MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual :: 5.2.5 Status Variables

5.2.5. Status Variables

The server maintains many status variables that provide information about its operation. You can view these variables and their values by using the SHOW [GLOBAL] STATUS statement. The optional GLOBAL keyword aggregates the values over all connections.

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL STATUS;
+-----------------------------------+------------+
| Variable_name                     | Value      |
+-----------------------------------+------------+
| Aborted_clients                   | 0          |
| Aborted_connects                  | 0          |
| Bytes_received                    | 155372598  |
| Bytes_sent                        | 1176560426 |
...
| Connections                       | 30023      |
| Created_tmp_disk_tables           | 0          |
| Created_tmp_files                 | 3          |
| Created_tmp_tables                | 2          |
...
| Threads_created                   | 217        |
| Threads_running                   | 88         |
| Uptime                            | 1389872    |
+-----------------------------------+------------+

Note: Before MySQL 5.0.2, SHOW STATUS returned global status values. Because the default as of 5.0.2 is to return session values, this is incompatible with previous versions. To issue a SHOW STATUS statement that will retrieve global status values for all versions of MySQL, write it like this:

SHOW /*!50002 GLOBAL */ STATUS;

Many status variables are reset to 0 by the FLUSH STATUS statement.

The status variables have the following meanings. Variables with no version indicated were already present prior to MySQL 5.0. For information regarding their implementation history, see MySQL 3.23, 4.0, 4.1 Reference Manual.

Aborted_clients

The number of connections that were aborted because the client died without closing the connection properly. See Section B.1.2.10, “Communication Errors and Aborted Connections”.
Aborted_connects

The number of failed attempts to connect to the MySQL server. See Section B.1.2.10, “Communication Errors and Aborted Connections”.
Binlog_cache_disk_use

The number of transactions that used the temporary binary log cache but that exceeded the value of binlog_cache_size and used a temporary file to store statements from the transaction.
Binlog_cache_use

The number of transactions that used the temporary binary log cache.
Bytes_received

The number of bytes received from all clients.
Bytes_sent

The number of bytes sent to all clients.
Com_xxx

The Com_xxx statement counter variables indicate the number of times each xxx statement has been executed. There is one status variable for each type of statement. For example, Com_delete and Com_insert count DELETE and INSERT statements, respectively. However, if a query result is returned from query cache, the server increments the Qcache_hits status variable, not Com_select. See Section 5.13.4, “Query Cache Status and Maintenance”.

All of the Com_stmt_xxx variables are increased even if a prepared statement argument is unknown or an error occurred during execution. In other words, their values correspond to the number of requests issued, not to the number of requests successfully completed.

The Com_stmt_xxx status variables were added in 5.0.8:
- Com_stmt_prepare
- Com_stmt_execute
- Com_stmt_fetch
- Com_stmt_send_long_data
- Com_stmt_reset
- Com_stmt_close
Those variables stand for prepared statement commands. Their names refer to the COM_xxx command set used in the network layer. In other words, their values increase whenever prepared statement API calls such as mysql_stmt_prepare(), mysql_stmt_execute(), and so forth are executed. However, Com_stmt_prepare, Com_stmt_execute and Com_stmt_close also increase for PREPARE, EXECUTE, or DEALLOCATE PREPARE, respectively. Additionally, the values of the older (available since MySQL 4.1.3) statement counter variables Com_prepare_sql, Com_execute_sql, and Com_dealloc_sql increase for the PREPARE, EXECUTE, and DEALLOCATE PREPARE statements. Com_stmt_fetch stands for the total number of network round-trips issued when fetching from cursors.
Compression

Whether the client connection uses compression in the client/server protocol. Added in MySQL 5.0.16.
Connections

The number of connection attempts (successful or not) to the MySQL server.
Created_tmp_disk_tables

The number of temporary tables on disk created automatically by the server while executing statements.
Created_tmp_files

How many temporary files mysqld has created.
Created_tmp_tables

The number of in-memory temporary tables created automatically by the server while executing statements. If Created_tmp_disk_tables is large, you may want to increase the tmp_table_size value to cause temporary tables to be memory-based instead of disk-based.
Delayed_errors

The number of rows written with INSERT DELAYED for which some error occurred (probably duplicate key).
Delayed_insert_threads

The number of INSERT DELAYED handler threads in use.
Delayed_writes

The number of INSERT DELAYED rows written.
Flush_commands

The number of executed FLUSH statements.
Handler_commit

The number of internal COMMIT statements.
Handler_delete

The number of times that rows have been deleted from tables.
Handler_discover

The MySQL server can ask the NDB Cluster storage engine if it knows about a table with a given name. This is called discovery. Handler_discover indicates the number of times that tables have been discovered via this mechanism.
Handler_prepare

A counter for the prepare phase of two-phase commit operations. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Handler_read_first

The number of times the first entry was read from an index. If this value is high, it suggests that the server is doing a lot of full index scans; for example, SELECT col1 FROM foo, assuming that col1 is indexed.
Handler_read_key

The number of requests to read a row based on a key. If this value is high, it is a good indication that your tables are properly indexed for your queries.
Handler_read_next

The number of requests to read the next row in key order. This value is incremented if you are querying an index column with a range constraint or if you are doing an index scan.
Handler_read_prev

The number of requests to read the previous row in key order. This read method is mainly used to optimize ORDER BY ... DESC.
Handler_read_rnd

The number of requests to read a row based on a fixed position. This value is high if you are doing a lot of queries that require sorting of the result. You probably have a lot of queries that require MySQL to scan entire tables or you have joins that don't use keys properly.
Handler_read_rnd_next

The number of requests to read the next row in the data file. This value is high if you are doing a lot of table scans. Generally this suggests that your tables are not properly indexed or that your queries are not written to take advantage of the indexes you have.
Handler_rollback

The number of requests for a storage engine to perform a rollback operation.
Handler_savepoint

The number of requests for a storage engine to place a savepoint. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Handler_savepoint_rollback

The number of requests for a storage engine to roll back to a savepoint. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Handler_update

The number of requests to update a row in a table.
Handler_write

The number of requests to insert a row in a table.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_data

The number of pages containing data (dirty or clean). Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_dirty

The number of pages currently dirty. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_flushed

The number of buffer pool page-flush requests. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_free

The number of free pages. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_latched

The number of latched pages in InnoDB buffer pool. These are pages currently being read or written or that cannot be flushed or removed for some other reason. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_misc

The number of pages that are busy because they have been allocated for administrative overhead such as row locks or the adaptive hash index. This value can also be calculated as Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_total – Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_free – Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_data. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_total

The total size of buffer pool, in pages. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_rnd

The number of “random” read-aheads initiated by InnoDB. This happens when a query scans a large portion of a table but in random order. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_seq

The number of sequential read-aheads initiated by InnoDB. This happens when InnoDB does a sequential full table scan. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_read_requests

The number of logical read requests InnoDB has done. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_reads

The number of logical reads that InnoDB could not satisfy from the buffer pool and had to do a single-page read. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_wait_free

Normally, writes to the InnoDB buffer pool happen in the background. However, if it is necessary to read or create a page and no clean pages are available, it is also necessary to wait for pages to be flushed first. This counter counts instances of these waits. If the buffer pool size has been set properly, this value should be small. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_buffer_pool_write_requests

The number writes done to the InnoDB buffer pool. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_fsyncs

The number of fsync() operations so far. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_pending_fsyncs

The current number of pending fsync() operations. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_pending_reads

The current number of pending reads. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_pending_writes

The current number of pending writes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_read

The amount of data read so far, in bytes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_reads

The total number of data reads. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_writes

The total number of data writes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_data_written

The amount of data written so far, in bytes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_dblwr_writes, Innodb_dblwr_pages_written

The number of doublewrite operations that have been performed and the number of pages that have been written for this purpose. Added in MySQL 5.0.2. See Section 14.2.14.1, “InnoDB Disk I/O”.
Innodb_log_waits

The number of times that the log buffer was too small and a wait was required for it to be flushed before continuing. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_log_write_requests

The number of log write requests. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_log_writes

The number of physical writes to the log file. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_os_log_fsyncs

The number of fsync() writes done to the log file. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_os_log_pending_fsyncs

The number of pending log file fsync() operations. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_os_log_pending_writes

The number of pending log file writes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_os_log_written

The number of bytes written to the log file. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_page_size

The compiled-in InnoDB page size (default 16KB). Many values are counted in pages; the page size allows them to be easily converted to bytes. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_pages_created

The number of pages created. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_pages_read

The number of pages read. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_pages_written

The number of pages written. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_row_lock_current_waits

The number of row locks currently being waited for. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Innodb_row_lock_time

The total time spent in acquiring row locks, in milliseconds. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Innodb_row_lock_time_avg

The average time to acquire a row lock, in milliseconds. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Innodb_row_lock_time_max

The maximum time to acquire a row lock, in milliseconds. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Innodb_row_lock_waits

The number of times a row lock had to be waited for. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Innodb_rows_deleted

The number of rows deleted from InnoDB tables. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_rows_inserted

The number of rows inserted into InnoDB tables. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_rows_read

The number of rows read from InnoDB tables. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Innodb_rows_updated

The number of rows updated in InnoDB tables. Added in MySQL 5.0.2.
Key_blocks_not_flushed

The number of key blocks in the key cache that have changed but have not yet been flushed to disk.
Key_blocks_unused

The number of unused blocks in the key cache. You can use this value to determine how much of the key cache is in use; see the discussion of key_buffer_size in Section 5.2.3, “System Variables”.
Key_blocks_used

The number of used blocks in the key cache. This value is a high-water mark that indicates the maximum number of blocks that have ever been in use at one time.
Key_read_requests

The number of requests to read a key block from the cache.
Key_reads

The number of physical reads of a key block from disk. If Key_reads is large, then your key_buffer_size value is probably too small. The cache miss rate can be calculated as Key_reads/Key_read_requests.
Key_write_requests

The number of requests to write a key block to the cache.
Key_writes

The number of physical writes of a key block to disk.
Last_query_cost

The total cost of the last compiled query as computed by the query optimizer. This is useful for comparing the cost of different query plans for the same query. The default value of 0 means that no query has been compiled yet. This variable was added in MySQL 5.0.1, with a default value of -1. In MySQL 5.0.7, the default was changed to 0; also in version 5.0.7, the scope of Last_query_cost was changed to session rather than global.

Prior to MySQL 5.0.16, this variable was not updated for queries served from the query cache.
Max_used_connections

The maximum number of connections that have been in use simultaneously since the server started.
Ndb_cluster_node_id

If the server is acting as a MySQL Cluster node, then the value of this variable its node ID in the cluster.

If the server is not part of a MySQL Cluster, then the value of this variable is 0.
Ndb_config_from_host

If the server is part of a MySQL Cluster, the value of this variable is the hostname or IP address of the Cluster management server from which it gets its configuration data.

If the server is not part of a MySQL Cluster, then the value of this variable is an empty string.

Prior to MySQL 5.0.23, this variable was named Ndb_connected_host.
Ndb_config_from_port

If the server is part of a MySQL Cluster, the value of this variable is the number of the port through which it is connected to the Cluster management server from which it gets its configuration data.

If the server is not part of a MySQL Cluster, then the value of this variable is 0.

Prior to MySQL 5.0.23, this variable was named Ndb_connected_port.
Ndb_number_of_data_nodes

If the server is part of a MySQL Cluster, the value of this variable is the number of data nodes in the cluster.

If the server is not part of a MySQL Cluster, then the value of this variable is 0.

Prior to MySQL 5.0.29, this variable was named Ndb_number_of_storage_nodes.
Not_flushed_delayed_rows

The number of rows waiting to be written in INSERT DELAY queues.
Open_files

The number of files that are open.
Open_streams

The number of streams that are open (used mainly for logging).
Open_tables

The number of tables that are open.
Opened_tables

The number of tables that have been opened. If Opened_tables is big, your table_cache value is probably too small.
Prepared_stmt_count

The current number of prepared statements. (The maximum number of statements is given by the max_prepared_stmt_count system variable.) This variable was added in MySQL 5.0.32.
Qcache_free_blocks

The number of free memory blocks in the query cache.
Qcache_free_memory

The amount of free memory for the query cache.
Qcache_hits

The number of query cache hits.
Qcache_inserts

The number of queries added to the query cache.
Qcache_lowmem_prunes

The number of queries that were deleted from the query cache because of low memory.
Qcache_not_cached

The number of non-cached queries (not cacheable, or not cached due to the query_cache_type setting).
Qcache_queries_in_cache

The number of queries registered in the query cache.
Qcache_total_blocks

The total number of blocks in the query cache.
Questions

The number of statements that clients have sent to the server.
Rpl_status

The status of fail-safe replication (not yet implemented).
Select_full_join

The number of joins that perform table scans because they do not use indexes. If this value is not 0, you should carefully check the indexes of your tables.
Select_full_range_join

The number of joins that used a range search on a reference table.
Select_range

The number of joins that used ranges on the first table. This is normally not a critical issue even if the value is quite large.
Select_range_check

The number of joins without keys that check for key usage after each row. If this is not 0, you should carefully check the indexes of your tables.
Select_scan

The number of joins that did a full scan of the first table.
Slave_open_temp_tables

The number of temporary tables that the slave SQL thread currently has open.
Slave_running

This is ON if this server is a slave that is connected to a master.
Slave_retried_transactions

The total number of times since startup that the replication slave SQL thread has retried transactions. This variable was added in version 5.0.4.
Slow_launch_threads

The number of threads that have taken more than slow_launch_time seconds to create.
Slow_queries

The number of queries that have taken more than long_query_time seconds. See Section 5.11.4, “The Slow Query Log”.
Sort_merge_passes

The number of merge passes that the sort algorithm has had to do. If this value is large, you should consider increasing the value of the sort_buffer_size system variable.
Sort_range

The number of sorts that were done using ranges.
Sort_rows

The number of sorted rows.
Sort_scan

The number of sorts that were done by scanning the table.
Ssl_xxx

Variables used for SSL connections.
Table_locks_immediate

The number of times that a table lock was acquired immediately.
Table_locks_waited

The number of times that a table lock could not be acquired immediately and a wait was needed. If this is high and you have performance problems, you should first optimize your queries, and then either split your table or tables or use replication.
Tc_log_max_pages_used

For the memory-mapped implementation of the log that is used by mysqld when it acts as the transaction coordinator for recovery of internal XA transactions, this variable indicates the largest number of pages used for the log since the server started. If the product of Tc_log_max_pages_used and Tc_log_page_size is always significantly less than the log size, the size is larger than necessary and can be reduced. (The size is set by the --log-tc-size option. Currently, this variable is unused: It is unneeded for binary log-based recovery, and the memory-mapped recovery log method is not used unless the number of storage engines capable of two-phase commit is greater than one. (InnoDB is the only applicable engine.) Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Tc_log_page_size

The page size used for the memory-mapped implementation of the XA recovery log. The default value is determined using getpagesize(). Currently, this variable is unused for the same reasons as described for Tc_log_max_pages_used. Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Tc_log_page_waits

For the memory-mapped implementation of the recovery log, this variable increments each time the server was not able to commit a transaction and had to wait for a free page in the log. If this value is large, you might want to increase the log size (with the --log-tc-size option). For binary log-based recovery, this variable increments each time the binary log cannot be closed because there are two-phase commits in progress. (The close operation waits until all such transactions are finished.) Added in MySQL 5.0.3.
Threads_cached

The number of threads in the thread cache.
Threads_connected

The number of currently open connections.
Threads_created

The number of threads created to handle connections. If Threads_created is big, you may want to increase the thread_cache_size value. The cache miss rate can be calculated as Threads_created/Connections.
Threads_running

The number of threads that are not sleeping.
Uptime

The number of seconds that the server has been up.

User Comments

Posted by Demetrios Stavrinos on July 22 2004 12:27pm

[Delete] [Edit]

Reading the explanation for Handler read rnd next , I question it! I list some number from a test db that does almost all accesses by locating a record with a key (GE or xxx%) and then using next to access related record; yet the Handler read rnd next is relatively large.
Handler read key 42053
Handler read next 453703
Handler read rnd 696
Handler read rnd next 104378

Posted by Heikki Hannikainen on April 28 2006 10:23am

On MySQL 5.0 the com_* variables of 'show status' are counted for the current connection only. The new undocumented command 'show global status' shows server-wide counters. (http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=19422)

Posted by Baron "Xaprb" Schwartz on August 25 2006 5:56pm

In 5.0.x and newer, there's a mixture of session and global status variables. Some things became session-ized in different versions than other things. The documentation doesn't say which is which and when, but through experimentation I find these to have a session scope:

Bytes_received
Bytes_sent
Com_*
Created_tmp_disk_tables
Created_tmp_tables
Handler_*
Last_query_cost
Select_full_join
Select_full_range_join
Select_range
Select_range_check
Select_scan
Slave_open_temp_tables
Slave_retried_transactions
Sort_merge_passes
Sort_range
Sort_rows
Sort_scan

Last_query_cost has a slightly different history than others. It was added in 5.0.1 but became session scoped in 5.0.7 instead of 5.0.2 (this is documented above).

Add your own comment.