Can I connect mysql client to a mariadb server? I am new to databases, so I might have done something very simple wrong.
I cannot connect to my Mariadb server via my mysql client. Is this possible at all?
cmd&gt; mysql -h 192.168.0.17 -u root -P 3306

gives me an error:

ERROR 2013 (HY000): Lost connection to MySQL server at 'reading initial communication packet', system error: 0

On my host machine, I have mysql with version
cmd&gt; mysql -V
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.6.10, for Win64 (x86_64)

and on my VM, I have an ubuntu server
$ mysql -V
mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.3.23-MariaDB, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using readline 5.2

and my config on VM:
$ cat /etc/mysql/my.cnf.dpkg-new | head -n 20 | tail -n 7

# This will be passed to all mysql clients
# It has been reported that passwords should be enclosed with ticks/quotes
# escpecially if they contain &quot;#&quot; chars...
# Remember to edit /etc/mysql/debian.cnf when changing the socket location.
[client]
port        = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

Ping is OK:
cmd&gt; ping 192.168.0.17

Pinging 192.168.0.17 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.17: bytes=32 time&lt;1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.17:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Anyway, I fixed the problem via
MariaDB [(none)]&gt; Grant All Privileges ON *.* to 'remoteroot'@'192.168.0.15' Identified By '123456';
MariaDB [(none)]&gt; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

where 192.168.0.15 is the host machine IP.
Then connected via
cmd&gt; mysql -h 192.168.0.17 -u remoteroot -P 3306 -p

Looks like working.
Still concerned some features face problems.