Update Mariadb 5.5 to 10.3 with Plesk

On many web servers with Plesk runs Centos in version 7 which is a free version of the professional RedHat 7 operating system. In Germany, Plesk is often used as the administration interface.

Centos7 brings the database server MariaDB 5.5 with it which is about mysql. 5.5 corresponds to the MySQL Comparison is emerging. Unfortunately, this is all a bit dusty, but of course it also works with current Content management systems are flawless.

MariaDB 5.5 to MariaDB 10.3

New versions bring many features and more speed, so it often makes sense to replace the old software products that ship with the operating system. In this example, we are upgrading MariaDB5.5 to 10.3.

If the server is already productive with Plesk, then the database server can only be replaced in maintenance mode and a database backup can be created beforehand. It is best to take a snapshot of the whole machine.

To do this, you simply need to stop the Plesk services:

service psa stopall

and, for security, the database server again:

service mariadb stop

Then the upgrade can be done with a few small commands.

First we need to create a suitable repository so that the whole thing is updated. To do this, simply create the following file with an editor:

nano /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo

[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/10.3/centos7-amd64
gpgkey = https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck = 1

This can then replace the already installed mariadb server. 

rpm -e --nodeps mariadb-bench #evtl remove existing mariadb-bench if present

yum install MariaDB client MariaDB server Update #MariaDB Server

Completely removed and reinstalled. This can happen if another MariaDB version is already installed or dependencies prevent an update.

That's it. Now just start the database server again. For MariaDB 10.3, the following line should be added to /etc/my.cnf:

innodb_strict_mode=0 #In case of problems with older scripts.

group_concat_max_len=320000 #needed for shop systems

service mariadb start

What is missing now is an update of all tables. To do this, simply execute the following command when upgrading the database server:

mysql_upgrade -uadmin -p`cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow`

Now restart the Plesk services and everything is running with the latest MariaDB version 10.3.

service psa startall

Please always remember to make regular backups. Customers who use Uralt Forums or content management systems may experience problems with current database versions.

Please write a comment if this worked out well for you.