diff --git a/tasks/galera_install_yum.yml b/tasks/galera_install_yum.yml
index c90ef4cc..23e7c42f 100644
--- a/tasks/galera_install_yum.yml
+++ b/tasks/galera_install_yum.yml
@@ -36,18 +36,53 @@
     warn: no
     executable: /bin/bash
 
+# In SUSE/CentOS systems, /etc/my.cnf.d may already exist on the
+# system. We need to ensure that it is removed if that is true so
+# that we can replace it with symlinks to the directories expected
+# to be used by the MariaDB packages instead.
+- name: Stat /etc/my.cnf.d
+  stat:
+    path: /etc/my.cnf.d
+    get_attributes: no
+    get_checksum: no
+    get_mime: no
+  register: mycnfd_stat
+
+- name: Destroy my.cnf.d dir if is dir
+  file:
+    path: /etc/my.cnf.d
+    state: absent
+    force: true
+  when:
+    - mycnfd_stat.stat.isdir is defined
+    - mycnfd_stat.stat.isdir == True
+
+# We replace the default paths for the system with symlinks to
+# the paths used by the MariaDB packages so ensure that any other
+# system expectations are still met.
 - name: Update the local file system CRUD
   file:
-    src: "{{ item.src|default(omit) }}"
+    src: "{{ item.src | default(omit) }}"
     path: "{{ item.path }}"
     state: "{{ item.state }}"
-    force: "{{ item.force|default(omit) }}"
+    force: "{{ item.force | default(omit) }}"
   with_items:
-    - { path: "/etc/mysql", state: "directory" }
-    - { path: "/etc/mysql/conf.d", state: "directory" }
-    - { src: "/usr/lib64/galera", path: "/usr/lib/galera", state: "link", force: true }
-    - { src: "/etc/mysql/conf.d", path: "/etc/my.cnf.d", state: "link", force: true }
-    - { src: "/etc/mysql/my.cnf", path: "/etc/my.cnf", state: "link", force: true }
+    - path: "/etc/mysql"
+      state: "directory"
+    - path: "/etc/mysql/conf.d"
+      state: "directory"
+    - src: "/usr/lib64/galera"
+      path: "/usr/lib/galera"
+      state: "link"
+      force: true
+    - src: "/etc/mysql/conf.d"
+      path: "/etc/my.cnf.d"
+      state: "link"
+      force: true
+    - src: "/etc/mysql/my.cnf"
+      path: "/etc/my.cnf"
+      state: "link"
+      force: true
 
 - name: If a keyfile is provided, copy the gpg keyfile to the key location
   copy:
diff --git a/tasks/galera_install_zypper.yml b/tasks/galera_install_zypper.yml
index b960489e..2c3a75c6 100644
--- a/tasks/galera_install_zypper.yml
+++ b/tasks/galera_install_zypper.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,30 @@
     name: "{{ galera_server_mariadb_distro_packages_remove }}"
     state: absent
 
+# In SUSE/CentOS systems, /etc/my.cnf.d may already exist on the
+# system. We need to ensure that it is removed if that is true so
+# that we can replace it with symlinks to the directories expected
+# to be used by the MariaDB packages instead.
+- name: Stat /etc/my.cnf.d
+  stat:
+    path: /etc/my.cnf.d
+    get_attributes: no
+    get_checksum: no
+    get_mime: no
+  register: mycnfd_stat
+
+- name: Destroy my.cnf.d dir if is dir
+  file:
+    path: /etc/my.cnf.d
+    state: absent
+    force: true
+  when:
+    - mycnfd_stat.stat.isdir is defined
+    - mycnfd_stat.stat.isdir == True
+
+# We replace the default paths for the system with symlinks to
+# the paths used by the MariaDB packages so ensure that any other
+# system expectations are still met.
 - name: Update the local file system CRUD
   file:
     src: "{{ item.src|default(omit) }}"