MariaDB
From MoodleDocs
MariaDB is a MySQL fork that is developed and maintained by original MySQL developers organised under MariaDB Foundation. It is considered to be more open and is being distributed as default MySQL compatible database by majority of modern linux distributions.
MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for Oracle MySQL, you can use it with any stable supported Moodle version using standard mysqli drivers.
MariaDB driver
Since Moodle 2.6 there is a dedicated driver for MariaDB. It is recommended to explicitly specify mariadb Moodle driver in config.php:
$CFG->dbtype = 'masriadb';
$CFG->dblibrary = 'native';
See MySQL for more information, the setup procedure is nearly identical.
