> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Instance Uptime, MySQL

> Instance Uptime for MySQL instances. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

**Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained)  •  **Category:** [Executive Overview](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type)

## At a glance

> How long the MySQL server process has been running continuously since its last start or restart, shown in real time. A high, steadily climbing value is the healthy norm; a sudden reset to near zero means the instance restarted, which for a production database is almost always worth knowing about because it flushes the in-memory buffer pool and drops every open connection.

## What it tracks

The card reads the `Uptime` global status variable, the count of seconds since `mysqld` started, and renders it as a human-readable duration (for example, 14 days 6 hours). It is a live (RT) reading sampled on each refresh.

Uptime is most useful as a change detector rather than as a target. An unexpected reset signals an OOM-kill, a crash, a failover, or a planned maintenance restart. After any restart the InnoDB buffer pool starts cold, so query latency runs higher until the working set is paged back into memory; pair this card with InnoDB Buffer Pool Hit Rate to see that warm-up. On managed services that perform planned maintenance or auto-failover, uptime resets are expected and benign, but they still explain a transient latency or hit-rate dip. Very long uptimes are not automatically a virtue either: an instance up for 400 days may be overdue a patch cycle for security fixes.

## Reconciling against the source

Confirm directly with `SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'Uptime';` (value in seconds) or `SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Uptime_since_flush_status';` for time since the last counter flush. On managed services check the instance event log (RDS / Aurora events, Cloud SQL operations log) for restart and failover events that explain a reset.

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### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

*Instance Uptime* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across MySQL and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

[Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.