First of all I would recommend you to make backups for all MySQL databases and configuration files you have.
The second recommendation is to use official Yum repositories located on http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/repo/yum/
It is the best possible option for CentOs and other Red Hat based Linux ditstibutions.
You should download repository depending on your distribution version.
For example on CentOs 6 you should use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 / Oracle Linux 6 (Architecture Independent), RPM Package – http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/file/?id=465605
Also, read the following page: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-repo-excerpt/5.7/en/updating-yum-repo.html before starting updates to understand how does it work better.
If you have previously installed mysql from different repository run command:
# yum repolist all | grep mysql
to find out all Yum repositories list which contains mysql.
Example output of such command on my server:
# yum repolist all | grep mysql
mysql-connectors-community MySQL Connectors Community disabled
mysql-connectors-community-source MySQL Connectors Community – S disabled
mysql-tools-community MySQL Tools Community enabled: 40
mysql-tools-community-source MySQL Tools Community – Source disabled
mysql-tools-preview MySQL Tools Preview disabled
mysql-tools-preview-source MySQL Tools Preview – Source disabled
mysql55-community MySQL 5.5 Community Server disabled
mysql55-community-source MySQL 5.5 Community Server – S disabled
mysql56-community MySQL 5.6 Community Server disabled
mysql56-community-source MySQL 5.6 Community Server – S disabled
mysql57-community MySQL 5.7 Community Server enabled: 146
mysql57-community-source MySQL 5.7 Community Server – S disabled
#
To select disable version 5.6 and select version 5.7 you can use commands such commands:
# sudo yum-config-manager --disable mysql56-community # sudo yum-config-manager --enable mysql57-community
And then make all server packages update including mysql:
# sudo yum-update -y
Once all server updates are completed you should run:
# sudo mysql_upgrade --force
