Install Percona on Cpanel server

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

Step 2: Disable the targets so cPanel no longer handles MySQL updates
The following will mark the versions of MySQL we distribute as uninstalled so they are no longer maintained by cPanel/WHM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

[20130218.235953]    
[20130218.235953]   The following RPMs are unneeded on your system and should be uninstalled:
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-devel.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-test.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-shared.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-client.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-server.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   Removing 0 broken rpms: 
[20130218.235953]   rpm: no packages given for erase
[20130218.235953]   No new RPMS needed for install
[20130218.235953]   Uninstalling unneeded rpms: MySQL51-devel MySQL51-test MySQL51-shared MySQL51-client MySQL51-server
[20130219.000004]   Shutting down MySQL........ SUCCESS!

Step 4: Create a yum repository for MariaDB

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/percona.repo

place the following inside of it (it will recognize your OS/arch);

[percona]
name = CentOS $releasever - Percona
baseurl=http://repo.percona.com/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/
enabled = 1
gpgkey = http://www.percona.com/redir/downloads/percona-release/RPM-GPG-KEY-percona
gpgcheck = 1

Step 5: Remove php from the /etc/yum.conf file then run the following commands

yum install Percona-Server-client-55 Percona-Server-server-55 Percona-Server-devel-55
/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