILE you can enable PrivateTmp=true for a little more security.
PrivateTmp=true

##
## Options previously available to be set via [mysqld_safe]
## that now needs to be set by systemd config files as mysqld_safe
## isn't executed.
##

# Number of files limit. previously [mysqld_safe] open-file-limit
LimitNOFILE=16364

# Maximium core size. previously [mysqld_safe] core-file-size
# LimitCore=

# Nice priority. previously [mysqld_safe] nice
# Nice=-5

# Timezone. previously [mysqld_safe] timezone
# Environment="TZ=UTC"

# Library substitutions. previously [mysqld_safe] malloc-lib with explicit paths
# (in LD_LIBRARY_PATH) and library name (in LD_PRELOAD).
# Environment="LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path1 /path2" "LD_PRELOAD=

# Flush caches. previously [mysqld_safe] flush-caches=1
# ExecStartPre=sync
# ExecStartPre=sysctl -q -w vm.drop_caches=3

# numa-interleave=1 equalivant
# Change ExecStart=numactl --interleave=all /usr/bin/mysqld......

# crash-script equalivent
# FailureAction=

# /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/mariadb.conf
[Service]

ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/numactl --interleave=all  /usr/sbin/mysqld ${MYSQLD_OPTS} ${_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER} ${_WSREP_START_POSITION}
ProtectHome=false

Last edited by edoelas (2019-02-17 12:02:52)

I’m running an Ubuntu 20.4 server and I’ve recently removed mysql-server and mysql-client and am trying to get MariaDB up and running. I’ve installed both mariadb-server and mariadb-client. I stop and then try to restart maria db. I get the general error message:

Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

I then run systenctl status mariadb.service and get the below:

mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.6.4 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d
             └─migrated-from-my.cnf-settings.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2021-09-23 13:26:03 CDT; 8s ago
       Docs: man:mariadbd(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
    Process: 97366 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 97377 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 97379 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`cd /usr/bin/..; /usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ]   &&>
    Process: 97387 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mariadbd $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 97387 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.6.4 database server...
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz sh[97384]: [114B blob data]
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz sh[97384]: Fatal error in defaults handling. Program aborted
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz mariadbd[97387]: [106B blob data]
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz mariadbd[97387]: Fatal error in defaults handling. Program aborted
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 23 13:26:03 notised.xyz systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.6.4 database server.

I then run journalctl -xd and get these results:

-- A start job for unit cloud-final.service has finished successfully.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 153.
Sep 23 14:16:57 notised.xyz systemd[1]: Reached target Cloud-init target.
-- Subject: A start job for unit cloud-init.target has finished successfully
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- A start job for unit cloud-init.target has finished successfully.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 148.
Sep 23 14:16:57 notised.xyz systemd[1]: Startup finished in 6.792s (kernel) + 2min 3.586s (userspace) = 2min 10.379s.
-- Subject: System start-up is now complete
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- All system services necessary queued for starting at boot have been
-- started. Note that this does not mean that the machine is now idle as services
-- might still be busy with completing start-up.
-- 
-- Kernel start-up required 6792915 microseconds.
-- 
-- Initial RAM disk start-up required INITRD_USEC microseconds.
-- 
-- Userspace start-up required 123586997 microseconds.
Sep 23 14:17:01 notised.xyz CRON[2544]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Sep 23 14:17:01 notised.xyz CRON[2552]: (root) CMD (   cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Sep 23 14:17:01 notised.xyz CRON[2544]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Sep 23 14:17:10 notised.xyz kernel: [UFW BLOCK] IN=eno1 OUT= MAC=90:2b:34:56:57:f0:74:ac:b9:eb:12:94:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.16 DST=192.168.1.62 LEN=222 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=57572 DPT=5514 LEN=202 

I have port 3306 fully open on UFW, so not quite sure why there is the UFW BLOCK error showing.

I’ve tried purging everything related to mysql and mariadb and reinstalled mariadb multiple times, but run into the same issue.