Upgrading to MySQL 5.5

[gowrann]

Hi All,

With MySQL being end of life at the end of the year, the time is approaching to upgrade to version 5.5.

2 questions;
a) Is it generally safe to upgrade using the WHM tool, with sites generally comprising of regular CMS systems WordPress, Drupal...

b) Is MySQL server unavailable during the upgrade process?

Many Thanks

 

[24x7server]

Hello,

Yes, You can upgrade your MySQL using WebHost Manager (WHM) via the following menu path:
WHM: Main >> Software >> MySQL Upgrade

And here are the MySQL upgrade Docs : MySQL Upgrade

 

[gowrann]

Hi - yes understand where it is and how to use it - was looking for feedback from people that have upgraded - good/bad?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

MySQL upgrades are generally safe, however there can be compatibility issues with your older applications if they do not support the use of MySQL 5.5. It's often a good idea to check the versions of the applications installed on your websites and verify they are compatible with MySQL 5.5.

Thank you.

 

[gowrann]

Thanks Michael for that.

Can you advise on the 2nd part of the question :

b) Is MySQL server unavailable during the upgrade process?

Regards

 

[cPanelMichael]

Yes, there will be a period of time when the new MySQL RPMs are installing that MySQL will not be accessible. If the MySQL version is changing, there may also be a period of time where your PHP scripts that use MySQL may not load while EasyApache builds PHP against the new version.

Thank you.

 

[gowrann]

Ok did the upgrade which went well - there is downtime for all sites during the upgrade with an error 500 displayed if browsed to.

I had the unattended mysql upgrade and the lower version of PHP was compiled afterwards, so had to run easyapache after to get to the latest php (maybe I hadn't saved my prior config), the downtime was about 20 minutes - that was for me and I had about 500mb of compressed mysql data for about 100 sites.

But yes upgrade was ok!