1. move data
You need to use a different connection string to connect to mysl57. You *could* do this with phpmyadmin, but you'd have to backup the current db, then reconfigure phpmyadmin to talk to the new version, then do the restore (I'm curious, so I plan to play with this... more info coming)
After installing mysql57 you get to it from the cli using "mysql57..." instead of "mysql...". I moved my databases by running mysqldump on the default database, then restoring it using "mysql57..." -- usually after googling "backup and restore mysql"...
From here:
http://webcheatsheet.com/SQL/mysql_backup_restore.php (modified for SME, but UNTESTED):
# sme server stores root password in /root/.my.cnf so you don't need "-u" or "-p"
mysqldump [dbname] > [dbname].bak
# now you have to create the database in mysql57
#
# either set these values using variables or hard code them into the commands below...
DBNAME=[dbname]
DBUSER=[dbuser]
DBPASS=[dbpassword]
mysql57 -e "drop database IF EXISTS $DBNAME"
mysql57 -e "create database $DBNAME COLLATE=utf8_general_ci"
mysql57 -e "grant all privileges on $DBNAME.* to $DBUSER@localhost identified by '$DBPASS' with grant option"
#
# finally, restore your mysqldump file from the file created above
mysql57 < [dbname].bak
I've never used it, buy you may be able to use "mysqlimport" to create and load the backup in one step. You'll need to tell mysqlimport to use the mysql57 socket:
mysqlimport --socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql57.sock [dbname] [dbname].bak
2. Affa backups
The smeserver-mysql57 contrib used by the
mysql 5.7 software collection contrib adds a new action to the e-smith "pre-backup" event (/etc/e-smith/events/pre-backup/S20mysql57-dump-tables) that dumps the new databases into /home/e-smith/db/mysql57/.
The
Affa page says that if your config has "SMEServer=yes" then the backup will include "the default directories". This wiki page indicates that "/home/e-smith" is included in "the default directories":
https://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config#Standard_backup_.26_restore_inclusions3. Upgrade MySQL
I think doing this breaks your server. There's a wiki page with some notes (
https://wiki.contribs.org/Upgrade_php/mysql). I suspect your database backups are less likely to work if you do this than if you install the mysql57 software collection.