Installing and Using MySQL Enterprise Monitor: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

MySQL Enterprise Monitor (MEM) is a monitoring tool that provides visibility into MySQL instance and host performance.

1. Installation

1.1 Download the package from the Oracle eDelivery website.

1.2 Unzip the downloaded archive and run the installer binary.

unzip mysql_monitor.zip
./mysqlmonitor-8.0.20.1237-linux-x86_64-installer.bin

During installation you will be prompted to choose a mode; select the "small" mode and use the bundled MySQL database as the repository. Record the service manager user name and password shown on the screen.

Note: the "root" mentioned in the warning refers to the operating‑system root user, not a MySQL user.

After the installer finishes, you can uninstall MEM later with the provided uninstall script.

2. Management Scripts

usage: ./mysqlmonitorctl.sh help
       ./mysqlmonitorctl.sh (start|stop|status|restart)
       ./mysqlmonitorctl.sh (start|stop|status|restart) mysql
       ./mysqlmonitorctl.sh (start|stop|status|restart) tomcat

help   - this screen
start  - start the service(s)
stop   - stop the service(s)
restart- restart or start the service(s)
status - report the status of the service(s)

3. Client Installation

There are two client architectures:

Agent architecture : an agent is installed on the monitored host, allowing collection of host‑level metrics such as disk I/O and memory usage.

Agentless architecture : no software is installed on the monitored host; only MySQL‑level metrics are collected.

The agentless approach is easier to configure but cannot monitor non‑MySQL host information, whereas the agent approach provides richer data and is recommended for performance‑critical environments.

4. Using MEM

4.1 Overview – The Overview page shows a summary of monitored objects. With an agent you see host metrics (disk, memory, etc.); without an agent you see only database metrics.

4.2 Events – Events that exceed configured thresholds are listed here. Thresholds are configured under Configuration → Advisor , and individual events can be dismissed via the action column.

4.3 Metrics – MEM displays many performance metrics. Commonly used ones include CPU usage, connections, query latency, and InnoDB buffer pool statistics.

4.4 Query Analyzer – Query analysis data is sourced from the Performance Schema Statement Digests feature, which is available starting with MySQL 5.6.14.

To check the maximum digest length, run:

$ mysqladmin variables | grep max_digest_leng
| max_digest_length                     | 1024 |
| performance_schema_max_digest_length  | 1024 |

Note that max_digest_length is a session variable, while performance_schema_max_digest_length applies to the Performance Schema itself.

The MEM agent collects statements every minute into performance_schema.events_statements_summary_by_digest . The collector is enabled by the statements_digest consumer:

mysql> SELECT * FROM performance_schema.setup_consumers WHERE name = 'statements_digest';
+-------------------+----------+
| NAME              | ENABLED  |
+-------------------+----------+
| statements_digest | YES      |
+-------------------+----------+

In the UI, each SQL statement can be inspected for detailed execution statistics. If the statement is not displayed, verify that the Performance Schema settings are correct; after fixing the configuration the detailed view will appear.

For further reading, see the MySQL documentation on Performance Schema Statement Digests and Sampling.