I have done that dozens of times for my employer's clients. In fact, I just did this a week ago. The client was using MySQL 5.0.81 and had degraded performance in InnoDB.
- I create a new DB Cluster
- running MySQL 5.5.27
- Two DB Servers (ServerA and ServerB)
- Configure InnoDB for Multicore Engagement
- Master/Slave (ServerA Master and ServerB Slave)
- I enable binary logging and log_slave_updates on Production's Slave
- mysqldump all databases (except mysql schema) from Production's Slave to /root/MySQLData.sql
- run pt-show-grants on Production's Master to /root/MySQLGrants.sql
- load ServerA with /root/MySQLGrants.sql
- load ServerA with /root/MySQLData.sql
- I replicate from Production's Slave (MySQL 5.0.81) to ServerA (MySQL 5.5.27)
All that was left to do was
- Have the client shutdown the app
- Remove DBVIP from Master running MySQL 5.0.81
- Bring up DBVIP on Master running MySQL 5.5.27
- Have the client start up the app
CONCLUSION
MySQL 5.5 can handle replication from previous major releases, and not the other way around.
I have discussed this before
GOOD NEWS !!!
I already answered a post back on Feb 06, 2012 ( How to setup replication(Master/slave) in MySQL 5.5.20? ) with all the steps you need.
BTW with regards to the step about dumping the MYSQL grants as SQL commands, here is my personal emulation of pt-show-grants:
mysql -hhostaddr -umyuserid -pmypassword --skip-column-names -A -e"SELECT CONCAT('SHOW GRANTS FOR ''',user,'''@''',host,''';') FROM mysql.user WHERE user<>''" | mysql -hhostaddr -umyuserid -pmypassword --skip-column-names -A | sed 's/$/;/g' > MySQLUserGrants.sql
Give it a Try !!!
UPDATE 2012-11-27 11:07 EDT
I wanted to add additional posts I made for setting up Circular Replication should you decide to setup the two DB servers as Master/Master