Documentation Home
MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual
Related Documentation Download this Manual
PDF (US Ltr) - 46.1Mb
PDF (A4) - 46.1Mb
PDF (RPM) - 41.5Mb
HTML Download (TGZ) - 10.6Mb
HTML Download (Zip) - 10.6Mb
HTML Download (RPM) - 9.1Mb
Man Pages (TGZ) - 220.4Kb
Man Pages (Zip) - 325.8Kb
Info (Gzip) - 4.1Mb
Info (Zip) - 4.1Mb
Excerpts from this Manual

MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual  /  ...  /  The MySQL Keyring

6.4.4 The MySQL Keyring

MySQL Server supports a keyring that enables internal server components and plugins to securely store sensitive information for later retrieval. The implementation is plugin-based:

Warning

The keyring_file and keyring_encrypted_file plugins for encryption key management are not intended as a regulatory compliance solution. Security standards such as PCI, FIPS, and others require use of key management systems to secure, manage, and protect encryption keys in key vaults or hardware security modules (HSMs).

Uses for the keyring within MySQL include:

  • The InnoDB storage engine uses the keyring to store its key for tablespace encryption. InnoDB can use any supported keyring plugin.

  • MySQL Enterprise Audit uses the keyring to store the audit log file encryption password. The audit log plugin can use any supported keyring plugin.

  • When binary log encryption has been activated for a MySQL server (by setting binlog_encryption=ON), the binary log encryption keys used to encrypt the file passwords for the binary log files and relay log files are stored in the keyring. Any supported keyring plugin can be used to store binary log encryption keys. Binary log encryption keys are retained as long as there are files on the server that were encrypted using them. When the binary log master key is rotated manually, all binary log encryption keys that no longer apply to any retained binary log files or relay log files are cleared from the keyring. If a retained binary log file or relay log file cannot be initialized for re-encryption, the relevant binary log encryption keys are not deleted in case the files can be recovered in the future. For example, this might be the case if a file listed in a binary log index file is currently unreadable, or if a channel fails to initialize. For more information, see Section 17.3.10, “Encrypting Binary Log Files and Relay Log Files”.

For general keyring installation instructions, see Section 6.4.4.1, “Keyring Plugin Installation”. For information specific to a given keyring plugin, see the section describing that plugin.

For information about using the keyring UDFs, see Section 6.4.4.8, “General-Purpose Keyring Key-Management Functions”.

Keyring plugins and UDFs access a keyring service that provides the interface for server components to the keyring. For information about accessing the keyring plugin service and writing keyring plugins, see Section 29.3.2, “The Keyring Service”, and Section 29.2.4.12, “Writing Keyring Plugins”.