Authentication Plugins Note In the name  sha256_password , “sha256”  refers to the 256-bit digest length the plugin uses for encryption. In the name  caching_sha2_password , “sha2” refers more generally to the SHA-2 class of encryption algorithms, of which 256-bit encryption is one instance. The latter name choice leaves room for future expansion of possible digest lengths without changing the plugin name. The following table shows the plugin names on the server and client sides. The following sections provide installation and usage information specific to SHA-256 pluggable authentication: For general information about pluggable authentication in MySQL, see Section 6.2.17, “Pluggable Authentication” . The  sha256_password  plugin exists in server and client forms: Table 6.14 Plugin and Library Names for SHA-256 Authentication Plugin or File Plugin or File Name Server-side plugin sha256_password Client-side plugin sha256_password Library file None (plugins are built in) •Using SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication •Installing SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication •The server-side plugin is built into the server, need not be loaded explicitly, and cannot be disabled by unloading it. [mysqld] default_authentication_plugin=sha256_password To set up an account that uses the  sha256_password  plugin for SHA-256 password hashing, use the following statement, where  password  is the desired account password: Using SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication CREATE USER ’sha256user’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED WITH sha256_password BY ’ password ’; The server assigns the  sha256_password  plugin to the account and uses it to encrypt the password using SHA-256, storing those values in the  plugin  and  authentication_string  columns of the mysql.user  system table. The preceding instructions do not assume that  sha256_password  is the default authentication plugin. If sha256_password  is the default authentication plugin, a simpler  CREATE USER  syntax can be used. To start the server with the default authentication plugin set to  sha256_password , put these lines in the server option file: 1313 •The client-side plugin is built into the  libmysqlclient  client library and is available to any program linked against  libmysqlclient . Installing SHA-256 Pluggable Authentication