How can I verify I'm using SSL to connect to mysql?
From the client, just run status.  If this connection is using SSL, you'll get something interesting in the SSL row.

mysql&gt; status
--------------
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.30, for Linux (x86_64) using readline 5.1

Connection id:      12
Current database:
Current user:       replicator@domU-12-31-39-10-54-BD.compute-1.internal
SSL:            Cipher in use is DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
Current pager:      stdout
Using outfile:      ''
Using delimiter:    ;
Server version:     5.5.30-log MySQL Community Server (GPL)
Protocol version:   10
Connection:     boston.hugskeep.wstudent.com via TCP/IP
Server characterset:    latin1
Db     characterset:    latin1
Client characterset:    utf8
Conn.  characterset:    utf8
TCP port:       3306
Uptime:         44 min 49 sec

Threads: 2  Questions: 16  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 34  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 27  Queries per second avg: 0.005
--------------

mysql&gt;


If this connection is not using SSL, you'll get:

SSL:            Not in use


You can also use:

mysql&gt; SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher';
+---------------+--------------------+
| Variable_name | Value              |
+---------------+--------------------+
| Ssl_cipher    | DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA |
+---------------+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt;


But I think the first is more attractive, and sure easier to type.