Managing Security - MariaDB Crash Course - page 233

▼ Analysis
The mysql database contains a table named user that contains all user
accounts. user contains a column named user that contains the user login
name. A newly installed server might have a single user listed (as seen here);
established servers will likely have far more.
Tip
Test Using Multiple Clients The easiest way to test changes made to user accounts
and rights is to open multiple database clients (multiple copies of the mysql command
line utility, for example), one logged in with the administrative login and the others
logged in as the users being tested.
Creating User Accounts
To create a new user account, use the CREATE USER statement, as seen here:
▼ Input
CREATE USER ben IDENTIFIED BY 'p@$$w0rd';
▼ Analysis
CREATE USER creates a new user account. A password need not be specified
at user account creation time, but this example does specify a password using
IDENTIFIED BY 'p@$$w0rd' .
If you were to list the user accounts again, you'd see the new account listed in
the output.
Tip
Specifying a Hashed Password The password specified by IDENTIFIED BY is plain
text that MariaDB will encrypt before saving it in the user table. To specify the pass-
word as a hashed value, use IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD instead.
Note
Using GRANT or INSERT The GRANT statement (which we will get to shortly) can
also create user accounts, but generally CREATE USER is the cleanest and simplest
syntax. In addition, it is possible to add users by inserting rows into user directly, but
to be safe this is generally not recommended. The tables used by MariaDB to store user
account information (as well as table schemas and more) are extremely important, and
any damage to them could seriously harm the MariaDB server. As such, it is always bet-
ter to use tags and functions to manipulate these tables as opposed to manipulating
them directly.