title: Storing hashed passwords in MySQL
body: <p>I'm creating hashed passwords using salted sha1 in PHP.</p>
  
  <p>My question is: In MySQL what is the proper character encoding, field type &amp; length to store the result?</p>
  
  <p>Is there anything else in MySQL to consider for password security?
  Finally are SHA256 or SHA512 practical hashing choices?</p>