So I discovered there is yet another minor flaw with Vesta CP. With the current release, phpMyAdmin does not work out of the box. Fortunately I found this: phpmyadmin-fixer
I took a quick peak at this script on the first page just to make sure that there was no malware and everything looked ok. I gave it a shot and now phpMyAdmin fully works as expected.
The problem is simple, I want to move my and my client's sites away from Dreamhost into an environment where I have more control over the server software running the sites. A little over two years ago, Dreamhost started (and rightfully so) retiring older versions of PHP on both its Shared and Virtual Private Server hosting services. This caused me to have to go, metaphorical hat in hand, to a number of clients and inform them that their opensource web-based productivity tools are going to stop working without intervention on my part.