MariaDB doesn't connect to galera cluster despite reading configuration file - mysql

Question

I'm trying to setup a galera cluster using MariaDB 10.6.11. It's something I've done several times without any problems, now I'm trying to automate the process and something weird happens.
I have a configuration file /etc/my.cnf.d/galera.cnf like this on every node:
[mysqld]
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
[galera]
# Mandatory settings
wsrep_on=ON
wsrep_provider="/usr/lib64/galera-4/libgalera_smm.so"
wsrep_provider_options="gcache.size=300M; gcache.page_size=200M"
wsrep_cluster_name="test"
wsrep_cluster_address="gcomm://192.168.1.176,192.168.1.61"
binlog_format=row
default_storage_engine=InnoDB
innodb_autoinc_lock_mode=2
wsrep_sst_method=mariabackup
wsrep_sst_auth="backup:[redacted]"
# Log Options
wsrep_log_conflicts=ON
wsrep_provider_options="cert.log_conflicts=ON"
# Optional setting
#wsrep_slave_threads=1
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=0
# Node Specific
wsrep_node_name="node-1"
bind-address="192.168.1.61"
Of course, in the other nodes bind-address and wsrep_node_name are set accordingly.
Anyway, I start the first node with
galera_new_cluster
And the cluster is started correctly, with one synced node as expected.
When I execute systemctl start mariadb on other node instead, after the first node is online, the second node starts in standalone mode, completely ignoring the galera configuration.
If I execute mariadbd --print-defaults on the second node, I see all the variables correctly set
[root#localhost ~]# mariadbd --print-defaults
mariadbd would have been started with the following arguments:
--datadir=/var/lib/mysql --wsrep_on=ON
--wsrep_provider=/usr/lib64/galera-4/libgalera_smm.so --wsrep_provider_options=gcache.size=300M; gcache.page_size=200M
--wsrep_cluster_name=test --wsrep_cluster_address=gcomm://192.168.1.176,192.168.1.61 --binlog_format=row --default_storage_engine=InnoDB
--innodb_autoinc_lock_mode=2 --wsrep_sst_method=mariabackup
--wsrep_sst_auth=backup:[redacted] --wsrep_log_conflicts=ON --wsrep_provider_options=cert.log_conflicts=ON
--innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=0 --wsrep_node_name=node-2 --bind-address=192.168.1.176
No attempt to join the cluster is made, it just starts as a standalone node.
From journactl:
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] /usr/sbin/mariadbd (server 10.6.11-MariaDB) starting as process 5411 ...
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.11
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Number of pools: 1
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using crc32 + pclmulqdq instructions
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using Linux native AIO
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, total size = 134217728, chunk size = 134217728
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: 128 rollback segments are active.
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Creating shared tablespace for temporary tables
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Setting file './ibtmp1' size to 12 MB. Physically writing the file full; Please wait ...
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: File './ibtmp1' size is now 12 MB.
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: 10.6.11 started; log sequence number 50748; transaction id 29
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] Plugin 'FEEDBACK' is disabled.
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Loading buffer pool(s) from /var/lib/mysql/ib_buffer_pool
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '0.0.0.0'.
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffer pool(s) load completed at 221129 9:15:46
2022-11-29 9:15:46 0 [Note] /usr/sbin/mariadbd: ready for connections.
Version: '10.6.11-MariaDB' socket: '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' port: 3306 MariaDB Server
Started MariaDB 10.6.11 database server.
In /etc/my.cnf I have the line
!includedir /etc/my.cnf.d
so that's covered.
Communication between the two nodes is also ok, I opened every needed port. Also, if it were to be something about communication, I'd receive a timeout error or something.
Also, if I move the galera configuration to /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf, it works.
I'm confused. The variables are set correctly, what could it be?
One argument could be that in server.cnf there is an empty [galera] section, but I have it also on the first node and everything works there. Plus, again, the variables are set, so it's not like that empty section is overwriting my configuration.
Ideas?