Authentication Plugins Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement, adjusting the  .so  suffix for your platform as necessary: INSTALL PLUGIN authentication_pam SONAME ’authentication_pam.so’; INSTALL PLUGIN  loads the plugin immediately, and also registers it in the  mysql.plugins  system table to cause the server to load it for each subsequent normal startup without the need for  --plugin-load- add . To verify plugin installation, examine the  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS  table or use the  SHOW PLUGINS  statement (see Section 5.6.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information” ). For example: If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages. To associate MySQL accounts with the PAM plugin, see Using PAM Pluggable Authentication. The method used to uninstall the PAM authentication plugin depends on how you installed it: UNINSTALL PLUGIN authentication_pam; This section describes in general terms how to use the PAM authentication plugin to connect from MySQL client programs to the server. The following sections provide instructions for using PAM authentication in specific ways. It is assumed that the server is running with the server-side PAM plugin enabled, as described in Installing PAM Pluggable Authentication. To refer to the PAM authentication plugin in the  IDENTIFIED WITH  clause of a  CREATE USER  statement, use the name  authentication_pam . For example: The authentication string specifies the following types of information: 1320 •For proxy support, PAM provides a way for a PAM module to return to the server a MySQL user name other than the external user name passed by the client program when it connects to the server. Use the authentication string to control the mapping from external user names to MySQL user names. If you want to take advantage of proxy user capabilities, the authentication string must include this kind of mapping. •The PAM service name (see How PAM Authentication of MySQL Users Works). Examples in the following discussion use a service name of  mysql-unix  for authentication using traditional Unix passwords, and  mysql-ldap  for authentication using LDAP. •If you installed the plugin at runtime using an  INSTALL PLUGIN  statement, it remains installed across server restarts. To uninstall it, use  UNINSTALL PLUGIN : •If you installed the plugin at server startup using a  --plugin-load-add  option, restart the server without the option. mysql>  SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE ’%pam%’; +--------------------+---------------+ | PLUGIN_NAME | PLUGIN_STATUS | +--------------------+---------------+ | authentication_pam | ACTIVE | +--------------------+---------------+ CREATE USER  user IDENTIFIED WITH authentication_pam AS ’ auth_string ’; Using PAM Pluggable Authentication Uninstalling PAM Pluggable Authentication