---
title: "MySQL with Database Observability | Grafana Labs"
description: "Set up Database Observability for MySQL"
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

## MySQL with Database Observability

Database Observability gives you deep visibility into MySQL query performance, whether your database is self-managed or running on a managed cloud service.

|                        |                                                                                           |
|------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **What it monitors**   | Query performance, wait events, connections, replication, InnoDB health                   |
| **How it works**       | Grafana Alloy reads from MySQL Performance Schema (enabled by default in 8.0+)            |
| **What you see**       | Top queries by duration, explain plans with cost highlighting, wait events, query samples |
| **Supported variants** | Self-managed MySQL 8.0+, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database      |

## What you’ll get

- **Queries Overview dashboard** showing RED metrics for every query
- **Explain plans** revealing full table scans, missing indexes, and expensive joins
- **Wait events** showing lock contention, I/O bottlenecks, and resource waits
- **Query samples** with individual execution timing
- **Table schemas** highlighting index coverage and constraints

## Trade-offs

| Strengths                                               | Considerations                                      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Deepest MySQL visibility available in Grafana Cloud     | Requires MySQL 8.0+ (MariaDB not supported)         |
| Query-level explain plans and wait events               | Requires a monitoring user with specific privileges |
| Managed database support (RDS, Aurora, CloudSQL, Azure) | First-time setup takes 30-60 minutes                |
| AI-powered optimization suggestions                     | Uses Grafana Alloy as collection agent              |

* * *

Learning path

#### MySQL Database Observability

Set up Grafana Cloud Database Observability for MySQL to monitor query performance, explain plans, wait events, and query samples.

13 min

Intermediate

Docs & blog posts

#### Open in Grafana Cloud

Complete this learning path directly in your Grafana Cloud stack, or in the Grafana Play stack, with an interactive learning experience.

[Open in Grafana Cloud]() [Try in Grafana Play]()

[View on website](/docs/learning-paths/mysql-db-olly/)

[Path completed](/docs/learning-hub/intro-to-db-olly/02-database-observability/10-db-olly-complete/)