When I run my php code with full error reporting I get :
Warning: mysqli::mysqli(): Headers and client library minor version mismatch.
I found out that I should switch to mysqlnd by uninstalling mysqli as it is discussed here: Headers and client library minor version mismatch
After migration I see that phpMyAdmin is not working anymore. so I had to uninstall php-mysqlnd package and install php-mysql again.
So my question is: "Does phpMyAdmin able to work with mysqlnd?"
After asking the same question in CentOS forum, I got a solution to this:
https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=53726
The trick is to not issue the "yum remove php-mysql" and "yum install php-mysqlnd" in separate commands, but instead one must issue the following:
# yum shell
> remove php-mysql
> install php-mysqlnd
> run
> quit
The above prevents the phpMyAdmin to be remove automatically, and the upgrade will happen smoothly without breaking the phpMyAdmin package.