Compatibility and prerequisites

Before you begin monitoring your MySQL with NRDOT, ensure your environment meets these requirements.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

A valid New Relic license key
Network connectivity between the host where you install the NRDOT Collector and your MySQL database. If you're planning to install the NRDOT Collector on a different host than your MySQL database, refer to Network access requirements.
Network connectivity to New Relic OTLP endpoints documentation

Supported MySQL versions

The receiver detects the database product and version on first connection and adjusts its behavior accordingly. Unsupported or older versions still work, but with reduced functionality:

Versions	Query plans on `db.server.top_query`	Traceparent propagation	`client.port` / `network.peer.port`	Replica status syntax
`5.7.x`	No	Yes	0	`SHOW SLAVE STATUS`
`8.0.0`–`8.0.2`	No	Yes	0	`SHOW SLAVE STATUS`
`8.0.3`–`8.0.21`	Yes	Yes	0	`SHOW SLAVE STATUS`
`8.0.22+`	Yes	Yes	Populated	`SHOW REPLICA STATUS`
`8.4.x`	Yes	Yes	Populated	`SHOW REPLICA STATUS`
`9.x`	Yes	Yes	Populated	`SHOW REPLICA STATUS`

Important

Version detection is non-fatal: if it fails, the receiver falls back to MySQL < 8 behavior rather than erroring.

Network access requirements

By default, NRDOT connects over TCP (transport: tcp in the receiver config, the default). If the collector runs on the same host as the database, you can instead set transport: unix and point endpoint at the database's Unix domain socket (for example, /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock), which sidesteps the network checks below entirely. For any other deployment (collector and database on different hosts, containers, or VPCs), TCP is required.

Deployment	What to check
Self-managed MySQL on EC2	Security group: add an inbound rule on the DB port (default `3306`) from the collector's source: its own security group ID (same-VPC, preferred over a raw IP) if the collector runs on a different EC2 instance, or no rule needed if it runs as a sidecar on the same instance. Also check `bind-address` in `my.cnf`: many distro defaults ship `bind-address = 127.0.0.1`, which refuses any non-local TCP connection. Set it to the instance's private IP or `0.0.0.0` before a remote collector can reach it.
Amazon RDS / Aurora for MySQL	VPC security group: add an inbound rule on the RDS instance's port (default `3306`) from the collector's security group or private IP; RDS has no OS-level `my.cnf` to edit, so this is the only network gate. Grants must come from the RDS master user. RDS has no `root` account. Restricted privileges: `SUPER` and `FILE` are restricted or unavailable depending on RDS engine version and parameter group. TLS: RDS instances with "Require SSL/TLS" enforcement need the collector to trust Amazon's RDS CA. Set `tls.ca_file` (or `tls.ca_pem`) to the Amazon RDS certificate bundle and leave `tls.insecure`/`tls.insecure_skip_verify` at `false`.
Any remote/cross-host deployment	MySQL treats `'<user>'@'localhost'` and `'<user>'@'%'` (or a specific host/CIDR) as different accounts, even with an identical username. Creating the monitoring user as `'<user>'@'localhost'` silently fails to authenticate from a collector running anywhere else, with an access-denied error indistinguishable from a wrong password. Use `'<user>'@'%'` or scope it to the collector's specific private IP/CIDR.

Important

Verified against a live Amazon RDS for MySQL instance: RDS's mysql8.0 parameter-group family exposes no performance_schema_consumer_* parameters at all; only sizing/buffer parameters plus performance_schema, slow_query_log, and long_query_time are settable there. This means events_waits_current (needed for mysql.events_waits_current.timer_wait, and wait-based dashboards generally) can only be turned on at runtime on RDS, and it doesn't survive a restart or failover.

Recommended server-side configuration

Configure these MySQL server parameters to ensure the receiver can collect all available metrics and query plans. The following table lists the parameters and their recommended values:

Parameter	Recommended value	Why
`performance_schema`	Enabled	Query samples, top queries, and blocking detection all depend on it
`max_digest_length`	`4096`	Longer digest text before MySQL truncates it
`performance_schema_max_digest_length`	`4096`	Same, at the Performance Schema layer
`performance_schema_max_sql_text_length`	`4096`	If a captured statement is truncated, the receiver skips `EXPLAIN` for it entirely. Query plans silently disappear for long statements at the `1024`-byte default

Next steps

Once you've verified your environment meets these prerequisites:

Choose your installation method:

Review the available metrics that will be collected
See Enable detailed insights for optional features like write-statement query plans and lock-wait duration tracking
Check our troubleshooting guide for common issues

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Supported MySQL versions

Important

Network access requirements

Important

Recommended server-side configuration

Next steps

Prerequisites