MySQL show status - active or total connections?

Question

When I run show status like \'Con%\' it shows the number of connections, which is 9972 and constantly growing. Is this an active number of connections or connec

Answer 1

You can also do

SHOW STATUS WHERE `variable_name` = 'Max_used_connections';

Answer 2

As per doc http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-status-variables.html#statvar_Connections

Connections

The number of connection attempts (successful or not) to the MySQL server.