How to Install and Configure mysql_exporter on a Kubernetes Master Node

This article provides a step‑by‑step procedure for setting up mysqld_exporter on a Kubernetes master node to expose MySQL performance metrics to Prometheus.

Download and extract the exporter

tar -xvf mysqld_exporter-0.10.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Install the binary

cd mysqld_exporter-0.10.0.linux-amd64
cp -ar mysqld_exporter /usr/local/bin/

Make the binary executable

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mysqld_exporter

Create a MySQL user for the exporter

mysql> CREATE USER 'mysql_exporter'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Abcdef123!.';
mysql> GRANT PROCESS, REPLICATION CLIENT, SELECT ON *.* TO 'mysql_exporter'@'localhost';
mysql> exit

Configure a password‑less client file

[client]
user=mysql_exporter
password=Abcdef123!.

Run the exporter

nohup ./mysqld_exporter --config.my-cnf=./my.cnf &

The exporter listens on port 9104.

Add a Prometheus job for MySQL

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'mysql'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['192.168.124.16:9104']

Apply the updated Prometheus configuration

kubectl delete -f prometheus-cfg.yaml
kubectl apply -f prometheus-cfg.yaml
kubectl delete -f prometheus-deploy.yaml
kubectl apply -f prometheus-deploy.yaml

After reloading, Prometheus begins collecting MySQL metrics from the exporter.