MySQL

Learn how to add MySQL as a datasource in StrongDM.

Overview

This guide outlines the configuration steps for adding MySQL (or MySQL mTLS) as a datasource in StrongDM.

The mutual TLS (mTLS) version of this datasource type is available if you need certificates to reach the MySQL port, rather than username and password. This is of particular importance with GCP-hosted MySQL, for which it is the default expected behavior.

When the resource is added, StrongDM proxies client connections through a node (gateway, relay, or proxy cluster). This enables centralized access control, credential management, and audit logging. Standard MySQL clients and drivers are supported via StrongDM.

Use this guide to complete all necessary preparations for adding MySQL as a resource to your StrongDM environment; input the correct properties in the Admin UI, CLI, SDKs, or Terraform provider; and test for a successful connection. Once complete, you’ll be able to use the StrongDM Desktop application or CLI to connect.

For general information about how to add a database as a resource in StrongDM, see our main guide, Add a Datasource.

Supported Versions and Clients

StrongDM supports MySQL version 5.7 and higher, including managed services like AWS RDS, Aurora MySQL, and Azure Database for MySQL.

StrongDM works with all standard MySQL clients and connectors, such as:

• CLI Tools (mysql)

• GUI interfaces (DataGrip, DBeaver, HeidiSQL)

• Application drivers (JDBC, ODBC, Node.js, Python, Go, and so forth)

Prerequisites

To add your resource in StrongDM, you need to meet several technical and configuration prerequisites. Please ensure that the following requirements are met.

In StrongDM, you must have the following:

• Administrator permission level

• At least one operational StrongDM node (gateway, relay, or proxy cluster) with network access to the MySQL server.

• If using secrets management tools for storing your database credentials, a Secret Store configured in StrongDM

To verify that the resource is accessible by the node, log in to the gateway or relay and use Netcat: nc -zv <HOSTNAME> <PORT> (in this example, nc -zv testdb-01.fancy.org 3306). If your gateway server can connect to this hostname, proceed.

Netcat is a tool for checking various hostnames and ports by either sending data (a ping) or checking for listeners on the ports. The command in the aforementioned example use "-z" to check for listeners without sending data and "-v" to show verbose output. If you don't have Netcat, you can install the Netcat package with whatever package manager you are using, such as "apt-get install netcat".

On the MySQL side, you must have the following:

• Running MySQL (or compatible) server

• Database user with relevant access to the target database

• Network configurations (firewalls, VPC rules, and so forth) that permit connections from StrongDM nodes

Resource Management in StrongDM

After all prerequisites and prep work is done, you are ready to add the resource to StrongDM. This section provides instructions for adding the resource in either the StrongDM Admin UI, CLI, Terraform provider, or SDKs.

Admin UI

Set up and Manage With the Admin UI

If using the Admin UI to add Citus as a resource to StrongDM, use the following steps.

1. Log in to the StrongDM Admin UI.

2. Go to Resources > Datasources.

3. Click Add datasource.

4. For Datasource Type, select MySQL or MySQL (mTLS) .

5. Complete all required configuration properties for your selected datasource type.

6. Click Create to save the resource.

7. Click the resource name to view status, diagnostic information, and setting details.

CLI

Set up and Manage With the CLI

This section provides an example of how to add the resource using the StrongDM CLI. For more information and examples, please see the CLI Reference documentation.

# Add MySQL datasource
sdm admin datasources add mysql mydb-prod
  --hostname="mydb.example.org"
  --port=3306
  --username="db_user"
  --password="secret"
  --bind-interface="127.0.0.1"
  --egress-filter="tag:env=prod"
  --port-override="12345"
  --proxy-cluster-id="n-1a2b345c67890123"
  --secret-store-id="se-e1b2"
  --subdomain="mydb-prod"
  --tags="env=production,team=data"

Terraform

Set up and Manage With Terraform

This section provides an example of how to configure and manage the resource using the Terraform provider. For more information and examples, please see the Terraform provider documentation.

# Install StrongDM provider
terraform {
  required_providers {
    sdm = {
      source  = "strongdm/sdm"
      version = "5.1.0"
    }
  }
}

# Configure StrongDM provider
provider "sdm" {
  # Add API access key and secret key from Admin UI
  api_access_key = "njjSn...5hM"
  api_secret_key = "ziG...="
}

# Create MySQL resource
resource "sdm_mysql" "mydb_prod" {
  name             = "mydb-prod"
  hostname         = "mydb.example.org"
  port             = 3306
  database         = "production"
  username         = "db_user"
  password         = "secret"

  bind_interface   = "127.0.0.1"
  egress_filter    = "tag:env=prod"
  port_override    = 12345
  proxy_cluster_id = "n-1a2b345c67890123"

  secret_store_id  = "se-e1b2"
  subdomain        = "mydb-prod"
  tags = {
    env  = "production"
    team = "data"
  }
}

SDKs

Set up and manage with SDKs

In addition to the Admin UI, CLI, and Terraform, you may configure and manage your resource with any of the following SDK options: Go, Java, Python, and Ruby. Please see the following references for more information and examples.

Language	Reference	GitHub	Examples
Go	pkg.go.dev	strongdm-sdk-go	Go SDK Examples
Java	javadoc	strongdm-sdk-java	Java SDK Examples
Python	pdocs	strongdm-sdk-python	Python SDK Examples
Ruby	RubyDoc	strongdm-sdk-ruby	Ruby SDK Examples

Configuration Properties

The following configuration properties are required to define a MySQL datasource in StrongDM. These settings control how StrongDM connects to the database, authenticates the connection, and optionally uses encryption or secret management. Each property must be correctly configured to ensure connectivity and access enforcement through StrongDM.

MySQL

MySQL Resource Properties

The following table describes the settings available for your MySQL database.

Property	Requirement	Description
Display Name	Required	Meaningful name to display the resource throughout StrongDM; exclude special characters like quotes (") or angle brackets (< or >)
Datasource Type	Required	MySQL
Proxy Cluster	Required	Defaults to "None (use gateways)"; if using proxy clusters, select the appropriate cluster to proxy traffic to this resource
Hostname	Required	Hostname for your MongoDB database resource; must be accessible to a gateway or relay
Port	Required	Port to use when connecting to your MongoDB database; default port value is 3306
Connectivity Mode	Required	Select either Virtual Networking Mode, which lets users connect to the resource with a software-defined, IP-based network; or Loopback Mode, which allows users to connect to the resource using the local loopback adapter in their operating system
IP Address	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the range 100.64.0.1 to 100.127.255.252 (default 100.64.100.100); optionally change the default value for Virtual Networking Mode to your preferred IP address value, as long as it's a valid IP address defined by your organization settings; edit either on this form or later on the Admin UI's Port Overrides page after the resource is created; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, the IP address value must be within the range of 127.0.0.1 to 127.0.0.34
Port Override	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1 and 65535 that is not already in use by another resource; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1024 to 64999 that is not already in use by another resource; when left empty, the system assigns the default port to this resource; preferred port also can be modified later from the Port Overrides settings
DNS	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a unique hostname alias for this resource; when set, causes the desktop app to display this resource's human-readable DNS name (for example, k8s.my-organization-name) instead of the bind address that includes IP address and port (for example, 100.64.100.100:5432)
Healthcheck Database	Optional	Database name you would like to connect to specifically for healthchecks from StrongDM
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to Strong Vault; learn more about [Secret Store#secret-store-options) options
Username	Required	Username to utilize when connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when StrongDM serves as the Secret Store type
Password	Required	Password for the user connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when StrongDM serves as the Secret Store type
Username (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store type
Password (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store type
Require Native Password Authentication	Optional	Enable if the resource requires the use of mysql_native_password for all connections; this option is available for backwards compatibility with prior MySQL versions
Use Azure Single Server Usernames	Optional	If selected, the hostname is appended to the username when interacting with a database.azure.com address
Resource Tags	Optional	Datasource Tags consisting of key-value pairs <KEY>=<VALUE> (for example, env=dev)

MySQL (mTLS)

MySQL (mTLS) Resource Properties

The following table describes the settings available for MySQL (mTLS).

Property	Requirement	Description
Display Name	Required	Meaningful name to display the resource throughout StrongDM; exclude special characters like quotes (") or angle brackets (< or >)
Datasource Type	Required	MySQL (mTLS)
Proxy Cluster	Required	Defaults to "None (use gateways)"; if using proxy clusters, select the appropriate cluster to proxy traffic to this resource
Hostname	Required	Hostname for your MySQL database resource; must be accessible to a gateway or relay
Port	Required	Port to use when connecting to your MySQL database; default port value is 3306
Connectivity Mode	Required	Select either Virtual Networking Mode, which lets users connect to the resource with a software-defined, IP-based network; or Loopback Mode, which allows users to connect to the resource using the local loopback adapter in their operating system; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode enabled for your organization
IP Address	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Virtual Networking Mode subnet in the organization network settings; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Loopback IP range in the organization network settings (by default, 127.0.0.1); if not specified, an available IP address in the configured IP address space for the selected connectivity mode will be automatically assigned; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode and/or multi-loopback mode is enabled for your organization
Port Override	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1 and 65535 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1024 to 64999 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; when left empty with Virtual Networking Mode, the system assigns the default port to this resource; when left empty for Loopback Mode, an available port that is not already in use by another resource is assigned; preferred port also can be modified later from the Port Overrides settings
DNS	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a unique hostname alias for this resource; when set, causes the desktop app to display this resource's human-readable DNS name (for example, k8s.my-organization-name) instead of the bind address that includes IP address and port (for example, 100.64.100.100:5432)
Healthcheck Database	Optional	Database name you would like to connect to specifically for healthchecks from StrongDM
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to Strong Vault; learn more about [Secret Store#secret-store-options) options
Username	Required	Username to utilize when connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when StrongDM serves as the Secret Store type
Password	Required	Password for the user connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when StrongDM serves as the Secret Store type
Username (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store type
Password (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store type
Server CA	Required	Paste the server certificate (plaintext or Base64-encoded), or import a PEM file; this field is shown when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization, or when it is and StrongDM is the selected Secret Store type
Server CA (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName); the key argument is optional; this field is shown if Secret Store integration is configured for your organization and you selected a Secret Store type that is not StrongDM
Client Certificate	Required	Client certificate (plaintext or Base64-encoded) or PEM file; this field is shown when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization, or when it is and StrongDM is the selected Secret Store type
Client Certificate (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName); the key argument is optional; this field is shown if Secret Store integration is configured for your organization and you selected a Secret Store type that is not StrongDM
Client Key	Required	Client key (plaintext or Base64-encoded) or PEM file; this field is shown when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization, or when it is and StrongDM is the selected Secret Store type
Client Key (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName); the key argument is optional; this field is shown if Secret Store integration is configured for your organization and you selected a Secret Store type that is not StrongDM
Server Name	Required	Server name; for GCP, for example, the server name is the connection name of your instance in GCP without the region (for example, example-sandbox:my-instance-mtls-mysql); for non-GCP instances, the server name is the hostname/DNS name
Require Native Password Authentication	Optional	Enable if the resource requires the use of mysql_native_password for all connections; this option is available for backwards compatibility with prior MySQL versions
Use Azure Single Server Usernames	Optional	If selected, the hostname is appended to the username when interacting with a database.azure.com address
Resource Tags	Optional	Datasource Tags consisting of key-value pairs <KEY>=<VALUE> (for example, env=dev)

Secret Store options

By default, datasource credentials are stored in StrongDM. However, these credentials can also be saved in a secrets management tool.

Non-StrongDM options appear in the Secret Store dropdown if they are created under Network > Secret Stores. When you select another Secret Store type, its unique properties display. For more details, see Configure Secret Store Integrations.

Resource status

After a resource is created, the Admin UI displays that resource as unhealthy until the healthchecks run successfully. When the resource is ready, the Health icon indicates a positive, green status.

When the resource does not display a positive status, click the resource name to go to the Diagnostics tab and check for errors.

Test the Connection

After you have added your resource in StrongDM, follow these steps to verify that it’s working correctly.

1. Assign yourself access by ensuring that your user or role has access to the resource. In the StrongDM Admin UI, go to Access > Roles, and verify that the resource is attached to a role you’re in.

2. In the CLI, run sdm status to list the available datasources. Confirm that the resource is available.

3. Start a session. For example:

   sdm connect mydb-prod

   See the CLI Reference documentation for details on sdm connect.

4. Connect using MySQL client. For example:

   mysql -h $MYSQL_HOST -P $MYSQL_PORT -u $MYSQL_USER -p$MYSQL_PASSWORD $MYSQL_DATABASE

5. In the StrongDM Admin UI, check Logs > Queries (and Logs > Connections) to verify your session was captured.

When these steps succeed, you’re ready to connect to your resource through StrongDM.

Help

If you encounter issues, please consult the StrongDM Help Center.

Be prepared to provide the following information to StrongDM Support, so that they can inspect logs and confirm node and resource health:

• Resource name or ID

• CLI error output or logs

• Node name and region