MySQL Workbench is a handy administrative tool. Workbench provides server status information, client connection data, the best user admin interface, a browser for system variables, access to data export, an import/restore function, access to system logs, option file editing, performance reports, and startup/shutdown switch.

This is a snapshot of the dashboard on a laptop running a few very simplequeries.

In the past I have either used the CLI or tools like PHPMyAdmin. Well, the CLI is often victim to my poor typing skills and PHPMyAdmin is not always installed when I need it. But if I can connect via the CLI, I can connect with Workbench.

The Server variables can be easily copied to a clipbaord

Comparing server variables across systems can be painful but Workbench lets you copy the data to a clipboard so you can save the data to a text file that can be used with diff or similar tool to find discrepancies. This is also a hand trick for documenting instances. Over the past few releases, the Workbench Team have added items like this that show they know what information a DBA scrambles for in the wee hours of the morning when hunting problems.

A performance report on the most active files on the instance.

Need Performance Schema info? It is there too. Calculating Runtimes in the 95th percentile used to be a ‘dark art’ that is now just a click away.

So if you are looking for a great admin tool, check out MySQL Workbench.