This is the message - any ideas on how to fix? Uninstall/reinstall didn’t help.
Feb 14 17:08:11 Z83 systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.1.37 database server…
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 mysqld[1684]: 2019-02-14 17:08:12 140339973317056 [Note] /us
r/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.37-MariaDB-0+deb9u1) starting as process 1684 …
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 mysqld[1684]: 2019-02-14 17:08:12 140339973317056 [Warning]
Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/Z83.lower-test
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.1.37 database server.
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
root@Z83:~# systemctl status mariadb.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.1.37 database server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2019-02-14 17:08:12 NZDT; 42s ago
Docs: man:mysqld(8)
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
Process: 1684 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Process: 1607 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= || VAR=/usr/bin/galera_recovery; [ $? -eq 0 ] && systemctl set-environmen
t _WSREP_START_POSITION=$VAR || exit 1 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1603 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1600 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1684 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Status: “MariaDB server is down”
Feb 14 17:08:11 Z83 systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.1.37 database server…
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 mysqld[1684]: 2019-02-14 17:08:12 140339973317056 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.37-MariaDB-0+deb9u1) starting as process 1684 …
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 mysqld[1684]: 2019-02-14 17:08:12 140339973317056 [Warning] Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/Z83.lower-test
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.1.37 database server.
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Feb 14 17:08:12 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/Z83.lower-test
Perhaps a permissions issue?
chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql
Thanks MichaIng but this is the result:
root@Z83:~# systemctl status mariadb.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.1.37 database server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2019-02-17 07:32:39 NZDT; 12s ago
Docs: man:mysqld(8)
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
Process: 1082 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld $MYSQLD_OPTS $_WSREP_NEW_CLUSTER $_WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Process: 1005 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 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1000 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 997 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1082 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Status: “MariaDB server is down”
Feb 17 07:32:37 Z83 systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB 10.1.37 database server…
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 mysqld[1082]: 2019-02-17 7:32:39 140082421084608 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld (mysqld 10.1.37-MariaDB-0+deb9u1) starting as process 1082 …
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 mysqld[1082]: 2019-02-17 7:32:39 140082421084608 [Warning] Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/Z83.lower-test
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 mysqld[1082]: [90B blob data]
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 mysqld[1082]: 2019-02-17 7:32:39 140082421084608 [ERROR] Aborting
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB 10.1.37 database server.
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Feb 17 07:32:39 Z83 systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
johnvick
Do you have apparmor installed? https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/106085/cant-create-file-var-lib-mysql-user-lower-test
We place a symlink to /var/lib/mysql to link it to /mnt/dietpi_userdata/mysql to easily allow database files on external drive.
However in case of apparmor the actual mysql dir location needs to be added with write permissions to the related apparmor config and perhaps it does not allow the symlink at all. Note 100% sure currently based on the link above.
In case a bind mount seems to be the workaround, but I think we need to do some changes to the MariaDB installer then to not remove the database on reinstall.
In another case SELinux was the issue, so basically similar 
.
I’m pretty sure I don’t have apparmor installed. /etc/appmor.d containf a fil with a few comments only.
I don’t think I need mariadb on this device anyway so I’ll take it out, it must be a leftover some something I did before.
John
Okay. Perhaps check out the content of /var/lib/mysql/, as the database names (directory names inside) could give you some hint which software uses/used it 
.
Greetings, I’m writing in this topic because I’ve been stumbling against a related issue recently.
While trying to move dietpi_userdata to an external and self-powered hard drive with dietpi-drive_manager, mariadb service couldn’t restart.
The output of ls -al /var/lib shows that /var/lib/mysql -> /mnt/dietpi_userdata/mysql
The output of ls -al /mnt shows that /mnt/dietpi_userdata -> /mnt/datastore/dietpi_userdata
The owner of /mnt/datastore/dietpi_userdata/mysql is mysql:mysql
Yet trying to restart the mariadb service multiple times kept showing the same error :
[Warning] Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/DietPi.lower-test
I’ve tried to :
- change symlink from /mnt/dietpi_userdata/mysql to /mnt/datastore/dietpi_userdata/mysql
mount --bind /mnt/datastore/dietpi_userdata/mysql /var/lib/mysql- take a look at /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld : it is a file with a long comment telling that the file is a placeholder
My attempts have been unsuccessful. I’m moving my dietpi_userdata directory to my SD card for now, but I would love to be able to have it set for good in my external hard drive.
I’m using a Rock64 with a Nextcloud instance on it.
sounds more like this Nextcloud install fail with Mariadb issue · Issue #3465 · MichaIng/DietPi · GitHub
there user mysql was not able to write to the external device, doesn’t matter what we tried. Looks like issue was cause due to an incomplete format process that was performed on this device. At the end we tried with a different device which went successful.
btw, this is correct if you moved /mnt/dietpi_userdata/ to an external device
The output of ls -al /var/lib shows that /var/lib/mysql -> /mnt/dietpi_userdata/mysql
The output of ls -al /mnt shows that /mnt/dietpi_userdata -> /mnt/datastore/dietpi_userdata
The external drive was an NTFS formatted drive with proprietary stuff from Seagate ; I formatted the drive with dietpi-drive_manager and the process went (mostly) fine then. I don’t have the issue anymore, MariaDB and Nextcloud work with my dietpi_userdata directory on my external hard drive.
ok cool that it is working now after re-formt the drive