Connect to data sources

Data sources

MySQL

Configure

Grafana Cloud Enterprise Open source

Configure the MySQL data source

This document provides instructions for configuring the MySQL data source and explains available configuration options. For general information on managing data sources refer to Data source management.

Before you begin

Before configuring the MySQL data source, ensure you have the following:

Grafana permissions: You must have the Organization administrator role to configure data sources. Organization administrators can also configure the data source via YAML with the Grafana provisioning system.
A running MySQL instance: MySQL 5.7 or newer, MariaDB 10.2 or newer, or a compatible MySQL-based database such as Percona Server.
Network access: Grafana must be able to reach your MySQL server. The default port is 3306.
Authentication credentials: A MySQL user with at least SELECT permissions on the databases and tables you want to query.
Security certificates: If using encrypted connections, gather any necessary TLS/SSL certificates.

Note
Grafana ships with a built-in MySQL data source plugin. No additional installation is required.

Tip
Grafana Cloud users: If your MySQL server is in a private network, you can configure Private data source connect to establish connectivity.

Database user permissions

When adding a data source, ensure the database user you specify has only SELECT permissions on the relevant database and tables. Grafana doesn’t validate the safety of queries, which means they can include potentially harmful SQL statements, such as USE otherdb; or DROP TABLE user;, which could get executed.

To minimize this risk, Grafana strongly recommends creating a dedicated MySQL user with restricted permissions:

CREATE USER 'grafanaReader' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT SELECT ON mydatabase.mytable TO 'grafanaReader';

Use wildcards (*) in place of a database or table if you want to grant access to more databases and tables.

Add the MySQL data source

To add the MySQL data source complete the following steps:

Click Connections in the left-side menu.
Click Add new connection and type MySQL in the search bar.
Select the MySQL data source option.
Click Add new data source in the upper right.

You are taken to the Settings tab where you will configure the data source.

MySQL configuration options

Following is a list of MySQL configuration options:

Name - Sets the name you use to refer to the data source in panels and queries. Examples: mysql-assets-1, mysqldb1.
Default - Toggle to make this specific MySQL data source the default pre-selected data source in panels and visualizations.

Connection:

Host URL - Enter the IP address/hostname and optional port of your MySQL instance. If the port is omitted the default 3306 port will be used.
Database - Enter the name of your MySQL database.

Authentication:

Username- Enter the username used to connect to your MySQL database.
Password - Enter the password used to connect to the MySQL database.
Use TLS Client Auth - Toggle to enable TLS authentication using the client certificate specified in the secure JSON configuration. Refer to Using TLS Connections and Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections for more information regarding TLS and configuring encrypted connections in MySQL. Provide the client certificate under TLS/SSL Client Certificate. Provide the key under TLS/SSL Client Key.
With CA Cert - Toggle to authenticate using a CA certificate. Required for verifying self-signed TLS Certs. Follow the instructions of your CA (Certificate Authority) to download the certificate file. Provide the root certificate under TLS/SSL Root Certificate if TLS/SSL mode requires it.
Skip TLS Verification - Toggle to skip verification of the MySQL server’s TLS certificate chain and host name.
Allow Cleartext Passwords - Toggle to allow the use of the cleartext client-side plugin when required by a specific type of account, such as one defined with the PAM authentication plugin. Note that transmitting passwords in plain text can pose a security risk in certain configurations. To prevent password-related issues, it is recommended that clients connect to a MySQL server using a secure method that protects the password. Options include TLS/SSL, IPsec, or a private network.

Additional settings

The following are additional MySQL settings.

MySQL options:

Session Timezone - Specifies the timezone used in the database session, such as Europe/Berlin or +02:00. Required if the timezone of the database (or the host of the database) is set to something other than UTC. Set this to +00:00 so Grafana can handle times properly. Set the value used in the session with SET time_zone='...'. If you leave this field empty, the timezone will not be updated. For more information, refer to MySQL Server Time Zone Support.
Min time interval - Defines a lower limit for the $__interval and $__interval_ms variables. Grafana recommends aligning this setting with the data write frequency. For example, set it to 1m if your data is written every minute. Refer to Min time interval for format examples.

Connection limits:

Max open - The maximum number of open connections to the database, default 100.
Max idle - The maximum number of connections in the idle connection pool, default 100.
Auto (max idle) - Toggle to set the maximum number of idle connections to the number of maximum open connections. The default is true.
Max lifetime - The maximum amount of time in seconds a connection may be reused. This should always be lower than configured wait_timeout in MySQL. The default is 14400, or 4 hours.

Private data source connect:

Private data source connect - Only for Grafana Cloud users. Private data source connect, or PDC, allows you to establish a private, secured connection between a Grafana Cloud instance, or stack, and data sources secured within a private network. Click the drop-down to locate the URL for PDC. For more information regarding Grafana PDC refer to Private data source connect (PDC).

Click Manage private data source connect to be taken to your PDC connection page, where you’ll find your PDC configuration details.

Once you have added your MySQL connection settings, click Save & test to test and save the data source connection.

Min time interval

The Min time interval setting defines a lower limit for the $__interval and $__interval_ms variables.

This value must be formatted as a number followed by a valid time identifier:

Identifier	Description
`y`	year
`M`	month
`w`	week
`d`	day
`h`	hour
`m`	minute
`s`	second
`ms`	millisecond

You can override this setting in a dashboard panel under its data source options.

Provision the data source

You can define and configure the data source in YAML files as part of Grafana’s provisioning system. For more information about provisioning, and available configuration options, refer to Provision Grafana.

MySQL provisioning examples

Basic provisioning:

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: MySQL
    type: mysql
    url: localhost:3306
    user: grafana
    jsonData:
      database: grafana
      maxOpenConns: 100
      maxIdleConns: 100
      maxIdleConnsAuto: true
      connMaxLifetime: 14400
    secureJsonData:
      password: ${GRAFANA_MYSQL_PASSWORD}

Using TLS verification:

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: MySQL
    type: mysql
    url: localhost:3306
    user: grafana
    jsonData:
      tlsAuth: true
      database: grafana
      maxOpenConns: 100
      maxIdleConns: 100
      maxIdleConnsAuto: true
      connMaxLifetime: 14400
    secureJsonData:
      password: ${GRAFANA_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
      tlsClientCert: ${GRAFANA_TLS_CLIENT_CERT}
      tlsCACert: ${GRAFANA_TLS_CA_CERT}

Use TLS and skip certificate verification:

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: MySQL
    type: mysql
    url: localhost:3306
    user: grafana
    jsonData:
      tlsAuth: true
      tlsSkipVerify: true
      database: grafana
      maxOpenConns: 100
      maxIdleConns: 100
      maxIdleConnsAuto: true
      connMaxLifetime: 14400
    secureJsonData:
      password: ${GRAFANA_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
      tlsClientCert: ${GRAFANA_TLS_CLIENT_CERT}
      tlsCACert: ${GRAFANA_TLS_CA_CERT}

Configure with Terraform

You can configure the MySQL data source using Terraform with the Grafana Terraform provider.

For more information about provisioning resources with Terraform, refer to the Grafana as code using Terraform documentation.

Terraform example

The following example creates a basic MySQL data source:

resource "grafana_data_source" "mysql" {
  name = "MySQL"
  type = "mysql"
  url  = "localhost:3306"
  user = "grafana"

  json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    database         = "grafana"
    maxOpenConns     = 100
    maxIdleConns     = 100
    maxIdleConnsAuto = true
    connMaxLifetime  = 14400
  })

  secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    password = "password"
  })
}

For all available configuration options, refer to the Grafana provider data source resource documentation.