MariaDB won't start after CloudPanel install – aria_log_control & ibdata1 lock issue

[Nemesis]

I recently installed CloudPanel on an Ubuntu server. Everything seemed fine, but MariaDB refused to start.

When trying to start it via CloudPanel or terminal, I was getting:

Command "/usr/bin/sudo /bin/systemctl restart 'mysql'" failed: the process exceeded the timeout of 30 seconds

On checking the logs:

ERROR: Can't lock aria control file '/home/mysql/aria_log_control'
ERROR: Unable to lock ./ibdata1
ERROR: Plugin 'InnoDB' registration as a STORAGE ENGINE failed.

I tried restarting the service, killing processes, nothing helped. MariaDB just wouldn't start.
Any ideas?

 

[Rootali]

I had the exact same issue and found the root cause. CloudPanel starts MariaDB in --skip-grant-tables mode when troubleshooting, and that leftover process was blocking the real MariaDB start attempt.
Here's how I fixed it step by step:

---

Step-by-step solution (MariaDB fails due to file locks)​

1. Kill all MariaDB/MySQL related processes:
   
   

   sudo pkill -f mariadbd
   sudo pkill -f mysqld
   sudo pkill -f mysql

2. Make sure everything is cleaned up:
   
   

   ps aux | grep -i mysql

   Only the grep line should appear.

3. Start MariaDB cleanly:
   
   

   sudo systemctl start mariadb

4. Check its status:
   
   

   sudo systemctl status mariadb

5. Then connect using your new root password (if previously reset):
   
   

   mysql -u root -p

In my case, the issue was caused by a lingering mariadbd process that was still locking aria_log_control and ibdata1. Killing it fully and starting fresh solved everything.

 

[Nemesis]

Just tried this step-by-step and it worked perfectly. Thanks @Rootali — you're a lifesaver.