MySQL probe

The MySQL probe connects to a MySQL or MariaDB server, runs a SQL statement, and returns the result: a result set, an update count, or a server error. It is VirtuProbe’s first database protocol, which closes the loop on integration testing: after an HTTP call writes a record, a MySQL step can confirm the row actually landed.

Unlike the hand-rolled protocol probes, the MySQL probe is library-backed (MariaDB Connector/J, which speaks both MySQL and MariaDB) with connection pooling, so repeated sends and the steps of a chain reuse connections instead of reconnecting each time.

Engineering tier

The MySQL probe is available on Engineering tier and above.

Connection settings

Field	Description
Host	Hostname or IP of the database server
Port	Server port (default: 3306)
Database	Default schema to connect to (optional)
TLS mode	Disabled, Required (encrypt without verifying the certificate), Verify CA, or Verify identity (verify the certificate chain and hostname)
Allow public-key retrieval	Let the driver fetch the server’s RSA public key over a plaintext connection. Required for caching_sha2_password (the MySQL 8 default) without TLS. Off by default, because it exposes the exchange to a MITM.
Allow cleartext password plugin	Permit mysql_clear_password (used with PAM/LDAP auth). Off by default.

Authentication

MySQL logins use the credential store, so the username and password never live on the probe. This keeps secrets out of a shared folder-backed workspace (which stores probes as plain files) and out of exported evidence.

A database login is a username + password, which maps to a Basic credential (username in config, password in secrets). In the probe’s Auth row:

1. Select an existing credential, or click New credential to create a Basic one (name, username, password).
2. The effective credential panel shows what will be used and where it came from, either this probe or the project default (the cascade: a probe with no credential falls back to the project’s default credential).
3. Stored secrets are masked; click the eye to reveal a value on demand (behind a confirmation).
4. Override for this run lets you type a different username/password for a single send without changing the stored credential, which is how you try alternate credentials against the same target.

If no credential is selected, the connection is attempted anonymously.

SQL statement

Enter the statement in the SQL editor. Ctrl/Cmd+Enter runs it. {{variable}} placeholders are resolved from the active environment before the statement is sent, and that deliberately includes substitution into the SQL text itself, which is what enables both data-driven chaining and SQL-injection testing.

Row limit

A send returns at most 1000 rows. The field sits under the SQL editor, and 0 means no limit.

A SELECT * against a production table is one keystroke away, and every row that comes back is held in memory and written into the run record, so the limit keeps a mistyped query from taking the app down with it.

When the statement matched more rows than the limit allows, the count beside the grid reads first 1000 rows, limit reached instead of a total. VirtuProbe asks the driver for one row past the limit and throws it away, so a query that returned exactly 1000 rows and a query that was cut off at 1000 are told apart rather than guessed at.

Response panel

• Query (SELECT, SHOW, …) → a scrollable result-set table. Column names come from the driver; a SQL NULL renders as an italic NULL.
• Update / DDL (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, …) → the number of affected rows, plus any generated auto-increment keys.
• Server error → a red panel with the message, the vendor error code, and the SQLSTATE. A rejected statement is a valid failed result, not a crash.

The status bar shows the row/affected count, the server version, and the client-side round-trip duration.

Extractors

Use these in chain steps to pull values out of a MySQL result for later steps or assertions:

Extractor	Returns
MYSQL_SUCCESS	"true" / "false"
MYSQL_ROW_COUNT	number of rows returned by a query
MYSQL_AFFECTED_ROWS	rows affected by an update/DDL (-1 for a query)
MYSQL_COLUMN	a single cell, with expression column, row.column or row.colIndex (e.g. email, 0.email, 2.1)
MYSQL_ERROR_CODE	the vendor error code (0 on success)
MYSQL_JSON	the whole result set as a JSON array

See Extractors for the full list.

Chains

MySQL is a first-class chain step. A common pattern is HTTP → MySQL: call an API that creates a record, then run a SELECT and ASSERT on a MYSQL_COLUMN value to prove the write. {{variable}} values (including extractor output from earlier steps) resolve into the SQL, host, database, and query. Credentials resolve at the moment the query runs, never from the stored probe.

History

Each send is recorded as a history entry with the statement as sent (resolved variables), the result, and a timestamp. Click an entry to restore it.

A probe keeps its 50 most recent sends. A stored result set keeps its first 1000 rows and any stored text is kept to its first 256 KB, with the original size recorded beside it. History is a quick look back at what a probe returned, so it is bounded more tightly than a chain run, which is the record you keep as evidence.

Implementation notes

• Driver: MariaDB Connector/J (LGPL), which speaks MySQL and MariaDB. The query/extract/chain path has no need to control individual bytes, so a library is the right tool here.
• Connection pooling: HikariCP, keyed by the connection signature (host/port/database/user/TLS). Reuse avoids reconnecting on every send. Note that pooling hands you a connection, not necessarily the same physical one, so per-session state (temporary tables, @variables, USE) is not guaranteed to persist between chain steps.
• caching_sha2_password: MySQL 8’s default auth plugin needs either TLS or Allow public-key retrieval on a plaintext socket.