Mysql connections count off by millions

[williamoverton]

All other metrics are correct but for some reason, active mysql connections is huge:

We currently (according to the AWS RDS panel) have 5 connections open.

Version
MySQL 5.6.34 (AWS) -> metricbeat 5.4.1 -> logstash 5.4.2

Config

metricbeat.modules:
- module: system
  metricsets:
    - cpu
    - filesystem
    - memory
    - network
    - process
  enabled: true
  period: 30s
  processes: ['.*']
  cpu_ticks: false

- module: docker
  metricsets: ["container", "cpu", "diskio", "healthcheck", "info", "memory", "network"]
  hosts: ["unix:///var/run/docker.sock"]
  enabled: true
  period: 30s

- module: mysql
  metricsets: ["status"]
  enabled: true
  period: 30s
  hosts: ["${MYSQL_USER}:${MYSQL_PASS}@tcp(${MYSQL_HOST}:${MYSQL_PORT})/"]

output.logstash:
  hosts: ["127.0.0.1:3005"]

#output.console.pretty: true

Let me know if there is anything else you need!

Cheers

[exekias]

Hi @mrminecart ,

Connections is an always growing value, see https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17952_01/mysql-5.0-en/server-status-variables.html#statvar_Connections. You have to graph its derivative to show number of new connections per bucket.

Perhaps you are more interested in threads.connected, as it will give you the number of current connections: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17952_01/mysql-5.0-en/server-status-variables.html#statvar_Threads_connected

[williamoverton]

Ah okay, I was confused by the term "MySQL active connections" in the kibana template

[exekias]

Uhm, I see, perhaps the example dashboard is not clear enough, what version of metricbeat are you using?

[williamoverton]

metricbeat 5.4.1

[exekias]

Ok, thanks for the report, I'm flagging this as a bug as I think we need to clarify that graph, either change the title or the metric we show

[williamoverton]

I don't find the metric very useful personally, for now I have changed the title.

Thanks for being very responsive!

[danleerunk]

@exekias Okay if I take this on? As a suggestion, perhaps changing the title of the viz to "MySQL total connections" would make this a bit more clear.

[exekias]

sure, go ahead! just ping us if you need any help :)