The Sysadmin’s Daily Grind: Mtop
HEALTH CHECK
It would be great if every MySQL database enjoyed perfect health 24 by 7, but unfortunately, trouble sometimes strikes. A logfile isn’t much help if you are investigating why a database is flooded with requests. Mtop to the rescue.
We looked at ApacheTop in this column not too long ago. ApacheTop is a tool that tells you what your web server is doing right now, pointing out potential bottlenecks. In this month’s column, we will be looking at another member of the top family: Mtop, the realtime monitor for MySQL [1]. The Mtop tarball weighs in at a mere 48 kbytes. It requires a few Perl modules: Curses, DBI, DBD::mysql, and Net::Domain – but you will probably have most of these installed anyway, and CPAN will fill any gaps in next to no time. After satisfying the dependencies, enter perl Makefile.PL, make, and make install in /usr/local/bin/ to complete the Mtop build. The next step is to allow Mtop access to your MySQL process information, as – in contrast to Apachetop – Mtop does not simply parse the server logfiles, but requires direct access. I decided to set up a user with extremely restricted privileges in MySQL and did not assign a password. The following SQL prompt should do the trick for version 4.0.2 or newer of MySQL: grant super, reload, U process on *.* to mysqltop; grant super, reload, U process on *.* to mysqltop@localhost; flush privileges;
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.