Amazon RDS for MariaDB Now Supports MariaDB 12.3!

Hello, it's me! Today I've got a quieter but genuinely useful database update for you.

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

According to AWS's What's New, Amazon RDS for MariaDB now supports MariaDB 12.3, the latest long-term support (LTS) release from the MariaDB community — specifically minor version 12.3.2.

The story so far

Before this, RDS for MariaDB couldn't take advantage of what MariaDB 12.3 brings. For example, migrating from Oracle meant rewriting Oracle-specific functions for MariaDB, and validating JSON documents had to happen in application code instead of the database itself.

What changes

Support for MariaDB 12.3 makes several of those pain points easier:

• Oracle TO_DATE() function compatibility, cutting down code changes needed when migrating from Oracle to MariaDB
• A new IS JSON predicate, so you can validate JSON documents natively in the database instead of in application code
• A smarter query optimizer that handles reorderable LEFT JOIN statements and ordered scans over RANGE partitions more efficiently — better performance with no application changes

If you're doing migration or ops work, these are small but meaningful improvements.

Dive Deep

There are several ways to upgrade:

• Amazon RDS Blue/Green Deployments
• In-place major version upgrade
• Restoring from a snapshot

If you're migrating from an external MariaDB source, you can also use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS). Check the Amazon RDS for MariaDB page for pricing and regional availability.

Wrap-up

• Amazon RDS for MariaDB now supports MariaDB 12.3 (12.3.2)
• Highlights: Oracle-compatible functions, native JSON validation, and query optimizer improvements
• Multiple upgrade paths available: Blue/Green, in-place, snapshot restore, or DMS migration

If you're running MariaDB on RDS and thinking about an Oracle migration or leaning on JSON, this update is for you!