MySQL 5.6 and MariaDB 10.1 End of Life

Hashes to hashes, dust to dust

The following databases will reach End of Life status within the next year:

cPanel, L.L.C. will no longer provide support for systems running MariaDB 10.1 or MySQL 5.6 after they reach End of Life status. System administrators who do not upgrade their servers to newer supported versions of those databases are at risk of not receiving essential patches to security vulnerabilities and running into compatibility issues with other software components. Your servers will also miss out on added features and security updates in the newer supported cPanel & WHM versions.

How can I do this myself?

We encourage server owners to update their servers themselves. You can update your MySQL installation by following the steps on our Documentation website.

• You can upgrade MariaDB 10.1 to MariaDB 10.2 or MariaDB 10.3.
• You can upgrade MySQL 5.6 to MySQL 5.7, MySQL 8.0 (on cPanel & WHM version 88 or newer), or MariaDB 10.3.

If you require assistance with the update, you can find a list of SafeAdmin-certified system administrators here. 

What benefits are there to upgrading my database?

For a list of improvements in each version of MariaDB and MySQL, read the following documents:

What are the potential issues?

Note: we strongly recommend updating MySQL as soon as possible. Taking early action can help prevent problems, such as incompatibility or corruption of the installation.

As with any software upgrade, there are potential risks where the upgrade can corrupt your MySQL installation. We strongly recommend that you run a full backup of your server and its accounts before you perform any upgrade. Read the following documentation for more information about performing backups:

Please report any issues that you may experience.

FAQ

We frequently see this type of change trigger some very reasonable questions.

Will there be an automatic upgrade for MySQL 5.6 and MariaDB 10.1 like there was for MySQL 5.5?

We’re still evaluating the risks of automatically upgrading database services. We urge you not to wait to perform the upgrade. Performing an upgrade under supervision would allow for quicker response time in case of an issue, such as incompatibility or corruption of the installation.

Can you switch back to MySQL after converting to MariaDB?

No, on cPanel & WHM servers it is not currently possible to migrate back to MySQL after you migrate to MariaDB. If this is a feature you’d like to see, make sure to add your vote on the feature request site, so you will be notified if we do add that feature. 

How do I verify databases on my websites are working well post-upgrade?

The best way is to test the websites in a browser and look for database errors and to watch for errors in the MySQL error log. Unless you have customized the error log in your configuration file ( /etc/my.cnf ), then you will find it named $hostname.err in the /var/lib/mysql/directory. For example, if your hostname is host.example.com, the name of the file will be host.example.com.err.

Don’t attempt to edit this file. Only use commands like tail or cat to interact with it:

tail /var/lib/mysql/`hostname`.err 

I got the message from cPanel, L.L.C. that I need to upgrade my database. Is that safe? My server is running WordPress multisite and WHMCS, are those safe?

Yes, both of these applications are safe and compatible with MySQL 5.7 and MariaDB 10.2.

In Step 2 of the MySQL/MariaDB Update interface, what does the critical warning for Strict Mode mean?

A MySQL server in Strict Mode will reject data change statements that contain invalid or missing values. If Strict Mode is off, MySQL will insert adjusted values for these invalid or missing values and then return a warning.

For more information about Strict Mode, read MySQL’s Strict SQL Mode article.

Check your software’s documentation and system requirements to confirm that they are compatible with Strict Mode.

For example, the current version of WordPress is compatible with both MySQL 5.6 or greater as well as MariaDB version 10.1 or greater. This includes Strict Mode.

I have more than 20 websites on our server with databases. Is updating MySQL like updating PHP where each account needs to be checked after updating, or should sites that worked in 5.6 still work in 5.7? Or are there certain things I should look out for?

Like with PHP upgrades, we recommend checking each site for problems and checking the error logs, to ensure that you catch any problems with your customers’ sites as quickly as possible.

I keep receiving notifications that my MySQL version is outdated and that I should update. However, I am very hesitant simply because I do not want to be held responsible for any compatibility issues with each account especially those we did not develop. Is this a required upgrade?

Yes, this upgrade is required. We recommend that you contact your customers to give them plenty of notice for your planned server maintenance and ensure that you have account backups enabled.

What else should I know?

If you have any questions or want to discuss this upgrade process further, please reach out to us directly via our official Discord, our official subreddit, or the cPanel Forums. Make sure you keep tabs on the ongoing Up Next process!