Migrating from MySQL 5.5.9 to Percona 5.5

[maurizio]

We are plannig to switch our db servers to Percona hoping this will solve some heavy contention problems we are experiencing with innodb.

Can I migrate from MySQL Innodb 5.5.9 to Percona 5.5 using the same innodb files (a data dump and import is not possible with 300+ GB of data)?

What is the safest procedure for migrating?

Thank you very much!

[sterin]

Yes you should just be able to switch the binaries and run against the same InnoDB files.
Percona Server only adds functionality within the server and doesn't change the file format.

And since you are switching within the 5.5 branch you wouldn't even have to run the mysql_upgrade script.

[scott.nemes]

I would make sure to have a fresh backup first, but otherwise you *should* have no problems as Sterin said.

I've done this already in our own test environments, and have had no issues. It was as easy as removing the old binaries and installing the new ones. =)