MariaDB strives to be the logical choice for database professionals looking for a robust, scalable, and reliable SQL server. To accomplish this, Monty Program works to hire the best and brightest developers in the industry, work closely and cooperatively with the larger community of users and developers in the true spirit of Free and open source software, and release software in a manner that balances predictability with reliability.

You can use the following steps to replace mariaDB instead of mysql. Please verify mariaDB requirements and compatibilities before use it.

Step 1: Backup existing MySQL data

Make sure to save all existing data just in case there are any issues.

cp -Rf /var/lib/mysql /var/lib/mysql-old
mv /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf-old

Step 2: Disable the targets so cPanel no longer handles MySQL updates

The following will mark the versions of MySQL we distribute as uninstalled so they are no longer maintained by cPanel/WHM

/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

Step 3: Remove existing MySQL RPM’s so theres a clean slate for MariaDB

Important: The below command will uninstall the MySQL RPM’s!

/scripts/check_cpanel_rpms --fix --targets=MySQL50,MySQL51,MySQL55

[20130218.235953]
[20130218.235953]   The following RPMs are unneeded on your system and should be uninstalled:
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-devel.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-test.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-shared.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-client.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   MySQL51-server.5.1.68-1.cp1136
[20130218.235953]   Removing 0 broken rpms:
[20130218.235953]   rpm: no packages given for erase
[20130218.235953]   No new RPMS needed for install
[20130218.235953]   Uninstalling unneeded rpms: MySQL51-devel MySQL51-test MySQL51-shared MySQL51-client MySQL51-server
[20130219.000004]   Shutting down MySQL........ SUCCESS!

Step 4: Create a yum repository for MariaDB

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

place the following inside of it depending on the DISTRO (https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/):

[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5.29/centos6-amd64/
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck=1

Step 5: Remove php from the /etc/yum.conf file then run the following commands

yum install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client MariaDB-devel

/etc/init.d/mysql start
mysql_upgrade
/etc/init.d/mysql restart

Step 6: Add php back to the /etc/yum.conf file to ensure future php updates don’t get clobbered

Final Step: Rebuild easyapache/php to ensure modules are intact/working

/scripts/easyapache –build

For more information you can verify with http://blog.cpanel.net/mysql-mariadb/.