Prometheus MySQL Exporter

1. Introduction

Prometheus MySQL Exporter is a tool that allows you to monitor your MySQL database using Prometheus. Prometheus is an open-source monitoring and alerting system that can collect metrics from various sources, including databases. The MySQL Exporter acts as an intermediary between Prometheus and MySQL, exposing MySQL metrics in a format that Prometheus can understand.

In this article, we will explore how to set up and use Prometheus MySQL Exporter to monitor a MySQL database. We will cover the installation and configuration of the exporter, as well as the querying and visualization of the metrics in Prometheus.

2. Installation

To install Prometheus MySQL Exporter, you can follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest release of Prometheus MySQL Exporter from its GitHub repository: [

  2. Extract the downloaded archive to a directory of your choice.

  3. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you extracted the exporter.

  4. Start the exporter by running the following command:

./mysqld_exporter

The exporter will now be running on port 9104 by default.

3. Configuration

Next, we need to configure the exporter to connect to our MySQL database. Create a mysqld_exporter.cnf file in the same directory as the exporter binary with the following content:

[client]
user = <username>
password = <password>

Replace <username> and <password> with the credentials of a MySQL user that has access to the metrics you want to monitor.

4. Exporting Metrics

By default, Prometheus MySQL Exporter exposes metrics at the /metrics endpoint. To verify that the exporter is working correctly, you can access this endpoint using your web browser or a tool like curl:

curl http://localhost:9104/metrics

You should see a list of metrics in the Prometheus exposition format, such as:

# HELP mysql_global_status_aborted_clients_total Aborted clients
# TYPE mysql_global_status_aborted_clients_total counter
mysql_global_status_aborted_clients_total 0

# HELP mysql_global_status_aborted_connects_total Aborted connects
# TYPE mysql_global_status_aborted_connects_total counter
mysql_global_status_aborted_connects_total 0

...

These metrics represent various aspects of the MySQL server's status and activity.

5. Querying Metrics with Prometheus

Now that we have Prometheus MySQL Exporter up and running, we can configure Prometheus to scrape metrics from the exporter and store them for querying and visualization.

To do this, add the following configuration to your Prometheus prometheus.yml file:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'mysql'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9104']

This configuration tells Prometheus to scrape metrics from the exporter running on localhost and port 9104.

After saving the configuration file, restart Prometheus for the changes to take effect.

Once Prometheus starts scraping metrics from the exporter, you can start querying and visualizing the data using PromQL (Prometheus Query Language) and Grafana.

6. Visualizing Metrics with Grafana

Grafana is a popular open-source visualization tool that integrates seamlessly with Prometheus. You can use Grafana to create dashboards and visualize MySQL metrics.

To set up Grafana:

  1. Install Grafana by following the official installation instructions: [

  2. Open Grafana in your web browser and log in using the default credentials (admin/admin).

  3. Add a new data source by navigating to Configuration > Data Sources and clicking on Add data source.

  4. Choose Prometheus as the data source type and configure the URL to point to your Prometheus instance (e.g., http://localhost:9090).

  5. Save the data source configuration.

You can now create a new dashboard by navigating to Create > Dashboard and adding panels to visualize the MySQL metrics. Select the data source you configured in the previous step and choose the metric you want to display.

Conclusion

Prometheus MySQL Exporter is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing MySQL metrics using Prometheus and Grafana. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up and configure the exporter, export metrics from your MySQL database, and visualize them using Grafana. This allows you to gain valuable insights into the performance and health of your MySQL environment.

Remember to regularly monitor and review the metrics to detect and address any potential issues before they impact your applications or users.