Connect to Google Cloud SQL for MySQL

Cloud SQL for MySQL is a fully-managed database service that makes it easy to set-up, maintain, manage and administer your relational MySQL databases on Cloud Platform. The Cloud SQL for MySQL connector allows you to access data from Cloud SQL for MySQL databases within Looker Studio.

In this article:

• Supported versions
• How to connect to Cloud SQL for MySQL
• Notes
• Limits
• Related resources

Supported versions

The Cloud SQL for MySQL connector was tested on the following MySQL versions:

• 5.6
• 5.7
• 8.0

If you experience issues using a supported version, please let us know in the Looker Studio Help Community. You can add and vote on feature requests here.

How to connect to Cloud SQL for MySQL

A Looker Studio data source can connect to a single Cloud SQL for MySQL database table, or to a custom query you provide.

To connect

1. Sign in to Looker Studio.
2. On the Looker Studio home page, in the top left, click Create and then select Data Source.
3. Select the Cloud SQL for MySQL connector.
4. If asked, authorize Looker Studio to access your data.
5. Set up the connection to your database:

   Connect with a hostname or IP address

   1. On the left, select BASIC.
   2. Enter the connection details:
      1. Instance Connection Name (see below to find out how to list your instance connections).
      2. Database
      3. Username
      4. Password

   Connect with a JDBC URL

   1. On the left, select JDBC URL.
   2. Enter the connection details:
      1. JDBC URL

         Example
         
         jdbc:google:mysql://<instance connection name>/<database>

      2. Username
      3. Password

   If you use the JDBC hostname option, you can make sure it's accessible with public DNS lookup tools such as Whois.
   Note: Looker Studio can't connect to localhost. You must use a public hostname or IP address.
6. Click AUTHENTICATE.
7. Select a table from the list or enter a custom query.

   Select the CUSTOM QUERY option to provide a SQL query instead of connecting to a single table. Looker Studio uses this custom SQL as an inner select statement for each generated query to the database.

   Custom SQL queries may only have a single statement.

   For example, the following will not work because it has multiple SQL statements:

   DECLARE cost_per_tb_in_dollar FLOAT64 DEFAULT 4.2;

   SELECT total_bytes_billed / (1024 * 1024))* cost_per_tb_in_dollar)/(1024*1024))) FROM billing-table;

   This is also true when exploring from BigQuery: your query result set may only be based on a single statement.

   Note: Queries in Looker Studio may timeout after 3 to 5 minutes. If your custom queries time out, try the following approaches to resolve the issue:

   • Simplify the query so that it runs faster.
   • Run the query in your database and store the results in a separate table. Then connect to that table in your data source.
8. Click CONNECT.

In a moment, the data source fields list page appears. In the upper right, click CREATE REPORT or EXPLORE to start visualizing your data.

Notes

Find your instance connection name

The instance connection name identifies your instance on Google Cloud. You can get it from the Cloud console, or by using the command line.

Use the console

1. Navigate to https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances
2. Click the Instance ID you want to connect to.
3. On the left, you'll find connection Name in the "Connect to this instance" section.

Use the command line

To find the connection name using the Cloud command line interface, use the following command:

gcloud sql instances describe [INSTANCE_NAME] | grep connectionName

Permissions

You must have at least cloudsql.client permission in the Cloud SQL for MySQL project to create the connection. If you don't have (or can't get) this access, you can use the MySQL connector instead.

Network connectivity

The Cloud SQL for MySQL connector supports connections to Cloud SQL for MySQL instances with public IP connectivity and private IP connectivity.

You must configure public IP connectivity or private IP connectivity for your Cloud SQL for MySQL instance before using the Cloud SQL for MySQL connector.

To allow Looker Studio to access data in Cloud SQL and make queries against this data over a private connection, select the Private path for Google Cloud services option in your Cloud SQL for MySQL instance settings. Learn more.

 

Data types

Looker Studio maps your database's native data types to a unified set of data types. If Looker Studio encounters a column in your table or query of an unsupported type, it will not create a field for that column.

Note: Looker Studio does not support MySQL's Spatial Data Extensions.

Limits of the Cloud SQL for MySQL connector

• You can query a maximum of 150 K rows per query using this connector. If you exceed this limit, the data will be truncated.
• Column headers (field names) must use ASCII characters only. Non-ASCII characters aren't supported.

Related resources

• Create a data source
• Cloud SQL for MySQL developer documentation