2.3.4.1 MySQL Notifier Usage

2.3.4.1 MySQL Notifier Usage
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MySQL Notifier resides in the system tray and provides visual status information for your MySQL server instances. A green icon is displayed at the top left corner of the tray icon if the current MySQL server is running, or a red icon if the service is stopped.

MySQL Notifier automatically adds discovered MySQL services on the local machine, and each service is saved and configurable. By default, the Automatically add new services whose name contains option is enabled and set to mysql. Related Notifications Options include being notified when new services are either discovered or experience status changes, and are also enabled by default. And uninstalling a service will also remove the service from MySQL Notifier.

Clicking the system tray icon will reveal several options, as the follow figures show:

The Service Instance menu is the main MySQL Notifier window, and enables you to Stop, Start, and Restart the MySQL server.

Figure 2.32 MySQL Notifier Service Instance menu

The Actions menu includes several links to external applications (if they are installed), and a Refresh Status option to manually refresh the status of all monitored services (in both local and remote computers) and MySQL instances.

Note

The main menu will not show the Actions menu when there are no services being monitored by MySQL Notifier.

Figure 2.33 MySQL Notifier Actions menu

The Actions, Options menu configures MySQL Notifier and includes options to:

Use colorful status icons: Enables a colorful style of icons for the tray of MySQL Notifier.
Run at Windows Startup: Allows the application to be loaded when Microsoft Windows starts.
Automatically Check For Updates Every # Weeks: Checks for a new version of MySQL Notifier, and runs this check every # weeks.
Automatically add new services whose name contains: The text used to filter services and add them automatically to the monitored list of the local computer running MySQL Notifier, and on remote computers already monitoring Windows services.
Ping monitored MySQL Server instances every # seconds: The interval (in seconds) to ping monitored MySQL Server instances for status changes. Longer intervals might be necessary if the list of monitored remote instances is large.
Notify me when a service is automatically added: Will display a balloon notification from the taskbar when a newly discovered service is added to the monitored services list.
Notify me when a service changes status: Will display a balloon notification from the taskbar when a monitored service changes its status.
Automatic connections migration delayed until: When there are connections to migrate, postpone the migration by one hour, one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely.

Figure 2.34 MySQL Notifier Options menu

The Actions, Manage Monitored Items menu enables you to configure the monitored services and MySQL instances. First, with the Services tab open:

Figure 2.35 MySQL Notifier Manage Services menu

The Instances tab is similar:

Figure 2.36 MySQL Notifier Manage Instances menu

Adding a service or instance (after clicking Add in the Manage Monitored Items window) enables you to select a running Microsoft Windows service or instance connection, and configure MySQL Notifier to monitor it. Add a new service or instance by clicking service name from the list, then OK to accept. Multiple services and instances may be selected.

Figure 2.37 MySQL Notifier Adding new services

Add instances:

Figure 2.38 MySQL Notifier Adding new instances

Troubleshooting

For issues that are not documented here, visit the MySQL Notifier Support Forum for MySQL Notifier help and support.

Problem: attempting to start/stop/restart a MySQL service might generate an error similar to "The Service MySQLVERSION failed the most recent status change request with the message "The service mysqlVERSION was not found in the Windows Services".
Explanation: this is a case-sensitivity issue, in that the service name is MySQLVERSION compared to having mysqlVERSION in the configuration file.
Solution: either update your MySQL Notifier configuration file with the correct information, or stop MySQL Notifier and delete this configuration file. The MySQL Notifier configuration file is located at %APPDATA%\Oracle\MySQL Notifier\settings.config where %APPDATA% is a variable and depends on your system. A typical location is "C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Running\Oracle\MySQL Notifier\settings.config" where YourUsername is your system's user name. In this file, and within the ServerList section, change the ServerName values from lowercase to the actual service names. For example, change mysqlVERSION to MySQLVERSION, save, and then restart MySQL Notifier. Alternatively, stop MySQL Notifier, delete this file, then restart MySQL Notifier.
Problem: when connecting to a remote computer for the purpose of monitoring a remote Windows service, the Add Service dialog does not always show all the services shown in the Windows Services console.
Explanation: this behavior is governed by the operating system and the outcome is expected when working with nondomain user accounts. For a complete description of the behavior, see the User Account Control and WMI article from Microsoft.
Solution: when the remote computer is in a compatible domain, it is recommended that domain user accounts are used to connect through WMI to a remote computer. For detailed setup instructions using WMI, see Section 2.3.4.2, “Setting Up Remote Monitoring in MySQL Notifier”.
Alternatively, when domain user accounts are not available, Microsoft provides a less secure workaround that should only be implemented with caution. For more information, see the Description of User Account Control and remote restrictions in Windows Vista KB article from Microsoft.