Install & configure NRDOT for MySQL monitoring with Docker

Prerequisites

Before you install, make sure you have:

• Docker installed on the host.
• A MySQL container already running (MySQL 5.7 or later).
• A New Relic license key.
• Network connectivity from the collector container to New Relic OTLP endpoints.

For supported MySQL versions, required grants, and performance_schema requirements, see Compatibility and prerequisites.

Configure database user

Create a monitoring user with the necessary privileges by running SQL against your MySQL container with docker exec. Replace <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME>, <YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>, <YOUR_DB_USERNAME>, and <YOUR_DB_PASSWORD> with your own values.

• To create a monitoring user with the minimum privileges needed for metrics collection, run:

  bash

  Copy

  $
  docker exec -i <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME> mysql -u root -p'<YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>' -e "CREATE USER '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<YOUR_DB_PASSWORD>'; GRANT SELECT ON performance_schema.* TO '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

• To also collect query samples and top queries, grant the full set of privileges instead:

  bash

  Copy

  $
  docker exec -i <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME> mysql -u root -p'<YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>' -e "CREATE USER '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<YOUR_DB_PASSWORD>'; GRANT SELECT, PROCESS, REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* TO '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%'; GRANT SELECT ON performance_schema.* TO '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

• (Optional) To view wait-time data in the New Relic platform, grant the following privilege to the monitoring user:

  bash

  Copy

  $
  docker exec -i <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME> mysql -u root -p'<YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>' -e "GRANT UPDATE ON performance_schema.setup_consumers TO '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>'@'%'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

• (Optional) To verify the connection and grants, run:

  bash

  Copy

  $
  docker exec -i <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME> mysql -u '<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>' -p'<YOUR_DB_PASSWORD>' -e "SELECT 1;"

  If the command completes without an error, the monitoring user and password are correct.

Create the NRDOT Collector configuration

This configuration focuses on essential MySQL monitoring with the nrmysql receiver. Run the following on the Docker host to generate mysql-config.yaml in your current directory:

$
cat << 'EOF' > mysql-config.yaml
$
receivers:
$
  nrmysql:
$
    endpoint: "<YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME>:3306"
$
    transport: tcp
$
    username: "<YOUR_DB_USERNAME>"
$
    password: "<YOUR_DB_PASSWORD>"
$
    allow_native_passwords: true
$
    collection_interval: 15s
$
    initial_delay: 1s
$
    explain_mode: procedure
$
    statement_events:
$
      digest_text_limit: 4096
$
      time_limit: 24h
$
      limit: 500
$
    query_sample_collection:
$
      max_rows_per_query: 100
$
      allowed_comment_keys: [nr_service_guid]
$
    top_query_collection:
$
      lookback_time: 60
$
      max_query_sample_count: 5000
$
      top_query_count: 200
$
      collection_interval: 60s
$
      query_plan_cache_size: 1000
$
      query_plan_cache_ttl: 1h
$
      allowed_comment_keys: [nr_service_guid]
$
    events:
$
      db.server.query_sample:
$
        enabled: true
$
      db.server.top_query:
$
        enabled: true
$
      db.server.query_plan:
$
        enabled: true
$
    resource_attributes:
$
      db.system.version:
$
        enabled: true
$
    metrics:
$
      mysql.query.count:
$
        enabled: true
$
      mysql.query.slow.count:
$
        enabled: true
$
      mysql.commands:
$
        enabled: true
$
      mysql.innodb.data_file.io:
$
        enabled: true
$

$
processors:
$
  batch:
$

$
exporters:
$
  otlp/newrelic:
$
    endpoint: "<YOUR_NEWRELIC_OTLP_ENDPOINT>"
$
    headers:
$
      api-key: "<YOUR_NEWRELIC_LICENSE_KEY>"
$
    compression: gzip
$
    retry_on_failure:
$
      enabled: true
$
      initial_interval: 5s
$
      max_interval: 30s
$
      max_elapsed_time: 300s
$

$
service:
$
  pipelines:
$
    metrics:
$
      receivers: [nrmysql]
$
      processors: [batch]
$
      exporters: [otlp/newrelic]
$
    logs:
$
      receivers: [nrmysql]
$
      processors: [batch]
$
      exporters: [otlp/newrelic]
$
EOF

Configuration parameters

Start the NRDOT Collector container

Run the collector on the same Docker network as your MySQL container so it can resolve <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME> by its container name:

$
docker run -d \
>
  --name nrdot-collector \
>
  --network <YOUR_DOCKER_NETWORK> \
>
  -v "$PWD/mysql-config.yaml:/etc/nrdot-collector/mysql-config.yaml" \
>
  newrelic/nrdot-collector:latest \
>
  --config /etc/nrdot-collector/mysql-config.yaml

$
docker network create <YOUR_DOCKER_NETWORK>
$
docker network connect <YOUR_DOCKER_NETWORK> <YOUR_MYSQL_CONTAINER_NAME>

Confirm the collector container is running:

$
docker ps --filter name=nrdot-collector

If it's not running, check its logs for errors. The most common causes are YAML indentation issues in mysql-config.yaml or an unreachable MySQL container:

$
docker logs nrdot-collector

$
docker restart nrdot-collector

Find and use your data

Once your data is being collected, you can access comprehensive MySQL database monitoring through the New Relic UI.

To find your MySQL database entity in New Relic:

1. Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > Databases.
2. From the Entity type dropdown, select MySQL instance, then click Apply.
3. Select your MySQL database from the list of entities.

To confirm data is arriving, run this query in the query builder:

SELECT count(*) FROM Metric
WHERE metricName LIKE 'mysql.%'
AND instrumentation.provider = 'opentelemetry'
SINCE 10 minutes ago