Thinking about switching to MariaDB
 

I am really thinking about switching to MariaDB. I have been doing research about MariaDB for the past 10 days or so, and it seems like a really big step forward.

But I have a question, does anyone know how to switch from MySQL 5.6 to MariaDB without loosing any MySQL databases?

My servers are running Windows Server 2008R2.

I'll reply here since google throws this one up first. It's fairly easy transition from MYSQL to MariaDB, if you have a cpanel license, update to the latest build then from WHM select switch to mariadb. It will automatically remove the old binarys and install the new mariadb files.

As per the DBs, since its a fork, nothing needs to be altered, its a 5 minute automated job. Although, its always handy to have a backup.

I don't have cPanel installed since my servers are running Windows Server 2008R2, but I have been reading and it seems easy. Like you said, its a 5 minute automated job, and it does everything for you. And yeah, I always backup before any major change to my servers. I also have my servers setup with Auto backups, it backs up my entire server OS and all the files to one of my backup storage servers that is not connected to the net, only to the local network. So if there is a problem I can always restore the latest working backup, Its set to keep backups for 7 days, and Database Backups for 14 Days.