ProxySQL MySQL MySQL · DBA · Configuration

ProxySQL — Admin Interface

Master the ProxySQL Admin interface on port 6032. Learn all admin databases, tables, Load/Save patterns, and essential admin commands.

Connecting to the Admin Interface

ProxySQL has a built-in Admin interface that listens on port 6032. You manage ProxySQL entirely through this interface using standard MySQL client with SQL commands.

BASH — Connect to Admin

# Connect using MySQL client
mysql -u admin -padmin -h 127.0.0.1 -P 6032 --prompt="ProxySQL> "

# Or using shorter form
mysql -u admin -padmin -h 127.0.0.1 -P 6032

Admin Databases

Once connected, ProxySQL exposes several internal databases:

SQL — Show Databases

-- Show all databases
SHOW DATABASES;

-- Result:
-- +-----+---------------+-------------------------------------+
-- | seq | name          | file                                |
-- +-----+---------------+-------------------------------------+
-- |   0 | main          |                                     |
-- |   2 | disk          | /var/lib/proxysql/proxysql.db       |
-- |   3 | stats         |                                     |
-- |   4 | monitor       |                                     |
-- |   5 | stats_history |                                     |
-- +-----+---------------+-------------------------------------+

Database	Purpose
main	In-memory config (staging area — what you edit)
disk	Persistent SQLite config (survives restart)
stats	Runtime statistics — query counts, pool stats, etc.
monitor	Health check results for backend MySQL servers
stats_history	Historical statistics data

Key Admin Tables

SQL — Show Tables

-- Show all tables in main database
USE main;
SHOW TABLES;

Table	Purpose
mysql_servers	Backend MySQL servers list
mysql_users	MySQL users ProxySQL authenticates
mysql_query_rules	Query routing rules
mysql_replication_hostgroups	Read/Write hostgroup mapping
mysql_group_replication_hostgroups	Group Replication hostgroup mapping
global_variables	ProxySQL global settings
mysql_collations	Supported MySQL collations
proxysql_servers	ProxySQL cluster nodes

Changing Admin Credentials

SQL — Change Admin Password

-- Change admin password (do this immediately in production)
UPDATE global_variables
SET variable_value = 'admin:StrongPassword123!'
WHERE variable_name = 'admin-admin_credentials';

-- Apply and save
LOAD ADMIN VARIABLES TO RUNTIME;
SAVE ADMIN VARIABLES TO DISK;

The Load / Save Pattern

Every change in ProxySQL follows this two-step pattern to activate and persist:

SQL — Load & Save Commands

-- After changing MySQL servers:
LOAD MYSQL SERVERS TO RUNTIME;
SAVE MYSQL SERVERS TO DISK;

-- After changing MySQL users:
LOAD MYSQL USERS TO RUNTIME;
SAVE MYSQL USERS TO DISK;

-- After changing query rules:
LOAD MYSQL QUERY RULES TO RUNTIME;
SAVE MYSQL QUERY RULES TO DISK;

-- After changing global variables:
LOAD MYSQL VARIABLES TO RUNTIME;
SAVE MYSQL VARIABLES TO DISK;

-- After changing admin variables:
LOAD ADMIN VARIABLES TO RUNTIME;
SAVE ADMIN VARIABLES TO DISK;

💡 Note: LOAD applies changes immediately to the running ProxySQL process. SAVE persists them to the SQLite disk database so they survive a restart.

Viewing Current Configuration

SQL — View Config

-- View all global variables
SELECT * FROM global_variables;

-- View MySQL servers
SELECT * FROM mysql_servers;

-- View MySQL users
SELECT * FROM mysql_users;

-- View query rules
SELECT * FROM mysql_query_rules;

-- View runtime servers (what is actually active)
SELECT * FROM runtime_mysql_servers;

-- View runtime query rules
SELECT * FROM runtime_mysql_query_rules;

Useful Admin Commands

SQL — Admin Commands

-- Show ProxySQL version
SELECT @@version;

-- Show uptime and stats
SHOW PROCESSLIST;

-- Reset all statistics counters
SELECT * FROM stats.stats_mysql_global;

-- Flush logs
PROXYSQL FLUSH LOGS;

-- Restart ProxySQL internals without full restart
PROXYSQL RESTART;

-- Full shutdown
PROXYSQL SHUTDOWN;