Moving MySQL Data Folder on cPanel Environment

According to an advice from a cPanel engineer, the best way to move MySQL data folder to a different folder (e.g. on a different partition with more available disk space) on a cPanel / CentOS environment is to create symbolic link rather than modifying the my.cnf file.

Presuming that the original MySQL data folder is located on /var/lib/mysql and the partition with more available disk space is mounted as /home, these are the steps on how to move the MySQL data folder from /var/lib/mysql to /home/var_mysql/mysql.

1. Backup the whole MySQL database, just in case.

mkdir /home/backup (if it doesn't exist yet)
mysqldump --all-databases | gzip > /home/backup/alldatabases.sql.gz

2. Stop MySQL service and verify that it's stopped.

/etc/init.d/mysql stop
/etc/init.d/mysql status

3. Create destination folder, move the folder and all the files and subfolders from existing to new destination folder, change permission settings and create symbolic link.

mkdir /home/var_mysql
mv /var/lib/mysql /home/var_mysql
chown -R mysql:mysql /home/var_mysql/mysql
ln -s /home/var_mysql/mysql /var/lib/mysql

4. Start back MySQL service, and verify that it's started.

/etc/init.d/mysql start
/etc/init.d/mysql status

That's all. :)