How to install MariaDB in cPanel/WHM

MariaDB is “An enhanced, drop-in replacement for MySQL”. Below you will find some steps on how to affectively stop cPanel/WHM from maintaining MySQL and begin utilizing MariaDB  for any and all database activity on your server but please note that,  cPanel/WHM no longer maintains MySQL on your system it is on the Systems Administrator to manage and maintain any updates and maintenance on the database software.  We recommend only experienced systems administrators perform the above and we are not responsible for any possible data loss.

Step 1: Backup existing MySQL data

Make sure to save all existing data just in case there are any issues.

cp -Rf /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql-old
mv /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf-old

## Also please take sql file of the existing databases, so that we can avoid the data lose

Step 2: Disable the targets so cPanel no longer handles MySQL updates #ONLY FOR cPanel 11.36+


The following will mark the versions of MySQL we distribute as uninstalled so they are no longer maintained by cPanel/WHM

/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions --edit target_settings.MySQL50 uninstalled
/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions --edit target_settings.MySQL51 uninstalled
/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions --edit target_settings.MySQL55 uninstalled

Step 3: Remove existing MySQL RPM’s so theres a clean slate for MariaDB

Important: The below command will uninstall the MySQL RPM’s!

/scripts/check_cpanel_rpms --fix --targets=MySQL50,MySQL51,MySQL55

[20130623.211100]    
[20130623.211100]   The following RPMs are unneeded on your system and should be uninstalled:
[20130623.211100]   MySQL55-client.5.5.31-1.cp1136
[20130623.211100]   MySQL55-devel.5.5.31-1.cp1136
[20130623.211100]   MySQL55-server.5.5.31-1.cp1136
[20130623.211100]   MySQL55-shared.5.5.31-1.cp1136
[20130623.211100]   MySQL55-test.5.5.31-1.cp1136
0
[20130623.211100]   Removing 0 broken rpms: 
[20130623.211100]   rpm: no packages given for erase
[20130623.211100]   No new RPMS needed for install
[20130623.211100]   Uninstalling unneeded rpms: MySQL55-test MySQL55-server MySQL55-client MySQL55-shared MySQL55-devel

Step 4: Create a yum repository for MariaDB

access https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories and select the DISTRO and place the repo content to /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo

EX (In my cause):
#vi /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo

# MariaDB 5.5 CentOS repository list - created 2013-06-23 21:13 UTC
# http://mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/
[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/centos6-amd64
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck=

Step 5: install MariaDB using the  following command

yum install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client MariaDB-devel

##If you are having any dependency problem, please remove php from the /etc/yum.conf file and then run yum  command again. Please add it back to yum conf once the package is installed. 

/etc/init.d/mysql start
mysql_upgrade
/etc/init.d/mysql restart

Final Step: Rebuild easyapache/php to ensure modules are intact/working

/scripts/easyapache --build