Documentation forSolarWinds Observability

Add a MySQL database instance

Monitor your MySQL database instance with SolarWinds Observability on a dedicated host, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure DB, Fork or Variant, Service Fork or Variant, or MariaDB. Capture a robust assortment of MySQL query metrics that give you insight into database performance and what consumes your database’s resources.

Get started

Before you start

See MySQL system requirements to make sure your system is supported and you have the required roles, privileges, and prerequisites to monitor your MySQL database instance with SolarWinds Observability.

To monitor your MySQL database with SolarWinds Observability, complete the following:

  1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Add Data at the top.

  2. On the Add Data dialog, click Database.

  3. Click Self-hosted, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure DB, Fork or Variant, Service Fork or Variant, or MariaDB from the MySQL drop-down menu.

    Npcap must be installed if you are monitoring databases for on-host data gathering on a Windows Installation.
  4. Choose an existing SolarWinds Observability Agent on a monitored host. Click Next to continue.

    For more information about installing the SolarWinds Observability Agent on your host, see Add a self-managed host or Run the SolarWinds Observability Agent as a Docker image or Kubernetes deployment.

    If the Agent you want to use is not displayed in the wizard, make sure it has host monitoring enabled. See Enable host monitoring on an Agent.

  5. Enter the database instance address, database username, and database password for your database instance. Click next to continue.

    Click in the database instance address field and select from unmonitored databases discovered by SolarWinds Observability if you are adding an Amazon RDS, or Amazon Aurora MySQL database instance. Last seen unmonitored databases will display by default.

    Click the filter icon to adjust the visible unmonitored databases discovered by SolarWinds Observability.
    Click the Enable SSL toggle and enter your SSL credentials to enable SSL. 
  6. Copy and execute the script on your MySQL database. The user account created with this script will be used by the SolarWinds Observability Agent.

    If you have an existing user account that you want to use, enter the credentials in the script box before clicking the copy to clipboard button.

  7. Click whether to enable or disable packet capture.

    Packet Capture is only available for Self-hosted MySQL database instances.

  8. Enter any parameters for metric collection in the Metric Agent field.

    The config files are JSON. When editing or creating a new configuration file, be sure to include the opening and closing brackets" { " and " }" . All options must be comma-separated.

    For example, a file might look like the following:

    {

    "disable-sampling":"false",

    "enable-explains":"false"

    }

  9. Enter any parameters pertaining to locally installed databases in the Query Agent field.

    Query Agent parameters can only be added for MySQL Fork or Variants.
  10. Copy and execute the PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA script to activate and enable consumers on your MySQL database instance.

  11. Copy and set the consumer changes for your MySQL database instance.

    • Self-hosted: Copy and execute the consumer changes in my.cnf.

    • Amazon RDS/Amazon Aurora/Google Cloud SQL /Azure DB: Copy and execute the consumer changes in the parameter group.

  12. Click I have performed all of the above tasks. Click Next to continue.

  13. Verify the information entered on the Summary tab. Click Finish.

    To view data collected for the newly configured entity in the Entity Explorer, click the name of the Database Instance in the confirmation dialog in the lower-left corner. It may take a few seconds for data to appear for the newly created entity. See Entity Explorer for details.

See Entities in SolarWinds Observability for an overview of Database Instance entities and how they work in SolarWinds Observability.