To check the mysql version,protocol version as well as mysql uptime refer to the following command from the shell but make sure that you are using the servers root login details to run the command from the shell.
root@linux7802 [~]# mysqladmin -hlocalhost version
mysqladmin Ver 8.42 Distrib 5.1.56, for pc-linux-gnu on i686
Copyright 2000-2008 MySQL AB, 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software,
and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the GPL license
Server version 5.1.56-log
Protocol version 10
Connection Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
Uptime: 1 day 7 min 20 sec
Threads: 1 Questions: 2812 Slow queries: 0 Opens: 550 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 64 Queries per second avg: 0.32
