Prometheus MySQL Exporter

How to Integrate Prometheus MySQL Exporter with Apica Ascent:

1. Introduction

This guide explains how to send MySQL metrics from Prometheus mysqld_exporter to Apica Ascent, and how to monitor and visualize them.

You'll learn:

• How to install and run MySQL Exporter

• How to configure Prometheus to scrape MySQL metrics

• How to connect Prometheus with Apica Ascent

• How to visualize metrics in dashboards

2. Install and Run MySQL Exporter

Follow the official documentation for installation here.

• Create a dedicated user:

CREATE USER 'mysqld_exporter'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';
GRANT PROCESS, REPLICATION CLIENT, SELECT ON *.* TO 'mysqld_exporter'@'127.0.0.1';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

• Create .my.cnf:

[client]
user=mysqld_exporter
password=yourpassword
host=127.0.0.1
port=3306

• Run exporter

Default metrics endpoint: http://localhost:9104/metrics

3. Configure Prometheus to Scrape MySQL Exporter

Update prometheus.yml:

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

Restart Prometheus and verify on /targets.

4. Connect Prometheus to Apica Ascent

Add remote_write to prometheus.yml:

remote_write:
  - url: "https://ascent-pre.apica.io/v1/receive/prometheus"
    tls_config:
      insecure_skip_verify: true
    authorization:
      type: "Bearer"
      credentials: "<YOUR_INGEST_TOKEN>"

• More on remote_write

• Generate an ingest token

Optional: Relabel metrics for easier identification:

write_relabel_configs: 
  - action: replace 
    source_labels: [__name__] 
    regex: "(.*)" 
    target_label: __name__ 
    replacement: "ascent_$1" 

This will rename metrics to ascent_<metric-name> before sending them.

5. Verify Metrics in Apica Ascent

Log in → Queries → New Query

Run:

mysql_up
mysql_global_status_threads_connected
mysql_global_status_queries

Check results populate.

6. Example Dashboards

You can use this Ascent dashboard to get started.

7. Troubleshooting

• Exporter error: Check .my.cnf path and permissions.

• Access denied: Verify MySQL user and grants.

• Prometheus not scraping: Validate prometheus.yml.

• Metrics not in Apica: Check remote_write URL and token.