Having separate credentials to log onto a server and access a database on that network is a pain. Why not provide users just one set of credentials for both services? This is a quick how-to guide on how to setup LDAP authentication for MariaDB. As it turns out it’s insanely easy to setup. (The official MariaDB documentation on the subject can be quite hard to find however - which may or may not be the primary reason for this blog post…).