Percona Server is an enhanced drop-in replacement for MySQL.
Features of PerconaDB
>> Your queries will run faster and more consistently.
>> You will consolidate servers on powerful hardware.
>> You will delay sharding, or avoid it entirely.
>> You will save money on hosting fees and power.
>> You will spend less time tuning and administering.
>> You will achieve higher uptime.
>> You will troubleshoot without guesswork.
Some more,
>> Higher number of INFORMATION_SCHEMA Tables
>> Higher number of Global Performance and Status Counters
>> Per-Index Performance Counters
>> Per-User Performance Counters
>> Per-Client Performance Counters
>> High-Resolution Process List Timing
>> Fast Checksum Algorithm
>> Buffer Pool Pre-Load
>> Support for FlashCache
>> Import Tables From Different Servers
Steps to replace MySQL with MariaDB
1. To be secure with our current data, make sure to take a backup:
# cp -Rf /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql-orig
# mv /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf.orig
2. Disable the targets so that cPanel won’t handle MySQL updates
# /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
3. Remove all the MySQL RPMs from the server
# /scripts/check_cpanel_rpms --fix --targets=MySQL50,MySQL51,MySQL55
The above command will uninstall all the MySQL RPMs from the server.
4. Create Yum repository for PerconaDB
Create a file “PerconaDB.repo”.
# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/PerconaDB.repo
Add the following entries,
[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
5. Remove php from “exclude” list in /etc/yum.conf
6. Install PerconaDB-sever, PerconaDB-client, PerconaDB-devel
# yum install Percona-Server-client-55 Percona-Server-server-55 Percona-Server-devel-55
7. Start MySQL
# /etc/init.d/mysql start
8. Then, run mysql_upgrade
# mysql_upgrade
9. Restart MySQL
# /etc/init.d/mysql restart
10. Add PHP back to the /etc/yum.conf file in “exclude” list
11. Recompile Apache with PHP
# /scripts/easyapache --build

/etc/init.d/mysql status
 SUCCESS! MySQL (Percona Server) running (9425)
That’s it :-) :-)