diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 22da2ee..c7fbbbb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,6 +17,23 @@
 - https://hub.docker.com/r/openhab/openhab/
 - https://github.com/openhab/openhab-docker
 
+### Database
+
+Connect to database container:
+```
+source openhab.conf
+mariadb -h 172.55.55.101 -uopenhab -p${OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD} openhab
+```
+
+Install the `jdbc:mariadb` persistence service and add the following lines to `data/conf/services/jdbc.cfg`:
+```
+url=jdbc:mariadb://db-openhab:3306/openhab
+user=openhab
+password=dbpw
+```
+Replace `dbpw` with your password from `openhab.config`.
+
+
 ### weather binding
 Copy these folders:
 - `webapps/weather-data/layouts` -> `./data/userdata/webapps/weather-data/layouts`
diff --git a/backup.sh b/backup.sh
index d3b4397..2aedeb2 100755
--- a/backup.sh
+++ b/backup.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 mkdir -p $backup_dir/data/conf
 mkdir -p $backup_dir/data/addons
 mkdir -p $backup_dir/data/userdata
+mkdir -p $backup_dir/data/db
 
 
 ## backup
@@ -30,3 +31,6 @@
 
 # openHAB userdata
 tar -C data -cjf ${PWD}/${backup_dir}/data/userdata/${DATE}.tbz2 userdata
+
+# openHAB db dir
+sudo tar -C data -cjf ${PWD}/${backup_dir}/data/db/${DATE}.tbz2 db
diff --git a/conf/mariadb/docker.cnf b/conf/mariadb/docker.cnf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f1829d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/mariadb/docker.cnf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[mysqld]
+skip-host-cache
+skip-name-resolve
diff --git a/conf/mariadb/mysql.cnf b/conf/mariadb/mysql.cnf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0de2d9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/mariadb/mysql.cnf
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[mysqld]
+character-set-client-handshake = FALSE
+character-set-server           = utf8mb4
+collation-server               = utf8mb4_unicode_ci
+innodb_file_per_table          = TRUE
+bind-address = 0.0.0.0
+
+[client]
+default-character-set = utf8mb4
+
+[mysql]
+default-character-set = utf8mb4
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index f7257d4..0647ec8 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
       image: openhab/openhab:2.3.0-${OPENHAB_ARCH:-amd64}-debian
       mem_limit: ${OPENHAB_MEMORY_LIMIT:-2g}
       restart: always
+      depends_on:
+        db-openhab:
+          condition: service_healthy
       tty: true
       logging:
         driver: json-file
@@ -30,10 +33,35 @@
         - "${OPENHAB_OSGI_BIND:-127.0.0.1}:${OPENHAB_OSGI_PORT:-5555}:5555"
       networks:
         openhab-network:
-          ipv4_address: 172.55.55.100
+          ipv4_address: ${IPV4_NETWORK:-172.55.55}.100
           aliases:
             - openhab-main
 
+    db-openhab:
+      image: mariadb:10.3
+      restart: always
+      command: mysqld --skip-name-resolve --skip-host-cache --log-warnings=0
+      healthcheck:
+        test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "-uopenhab", "-p$OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD",  "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
+        interval: 30s
+        timeout: 30s
+        retries: 10
+      environment:
+        - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${OPENHAB_DATABASE_ROOT}
+        - MYSQL_DATABASE=openhab
+        - MYSQL_USER=openhab
+        - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD}
+      volumes:
+        - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
+        - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro
+        - ./data/db/:/var/lib/mysql/
+        - ./conf/mariadb:/etc/mysql/conf.d/:ro
+      networks:
+        openhab-network:
+          ipv4_address: ${IPV4_NETWORK:-172.55.55}.101
+          aliases:
+            - openhab-db
+
 
 networks:
   openhab-network:
@@ -42,5 +70,5 @@
     ipam:
       driver: default
       config:
-        - subnet: 172.55.55.0/24
+        - subnet: ${IPV4_NETWORK:-172.55.55}.0/24
 
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 92e2000..5286055 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@
 	# replace uid and gid in config file
 	sed -i "/^OPENHAB_USER/c\\\OPENHAB_USER_ID=${uid}" openhab.conf
 
+	# db passwords
+	pw1=$(</dev/urandom tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 28)
+	pw2=$(</dev/urandom tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 28)
+
+	# replace default passwords
+	sed -i "/^OPENHAB_DATABASE_ROOT/c\\\OPENHAB_DATABASE_ROOT=${pw1}" openhab.conf
+	sed -i "/^OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD/c\\\OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD=${pw2}" openhab.conf
+
 	# replace architecture dependend
 	if [[ $arc == "x86_64" ]]; then
 		sed -i "/^OPENHAB_ARCH=/c\\\OPENHAB_ARCH=amd64" openhab.conf
diff --git a/openhab.conf.example b/openhab.conf.example
index 16f11e5..935b91b 100644
--- a/openhab.conf.example
+++ b/openhab.conf.example
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@
 OPENHAB_OSGI_BIND=127.0.0.1
 OPENHAB_OSGI_PORT=5555
 
+# Internal IPv4 /24 subnet, format n.n.n. (expands to n.n.n.0/24)
+IPV4_NETWORK=172.55.55
+
+
+## database configuration
+# root password
+OPENHAB_DATABASE_ROOT=rootpw
+
+# user password
+OPENHAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD=dbpw
+
+
 # timezone
 TZ=Europe/Berlin