diff --git a/.github/workflows/laravel.yml b/.github/workflows/laravel.yml
index 118f8e852..fae29578a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/laravel.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/laravel.yml
@@ -30,13 +30,18 @@ jobs:
       run: php artisan key:generate
     - name: Directory Permissions
       run: chmod -R 777 storage bootstrap/cache
+    - name: Verify MariaDB connection
+      run: |
+        while ! mysqladmin ping --silent; do
+          sleep 1
+        done
     - name: Create Database
       run: |
-         mysql -h mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_file_per_table = 1;"
-         mysql -h mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_file_format = BARRACUDA;"
-         mysql -h mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_large_prefix = 1;"
-         mysql -h mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE TEST;"
-         mysql -h mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON TEST.* TO 'TEST'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'TEST';"
+         mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_file_per_table = 1;"
+         mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_file_format = BARRACUDA;"
+         mysql -u root -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_large_prefix = 1;"
+         mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE TEST;"
+         mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON TEST.* TO 'TEST'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'TEST';"
          if [[ -f /etc/mysql/my.cnf ]]; then sudo sed -i "s/\[mysqld\]/\[mysqld\]\ngroup_concat_max_len = 8192/" /etc/mysql/my.cnf; fi
     - name: Execute tests (Unit and Feature tests) via PHPUnit
       env: