The MySQL distribution provides several tools for database developers and administrators, but they don’t always work everywhere. Fortunately, the worldwide MySQL community has produced plenty of useful tools. Baron Schwartz surveys the possibilities and offers suggestions for what you should use.

At some point I have used most of these tools:

Tools to Monitor Queries and Transactions

=> mytop – Old but still good tool

=> innotop – MySQL and InnoDB monitor

=> phpmytop and ajaxmytop – Web-based monitoring tools (very good if you don’t have shell access).

Tools to Monitor a MySQL Server

=> mysqlreport – Easy to understand MySQL status report perl script

See list of Open Tools for MySQL Administrators list [oreillynet.com].