Chapter 6 Using Secure Connections

Table of Contents

6.1 OpenSSL Versus yaSSL
6.2 Building MySQL with Support for Secure Connections
6.3 Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers
6.4 Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections
6.5 Command Options for Secure Connections
6.6 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys
6.6.1 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL
6.6.2 Creating SSL Certificates and Keys Using openssl
6.6.3 Creating RSA Keys Using openssl
6.7 Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH

With an unencrypted connection between the MySQL client and the server, someone with access to the network could watch all your traffic and inspect the data being sent or received between client and server.

When you must move information over a network in a secure fashion, an unencrypted connection is unacceptable. To make any kind of data unreadable, use encryption. Encryption algorithms must include security elements to resist many kinds of known attacks such as changing the order of encrypted messages or replaying data twice.

MySQL supports secure (encrypted) connections between clients and the server using the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol. TLS is sometimes referred to as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) but MySQL does not actually use the SSL protocol for secure connections because it provides weak encryption (see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”).

TLS uses encryption algorithms to ensure that data received over a public network can be trusted. It has mechanisms to detect data change, loss, or replay. TLS also incorporates algorithms that provide identity verification using the X509 standard.

X509 makes it possible to identify someone on the Internet. In basic terms, there should be some entity called a Certificate Authority (or CA) that assigns electronic certificates to anyone who needs them. Certificates rely on asymmetric encryption algorithms that have two encryption keys (a public key and a secret key). A certificate owner can present the certificate to another party as proof of identity. A certificate consists of its owner's public key. Any data encrypted using this public key can be decrypted only using the corresponding secret key, which is held by the owner of the certificate.

MySQL can be compiled for secure-connection support using OpenSSL or yaSSL. For a comparison of the two packages, see Section 6.1, “OpenSSL Versus yaSSL” For information about the encryption protocols and ciphers each package supports, see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

MySQL performs encryption on a per-connection basis, and use of encryption for a given user can be optional or mandatory. This enables you to choose an encrypted or unencrypted connection according to the requirements of individual applications. For information on how to require users to use encrypted connections, see the discussion of the REQUIRE clause of the CREATE USER statement in CREATE USER Syntax. See also the description of the require_secure_transport system variable at Server System Variables

Several improvements were made to secure-connection support in MySQL 5.7. The following timeline summarizes the changes:

Secure connections are available through the MySQL C API using the mysql_ssl_set() and mysql_options() functions. See mysql_ssl_set(), and mysql_options().

Replication uses the C API, so secure connections can be used between master and slave servers. See Setting Up Replication to Use Secure Connections.

It is also possible to connect securely from within an SSH connection to the MySQL server host. For an example, see Section 6.7, “Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH”.

6.1 OpenSSL Versus yaSSL

MySQL can be compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL, both of which enable secure conections based on the OpenSSL API:

  • MySQL Enterprise Edition binary distributions are compiled using OpenSSL. It is not possible to use yaSSL with MySQL Enterprise Edition.

  • MySQL Community Edition binary distributions are compiled using yaSSL.

  • MySQL Community Edition source distributions can be compiled using either OpenSSL or yaSSL (see Section 6.2, “Building MySQL with Support for Secure Connections”).

OpenSSL and yaSSL offer the same basic functionality, but MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL have additional features:

Certain OpenSSL-related system and status variables are present only if MySQL was compiled using OpenSSL:

To determine whether your server was compiled using OpenSSL, test the existence of any of those variables. For example, this statement returns a row if OpenSSL was used and an empty result if yaSSL was used:

SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Rsa_public_key';

Such tests assume that your server version is not older than the first appearance of the variable tested. For example, you cannot test for auto_generate_certs before MySQL 5.7.6.

6.2 Building MySQL with Support for Secure Connections

To use SSL connections between the MySQL server and client programs, your system must support either OpenSSL or yaSSL:

  • MySQL Enterprise Edition binary distributions are compiled using OpenSSL. It is not possible to use yaSSL with MySQL Enterprise Edition.

  • MySQL Community Edition binary distributions are compiled using yaSSL.

  • MySQL Community Edition source distributions can be compiled using either OpenSSL or yaSSL.

If you compile MySQL from a source distribution, CMake configures the distribution to use yaSSL by default. To compile using OpenSSL instead, use this procedure:

  1. Ensure OpenSSL 1.0.1 or higher is installed on your system. To obtain OpenSSL, visit http://www.openssl.org.

    If the installed OpenSSL version is lower than 1.0.1, CMake produces an error at MySQL configuration time.

  2. To use OpenSSL, add the -DWITH_SSL=system option to the CMake command you normally use to configure the MySQL source distribution. For example:

    shell> cmake . -DWITH_SSL=system
    

    That command configures the distribution to use the installed OpenSSL library. Alternatively, to explicitly specify the path name to the OpenSSL installation, use the following syntax. This can be useful if you have multiple versions of OpenSSL installed, to prevent CMake from choosing the wrong one:

    shell> cmake . -DWITH_SSL=path_name
    

    See MySQL Source-Configuration Options.

  3. Compile and install the distribution.

To check whether a mysqld server supports secure connections, examine the value of the have_ssl system variable:

mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'have_ssl';
+---------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------+-------+
| have_ssl      | YES   |
+---------------+-------+

If the value is YES, the server supports secure connections. If the value is DISABLED, the server is capable of supporting secure connections but was not started with the appropriate --ssl-xxx options to enable secure connections to be used; see Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

To determine whether a server was compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL, check the existence of any of the system or status variables that are present only for OpenSSL. See Section 6.1, “OpenSSL Versus yaSSL”

6.3 Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers

To determine which encryption protocol and cipher are in use for an encrypted connection, use the following statements to check the values of the Ssl_version and Ssl_cipher status variables:

mysql> SHOW SESSION STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_version';
+---------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------+-------+
| Ssl_version   | TLSv1 |
+---------------+-------+
mysql> SHOW SESSION STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher';
+---------------+---------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value                     |
+---------------+---------------------------+
| Ssl_cipher    | DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 |
+---------------+---------------------------+

If the connection is not encrypted, both variables have an empty value.

MySQL supports encrypted connections using TLS protocols:

  • When compiled using OpenSSL 1.0.1 or higher, MySQL supports the TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2 protocols.

  • When compiled using the bundled version of yaSSL, MySQL supports the TLSv1 and TLSv1.1 protocols.

The value of the tls_version system variable determines which protocols the server is permitted to use from those that are available. The tls_version value is a comma-separated list containing one or more of these protocols (not case sensitive): TLSv1, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2. By default, this variable lists all protocols supported by the SSL library used to compile MySQL (TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 for OpenSSL, TLSv1,TLSv1.1 for yaSSL). To determine the value of tls_version at runtime, use this statement:

mysql> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'tls_version';
+---------------+-----------------------+
| Variable_name | Value                 |
+---------------+-----------------------+
| tls_version   | TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2 |
+---------------+-----------------------+

To change the value of tls_version, set it at server startup. For example, to prohibit connections that use the less-secure TLSv1 protocol, use these lines in the server my.cnf file:

[mysqld]
tls_version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2

To be even more restrict and permit only TLSv1.2 connections, set tls_version like this (assuming that your server is compiled using OpenSSL because yaSSL does not support TLSv1.2):

[mysqld]
tls_version=TLSv1.2

For client programs, the --tls-version option enables specifying the TLS protocols permitted per client invocation. The value format is the same as for tls_version.

By default, MySQL attempts to use the highest TLS protocol version available, depending on which SSL library was used to compile the server and client, which key size is used, and whether the server or client are restricted from using some protocols; for example, by means of tls_version/--tls-version:

  • If the server and client are compiled using OpenSSL, TLSv1.2 is used if possible.

  • If either or both the server and client are compiled using yaSSL, TLSv1.1 is used if possible.

  • TLSv1.2 does not work with all ciphers that have a key size of 512 bits or less. To use this protocol with such a key, use --ssl-cipher to specify the cipher name explicitly:

    AES128-SHA
    AES128-SHA256
    AES256-SHA
    AES256-SHA256
    CAMELLIA128-SHA
    CAMELLIA256-SHA
    DES-CBC3-SHA
    DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
    RC4-MD5
    RC4-SHA
    SEED-SHA
    
  • For better security, use a certificate with an RSA key size of of 2048 bits or more.

Note

Prior to MySQL 5.7.10, MySQL supports only TLSv1, for both OpenSSL and yaSSL, and no system variable or client option exist for specifying which TLS protocols to permit.

If the server and client protocol capabilities have no protocol in common, the server terminates the connection request. For example, if the server is configured with tls_version=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2, connection attempts will fail for clients invoked with --tls-version=TLSv1, and for older clients that do not support the --tls-version option and implicitly support only TLSv1.

To determine which ciphers a given server supports, use the following statement to check the value of the Ssl_cipher_list status variable:

SHOW SESSION STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher_list';

The set of available ciphers depends on your MySQL version and whether MySQL was compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL, and (for OpenSSL) the library version used to compile MySQL.

As of MySQL 5.7.10, order of ciphers passed by MySQL to the SSL library is significant. More secure ciphers are mentioned first in the list, and the first cipher supported by the provided certificate is selected.

MySQL passes this cipher list to OpenSSL:

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384
DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256
DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
AES128-GCM-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-DSS-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
AES128-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
AES256-SHA256
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA256
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384
AES128-SHA
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
AES256-SHA
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
DH-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDH-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
DH-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES128-SHA256
DH-RSA-AES256-SHA256
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
AES128-SHA
DH-DSS-AES128-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
AES256-SHA
DH-DSS-AES256-SHA
ECDH-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
DH-RSA-AES128-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES128-SHA
DH-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDH-RSA-AES256-SHA
DES-CBC3-SHA

MySQL passes this cipher list to yaSSL:

DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
AES128-RMD
DES-CBC3-RMD
DHE-RSA-AES256-RMD
DHE-RSA-AES128-RMD
DHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-RMD
AES256-SHA
RC4-SHA
RC4-MD5
DES-CBC3-SHA
DES-CBC-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC-SHA
AES128-SHA:AES256-RMD

As of MySQL 5.7.10, these cipher restrictions are in place:

  • The following ciphers are permanently restricted:

    !DHE-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !DHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDH-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    !ECDHE-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
    
  • The following categories of ciphers are permanently restricted:

    !aNULL
    !eNULL
    !EXPORT
    !LOW
    !MD5
    !DES
    !RC2
    !RC4
    !PSK
    !SSLv3
    

If the server is started using a compatible certificate that uses any of the preceding restricted ciphers or cipher categories, the server starts with support for secure connections disabled.

6.4 Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections

To enable secure connections, the proper options must be used to specify the appropriate certificate and key files. For a complete list of options related to establishment of secure connections, see Section 6.5, “Command Options for Secure Connections”.

If you need to create the required certificate and key files, see Section 6.6, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys”.

Server-Side Configuration for Secure Connections

To start the MySQL server so that it permits clients to connect securely, use options that identify the certificate and key files the server uses when establishing a secure connection:

  • --ssl-ca identifies the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate.

  • --ssl-cert identifies the server public key certificate. This can be sent to the client and authenticated against the CA certificate that it has.

  • --ssl-key identifies the server private key.

For example, start the server with these lines in the my.cnf file, changing the file names as necessary:

[mysqld]
ssl-ca=ca.pem
ssl-cert=server-cert.pem
ssl-key=server-key.pem

Each option names a file in PEM format. If you have a MySQL source distribution, you can test your setup using the demonstration certificate and key files in its mysql-test/std_data directory.

As of MySQL 5.7.5, the server-side --ssl option value is enabled by default. Also as of MySQL 5.7.5, MySQL servers compiled using OpenSSL can generate missing certificate and key files automatically at startup. See Section 6.6.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

The server performs certificate and key file autodiscovery as of MySQL 5.7.5 (for servers compiled using OpenSSL) or 5.7.6 (for servers compiled using yaSSL). If --ssl is enabled (possibly along with --ssl-cipher) and other --ssl-xxx options are not given to configure secure connections explicitly, the server attempts to enable support for secure connections automatically at startup:

  • If the server discovers valid certificate and key files named ca.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem in the data directory, it enables support for secure connections by clients. (The files need not have been autogenerated; what matters is that they have the indicated names and are valid.)

  • If the server does not find valid certificate and key files in the data directory, it continues executing but does not enable secure connections.

If the server automatically enables support for secure connections, it writes a message to the error log. As of MySQL 5.7.6, if the server discovers that the CA certificate is self-signed, it writes a warning to the error log. (The certificate will be self-signed if created automatically by the server or manually using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup.)

For any certificate and key files that the server discovers and uses automatically, it uses the file names to set the corresponding system variables (ssl_ca, ssl_cert, ssl_key).

For further control over whether clients must connect securely, use the require_secure_transport system variable; see Server System Variables. For information about permitted encryption protocols and ciphers, see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

Client-Side Configuration for Secure Connections

For client programs, options for secure connections are similar to those used on the server side, but --ssl-cert and --ssl-key identify the client public and private key:

  • --ssl-ca identifies the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate. This option, if used, must specify the same certificate used by the server.

  • --ssl-cert identifies the client public key certificate.

  • --ssl-key identifies the client private key.

To connect securely to a MySQL server that supports secure connections, the options that a client must specify depend on the encryption requirements of the MySQL account used by the client. (See the discussion of the REQUIRE clause in CREATE USER Syntax.)

Suppose that you want to connect using an account that has no special encryption requirements or was created using a CREATE USER statement that includes the REQUIRE SSL option. As a recommended set of secure-connection options, start the server with at least --ssl-cert and --ssl-key, and invoke the client with --ssl-ca. A client can connect securely like this:

shell> mysql --ssl-ca=ca.pem

To require that a client certificate also be specified, create the account using the REQUIRE X509 option. Then the client must also specify the proper client key and certificate files or the server will reject the connection:

shell> mysql --ssl-ca=ca.pem \
       --ssl-cert=client-cert.pem \
       --ssl-key=client-key.pem

To prevent use of encryption and override other --ssl-xxx options, invoke the client program with --ssl-mode=DISABLED, --ssl=0, or a synonym (--skip-ssl, --disable-ssl):

shell> mysql --ssl-mode=DISABLED

As of MySQL 5.7.7, client programs attempt to establish a secure connection by default whenever the server supports secure connections:

From MySQL 5.7.3 to 5.7.6, --ssl on the client side is prescriptive (not advisory as before MySQL 5.7.3): With --ssl, connection attempts fail if a secure connection cannot be established.

Before MySQL 5.7.3, --ssl on the client side is advisory: --ssl permits but does not require the client to connect to the server using encryption. Therefore, this option is not sufficient in itself to cause a secure connection to be used. For example, if you specify this option for a client program but the server has not been configured to support secure connections, the client falls back to an unencrypted connection.

For information about permitted encryption protocols and ciphers, see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

A client can determine whether the current connection with the server uses encryption by checking the value of the Ssl_cipher status variable. If the value is empty, the connection is not encrypted. Otherwise, the connection is encrypted and the value indicates the encryption cipher. For example:

mysql> SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_cipher';
+---------------+--------------------+
| Variable_name | Value              |
+---------------+--------------------+
| Ssl_cipher    | DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA |
+---------------+--------------------+

For the mysql client, an alternative is to use the STATUS or \s command and check the SSL line:

mysql> \s
...
SSL: Cipher in use is DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
...

Or:

mysql> \s
...
SSL: Not in use
...

C API Configuration for Secure Connections

The C API enables application programs to use secure connections:

  • To establish a secure connection, use the mysql_ssl_set() C API function to set the appropriate certificate options before calling mysql_real_connect(). See mysql_ssl_set(). To require the use of a secure connection, call mysql_options() with the MYSQL_OPT_SSL_MODE option (use the MYSQL_OPT_SSL_ENFORCE option before MySQL 5.7.11). To establish permitted encryption protocols, call mysql_options() with the MYSQL_OPT_TLS_VERSION option.

  • To determine whether encryption is in use after the connection is established, use mysql_get_ssl_cipher(). A non-NULL return value indicates an encrypted connection and names the cipher used for encryption. A NULL return value indicates that encryption is not being used. See mysql_get_ssl_cipher().

Replication uses the C API, so secure connections can be used between master and slave servers. See Setting Up Replication to Use Secure Connections.

6.5 Command Options for Secure Connections

This section describes options that specify whether to use secure connections and the names of certificate and key files. These options can be given on the command line or in an option file. For examples of suggested use and how to check whether a connection is secure, see Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

Table 6.1 Secure-Connection Option Summary

FormatDescriptionIntroduced
--skip-sslDo not use secure connection 
--sslEnable secure connection 
--ssl-caPath of file that contains list of trusted SSL CAs 
--ssl-capathPath of directory that contains trusted SSL CA certificates in PEM format 
--ssl-certPath of file that contains X509 certificate in PEM format 
--ssl-cipherList of permitted ciphers to use for connection encryption 
--ssl-crlPath of file that contains certificate revocation lists 
--ssl-crlpathPath of directory that contains certificate revocation list files 
--ssl-keyPath of file that contains X509 key in PEM format 
--ssl-modeSecurity state of connection to server5.7.11
--ssl-verify-server-certVerify server certificate Common Name value against host name used when connecting to server 
--tls-versionProtocols permitted for secure connections5.7.10

  • --ssl

    This option has different effects on the server and client sides.

    Note

    The client-side --ssl option is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.11 and is removed in MySQL 8.0. For client programs, it is preferable to use --ssl-mode instead:

    The server-side --ssl option is not deprecated.

    For the MySQL server, this option specifies that the server permits but does not require secure connections. The option is enabled on the server side by default as of MySQL 5.7.5, and disabled before 5.7.5. Also as of MySQL 5.7.5, MySQL servers compiled using OpenSSL can generate missing certificate and key files automatically at startup. See Section 6.6.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

    The server performs certificate and key file autodiscovery as of MySQL 5.7.5 (for servers compiled using OpenSSL) or 5.7.6 (for servers compiled using yaSSL). If --ssl is enabled (possibly along with --ssl-cipher) and other --ssl-xxx options are not given to configure secure connections explicitly, the server attempts to enable support for secure connections automatically at startup:

    • If the server discovers valid certificate and key files named ca.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem in the data directory, it enables support for secure connections by clients. (The files need not have been autogenerated; what matters is that they have the indicated names and are valid.)

    • If the server does not find valid certificate and key files in the data directory, it continues executing but does not enable secure connections.

    For MySQL client programs, the --ssl option is used as follows:

    • As of MySQL 5.7.7, client programs attempt to establish a secure connection by default whenever the server supports secure connections:

      • In the absence of an --ssl option, the client falls back to an unencrypted connection if a secure connection cannot be established.

      • To require a secure connection and fail if one cannot be established, invoke the client with --ssl or a synonym (--ssl=1, --enable-ssl).

      • To use an unencrypted connection, invoke the client with --ssl=0 or a synonym (--skip-ssl, --disable-ssl).

    • From MySQL 5.7.3 to 5.7.6, --ssl is prescriptive (not advisory as before MySQL 5.7.3): With --ssl, connection attempts fail if a secure connection cannot be established.

    • Before MySQL 5.7.3, --ssl is advisory: --ssl permits but does not require the client to connect to the server using encryption. Therefore, this option is not sufficient in itself to cause a secure connection to be used. For example, if you specify this option for a client program but the server has not been configured to support secure connections, the client falls back to an unencrypted connection.

    If other --ssl-xxx options are given in the absence of --ssl, the client attempts to connect securely. If the server is configured to support secure connections, the connection attempt fails if a secure connection cannot be established. If the server is not configured for secure connections, the client falls back to an unencrypted connection.

    As a recommended set of options to enable secure connections, use at least --ssl-cert and --ssl-key on the server side and --ssl-ca on the client side. See Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

    --ssl is implied by other --ssl-xxx options, as indicated in the descriptions for those options.

    The --ssl option in negated form overrides other --ssl-xxx options and indicates that encryption should not be used. To do this, specify the option as --ssl=0 or a synonym (--skip-ssl, --disable-ssl). For example, you might have options specified in the [client] group of your option file to use secure connections by default when you invoke MySQL client programs. To use an unencrypted connection instead, invoke the client program with --ssl=0 on the command line to override the options in the option file.

    To require use of secure connections by a MySQL account, use CREATE USER to create the account with at least a REQUIRE SSL clause, or use ALTER USER for an existing account to add a REQUIRE clause. Connections for the account will be rejected unless MySQL supports secure connections and the server and client have been started with the proper secure-connection options.

    The REQUIRE clause permits other encryption-related options, which can be used to enforce stricter requirements than REQUIRE SSL. For additional details about which command options may or must be specified by clients that connect using accounts configured using the various REQUIRE options, see the description of REQUIRE in CREATE USER Syntax.

  • --ssl-ca=file_name

    The path to a file in PEM format that contains a list of trusted SSL certificate authorities. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    If you use encryption when establishing a client connection, to tell the client not to authenticate the server certificate, specify neither --ssl-ca nor --ssl-capath. The server still verifies the client according to any applicable requirements established for the client account, and it still uses any --ssl-ca or --ssl-capath option values specified at server startup.

  • --ssl-capath=dir_name

    The path to a directory that contains trusted SSL certificate authority certificates in PEM format. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    If you use encryption when establishing a client connection, to tell the client not to authenticate the server certificate, specify neither --ssl-ca nor --ssl-capath. The server still verifies the client according to any applicable requirements established for the client account, and it still uses any --ssl-ca or --ssl-capath option values specified at server startup.

    MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL support the --ssl-capath option (see Section 6.1, “OpenSSL Versus yaSSL”). Distributions compiled using yaSSL do not because yaSSL does not look in any directory and does not follow a chained certificate tree. yaSSL requires that all components of the CA certificate tree be contained within a single CA certificate tree and that each certificate in the file has a unique SubjectName value. To work around this yaSSL limitation, concatenate the individual certificate files comprising the certificate tree into a new file and specify that file as the value of the --ssl-ca option.

  • --ssl-cert=file_name

    The name of the SSL certificate file in PEM format to use for establishing a secure connection. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

  • --ssl-cipher=cipher_list

    A list of permissible ciphers to use for connection encryption. If no cipher in the list is supported, encrypted connections will not work. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    For greatest portability, cipher_list should be a list of one or more cipher names, separated by colons. This format is understood both by OpenSSL and yaSSL. Examples:

    --ssl-cipher=AES128-SHA
    --ssl-cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:AES128-SHA
    

    OpenSSL supports a more flexible syntax for specifying ciphers, as described in the OpenSSL documentation at http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html. yaSSL does not, so attempts to use that extended syntax fail for a MySQL distribution compiled using yaSSL.

    For information about which encryption ciphers MySQL supports, see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

  • --ssl-crl=file_name

    The path to a file containing certificate revocation lists in PEM format. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    If neither --ssl-crl nor --ssl-crlpath is given, no CRL checks are performed, even if the CA path contains certificate revocation lists.

    MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL support the --ssl-crl option (see Section 6.1, “OpenSSL Versus yaSSL”). Distributions compiled using yaSSL do not because revocation lists do not work with yaSSL.

  • --ssl-crlpath=dir_name

    The path to a directory that contains files containing certificate revocation lists in PEM format. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    If neither --ssl-crl nor --ssl-crlpath is given, no CRL checks are performed, even if the CA path contains certificate revocation lists.

    MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL support the --ssl-crlpath option (see Section 6.1, “OpenSSL Versus yaSSL”). Distributions compiled using yaSSL do not because revocation lists do not work with yaSSL.

  • --ssl-key=file_name

    The name of the SSL key file in PEM format to use for establishing a secure connection. This option implies --ssl when used on the server side, and on the client side before MySQL 5.7.3.

    If the key file is protected by a passphrase, the program prompts the user for the passphrase. The password must be given interactively; it cannot be stored in a file. If the passphrase is incorrect, the program continues as if it could not read the key.

    For better security, use a certificate with an RSA key size of of 2048 bits or more.

  • --ssl-mode=mode

    This option is available only for client programs, not the server. It specifies the security state of the connection to the server. The following option values are permitted:

    • PREFERRED: Establish a secure (encrypted) connection if the server supports secure connections. Fall back to an unencrypted connection otherwise. This is the default if --ssl-mode is not specified.

    • DISABLED: Establish an unencrypted connection. This is like the legacy --ssl=0 option or its synonyms (--skip-ssl, --disable-ssl).

    • REQUIRED: Establish a secure connection if the server supports secure connections. The connection attempt fails if a secure connection cannot be established.

    • VERIFY_CA: Like REQUIRED, but additionally verify the server TLS certificate against the configured Certificate Authority (CA) certificates. The connection attempt fails if no valid matching CA certificates are found.

    • VERIFY_IDENTITY: Like VERIFY_CA, but additionally verify that the server certificate matches the host to which the connection is attempted. This is like the legacy --ssl-verify-server-cert option.

    Use of the --ssl-ca or --ssl-capath option implies --ssl-mode=VERIFY_CA, if --ssl-mode is not explicitly set otherwise.

    If --ssl-mode is explicit, use of a value other than VERIFY_CA or VERIFY_IDENTITY with an explicit --ssl-ca or --ssl-capath option produces a warning that no verification of the server certificate will be done, despite CA certificate options being specified.

    The --ssl-mode option was added in MySQL 5.7.11.

    To require use of secure connections by a MySQL account, use CREATE USER to create the account with at least a REQUIRE SSL clause, or use ALTER USER for an existing account to add a REQUIRE clause. Connections for the account will be rejected unless MySQL supports secure connections and the server and client have been started with the proper secure-connection options.

    The REQUIRE clause permits other encryption-related options, which can be used to enforce stricter requirements than REQUIRE SSL. For additional details about which command options may or must be specified by clients that connect using accounts configured using the various REQUIRE options, see the description of REQUIRE in CREATE USER Syntax.

  • --ssl-verify-server-cert

    Note

    This option is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.11 and is removed in MySQL 8.0. It is preferable to use --ssl-mode=VERIFY_IDENTITY instead.

    This option is available only for client programs, not the server. It causes the client to check the server's Common Name value in the certificate that the server sends to the client. The client verifies that name against the host name the client uses for connecting to the server, and the connection fails if there is a mismatch. For encrypted connections, this option helps prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. Verification is disabled by default.

  • --tls-version=protocol_list

    For client programs, the protocols permitted by the client for encrypted connections. The value is a comma-separated list containing one or more protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3, “Secure Connection Protocols and Ciphers”.

    This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

    On the server side, the tls_version system variable can be used instead.

6.6 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys

The following discussion describes how to create the files required for SSL and RSA support in MySQL. File creation can be performed using facilities provided by MySQL itself, or by invoking the openssl command directly.

SSL certificate and key files enable MySQL to support secure connections using SSL. See Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

RSA key files enable MySQL to support secure password exchange over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin. See Section 7.1.4, “The SHA-256 Authentication Plugin”.

6.6.1 Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL

MySQL provides two ways to create the SSL certificate and key files and RSA key-pair files required to support secure connections using SSL and secure password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections, if those files are missing:

  • The server can autogenerate these files at startup.

  • Users can invoke the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility manually.

Important

Server autogeneration and mysql_ssl_rsa_setup help lower the barrier to using SSL by making it easier to generate the required files. However, certificates generated by these methods are self-signed, which is not very secure. After you gain experience using such files, consider obtaining a CA certificate from a registered certificate authority.

Automatic Generation of SSL and RSA Files

As of MySQL 5.7.5, MySQL servers have the capability of automatically generating missing SSL and RSA files at startup, for MySQL distributions compiled using OpenSSL. The auto_generate_certs and sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variables control automatic generation of these files. Both variables are enabled by default. They can be enabled at startup and inspected but not set at runtime.

At startup, the server automatically generates server-side and client-side SSL certificate and key files in the data directory if the auto_generate_certs system variable is enabled, no SSL options other than --ssl are specified, and the server-side SSL files are missing from the data directory. These files enable secure client connections using SSL; see Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

  1. The server checks the data directory for SSL files with the following names:

    ca.pem
    server-cert.pem
    server-key.pem
    
  2. If any of those files are present, the server creates no SSL files. Otherwise, it creates them, plus some additional files:

    ca.pem               Self-signed CA certificate
    ca-key.pem           CA private key
    server-cert.pem      Server certificate
    server-key.pem       Server private key
    client-cert.pem      Client certificate
    client-key.pem       Client private key
    
  3. If the server autogenerates SSL files, it uses the names of the ca.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem files to set the corresponding system variables (ssl_ca, ssl_cert, ssl_key).

At startup, the server automatically generates RSA private/public key-pair files in the data directory if the sha256_password_auto_generate_rsa_keys system variable is enabled, no RSA options are specified, and the RSA files are missing from the data directory. These files enable secure password exchange using RSA over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin; see Section 7.1.4, “The SHA-256 Authentication Plugin”.

  1. The server checks the data directory for RSA files with the following names:

    private_key.pem      Private member of private/public key pair
    public_key.pem       Public member of private/public key pair
    
  2. If any of these files are present, the server creates no RSA files. Otherwise, it creates them.

  3. If the server autogenerates the RSA files, it uses their names to set the corresponding system variables (sha256_password_private_key_path, sha256_password_public_key_path).

Manual Generation of SSL and RSA Files Using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup

As of MySQL 5.7.6, MySQL distributions include a mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility that can be invoked manually to generate SSL and RSA files. This utility is included with all MySQL distributions (whether compiled using OpenSSL or yaSSL), but it does require that the openssl command be available. For usage instructions, see mysql_ssl_rsa_setup — Create SSL/RSA Files.

SSL and RSA File Characteristics

SSL and RSA files created automatically by the server or by invoking mysql_ssl_rsa_setup have these characteristics:

  • SSL and RSA keys are 2048 bit.

  • The SSL CA certificate is self signed.

  • The SSL server and client certificates are signed with the CA certificate and key, using the sha256WithRSAEncryption signature algorithm.

  • SSL certificates use these Common Name (CN) values, with the appropriate certificate type (CA, Server, Client):

    ca.pem:         MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_CA_Certificate
    server-cert.pm: MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_Server_Certificate
    client-cert.pm: MySQL_Server_suffix_Auto_Generated_Client_Certificate
    

    The suffix value is based on the MySQL version number. For files generated by mysql_ssl_rsa_setup, the suffix can be specified explicitly using the --suffix option.

    For files generated by the server, if the resulting CN values exceed 64 characters, the _suffix portion of the name is omitted.

  • SSL files have blank values for Country (C), State or Province (ST), Organization (O), Organization Unit Name (OU) and email address.

  • SSL files created by the server or by mysql_ssl_rsa_setup are valid for ten years from the time of generation. (Before MySQL 5.7.6, files created by the server are valid for one year.)

  • RSA files do not expire.

  • SSL files have different serial numbers for each certificate/key pair (1 for CA, 2 for Server, 3 for Client).

  • Files created automatically by the server are owned by the account that runs the server. Files created using mysql_ssl_rsa_setup are owned by the user who invoked that program. This can be changed on systems that support the chown() system call if the program is invoked by root and the --uid option is given to specify the user who should own the files.

  • On Unix and Unix-like systems, the file access mode is 644 for certificate files (that is, world readable) and 600 for key files (that is, accessible only by the account that runs the server).

To see the contents of an SSL certificate (for example, to check the range of dates over which it is valid), invoke openssl directly:

shell> openssl x509 -text -in ca.pem
shell> openssl x509 -text -in server-cert.pem
shell> openssl x509 -text -in client-cert.pem

It is also possible to check SSL certificate expiration information using this SQL statement:

mysql> SHOW STATUS LIKE 'Ssl_server_not%';
+-----------------------+--------------------------+
| Variable_name         | Value                    |
+-----------------------+--------------------------+
| Ssl_server_not_after  | Apr 28 14:16:39 2025 GMT |
| Ssl_server_not_before | May  1 14:16:39 2015 GMT |
+-----------------------+--------------------------+

6.6.2 Creating SSL Certificates and Keys Using openssl

This section describes how to use the openssl command to set up SSL certificate and key files for use by MySQL servers and clients. The first example shows a simplified procedure such as you might use from the command line. The second shows a script that contains more detail. The first two examples are intended for use on Unix and both use the openssl command that is part of OpenSSL. The third example describes how to set up SSL files on Windows.

Note

There are easier alternatives to generating the files required for SSL than the procedure described here: Let the server autogenerate them or use the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup program. See Section 6.6.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

Important

Whatever method you use to generate the certificate and key files, the Common Name value used for the server and client certificates/keys must each differ from the Common Name value used for the CA certificate. Otherwise, the certificate and key files will not work for servers compiled using OpenSSL. A typical error in this case is:

ERROR 2026 (HY000): SSL connection error:
error:00000001:lib(0):func(0):reason(1)

Example 1: Creating SSL Files from the Command Line on Unix

The following example shows a set of commands to create MySQL server and client certificate and key files. You will need to respond to several prompts by the openssl commands. To generate test files, you can press Enter to all prompts. To generate files for production use, you should provide nonempty responses.

# Create clean environment
shell> rm -rf newcerts
shell> mkdir newcerts && cd newcerts
# Create CA certificate
shell> openssl genrsa 2048 > ca-key.pem
shell> openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -days 3600 \
         -key ca-key.pem -out ca.pem
# Create server certificate, remove passphrase, and sign it
# server-cert.pem = public key, server-key.pem = private key
shell> openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -days 3600 \
         -nodes -keyout server-key.pem -out server-req.pem
shell> openssl rsa -in server-key.pem -out server-key.pem
shell> openssl x509 -req -in server-req.pem -days 3600 \
         -CA ca.pem -CAkey ca-key.pem -set_serial 01 -out server-cert.pem
# Create client certificate, remove passphrase, and sign it
# client-cert.pem = public key, client-key.pem = private key
shell> openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -days 3600 \
         -nodes -keyout client-key.pem -out client-req.pem
shell> openssl rsa -in client-key.pem -out client-key.pem
shell> openssl x509 -req -in client-req.pem -days 3600 \
         -CA ca.pem -CAkey ca-key.pem -set_serial 01 -out client-cert.pem

After generating the certificates, verify them:

shell> openssl verify -CAfile ca.pem server-cert.pem client-cert.pem
server-cert.pem: OK
client-cert.pem: OK

To see the contents of a certificate (for example, to check the range of dates over which a certificate is valid), invoke openssl like this:

shell> openssl x509 -text -in ca.pem
shell> openssl x509 -text -in server-cert.pem
shell> openssl x509 -text -in client-cert.pem

Now you have a set of files that can be used as follows:

  • ca.pem: Use this as the argument to --ssl-ca on the server and client sides. (The CA certificate, if used, must be the same on both sides.)

  • server-cert.pem, server-key.pem: Use these as the arguments to --ssl-cert and --ssl-key on the server side.

  • client-cert.pem, client-key.pem: Use these as the arguments to --ssl-cert and --ssl-key on the client side.

To use the files for SSL connections, see Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

Example 2: Creating SSL Files Using a Script on Unix

Here is an example script that shows how to set up SSL certificate and key files for MySQL. After executing the script, use the files for SSL connections as described in Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

DIR=`pwd`/openssl
PRIV=$DIR/private
mkdir $DIR $PRIV $DIR/newcerts
cp /usr/share/ssl/openssl.cnf $DIR
replace ./demoCA $DIR -- $DIR/openssl.cnf
# Create necessary files: $database, $serial and $new_certs_dir
# directory (optional)
touch $DIR/index.txt
echo "01" > $DIR/serial
#
# Generation of Certificate Authority(CA)
#
openssl req -new -x509 -keyout $PRIV/cakey.pem -out $DIR/ca.pem \
    -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# ................++++++
# .........++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/private/cakey.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL admin
# Email Address []:
#
# Create server request and key
#
openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/server-key.pem -out \
    $DIR/server-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# ..++++++
# ..........++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/server-key.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL server
# Email Address []:
#
# Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
# to be sent with your certificate request
# A challenge password []:
# An optional company name []:
#
# Remove the passphrase from the key
#
openssl rsa -in $DIR/server-key.pem -out $DIR/server-key.pem
#
# Sign server cert
#
openssl ca -cert $DIR/ca.pem -policy policy_anything \
    -out $DIR/server-cert.pem -config $DIR/openssl.cnf \
    -infiles $DIR/server-req.pem
# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Check that the request matches the signature
# Signature ok
# The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
# countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
# organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
# commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL admin'
# Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 14:22:46 2003 GMT
# (365 days)
# Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
#
#
# 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
# Write out database with 1 new entries
# Data Base Updated
#
# Create client request and key
#
openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/client-key.pem -out \
    $DIR/client-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
# .....................................++++++
# .............................................++++++
# writing new private key to '/home/finley/openssl/client-key.pem'
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
# -----
# You are about to be asked to enter information that will be
# incorporated into your certificate request.
# What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name
# or a DN.
# There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
# For some fields there will be a default value,
# If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
# -----
# Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
# State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
# Locality Name (eg, city) []:
# Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
# Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
# Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL user
# Email Address []:
#
# Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
# to be sent with your certificate request
# A challenge password []:
# An optional company name []:
#
# Remove the passphrase from the key
#
openssl rsa -in $DIR/client-key.pem -out $DIR/client-key.pem
#
# Sign client cert
#
openssl ca -cert $DIR/ca.pem -policy policy_anything \
    -out $DIR/client-cert.pem -config $DIR/openssl.cnf \
    -infiles $DIR/client-req.pem
# Sample output:
# Using configuration from /home/finley/openssl/openssl.cnf
# Enter PEM pass phrase:
# Check that the request matches the signature
# Signature ok
# The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
# countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
# organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
# commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL user'
# Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 16:45:17 2003 GMT
# (365 days)
# Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
#
#
# 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
# Write out database with 1 new entries
# Data Base Updated
#
# Create a my.cnf file that you can use to test the certificates
#
cat <<EOF > $DIR/my.cnf
[client]
ssl-ca=$DIR/ca.pem
ssl-cert=$DIR/client-cert.pem
ssl-key=$DIR/client-key.pem
[mysqld]
ssl-ca=$DIR/ca.pem
ssl-cert=$DIR/server-cert.pem
ssl-key=$DIR/server-key.pem
EOF

Example 3: Creating SSL Files on Windows

Download OpenSSL for Windows if it is not installed on your system. An overview of available packages can be seen here:

http://www.slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

Choose the Win32 OpenSSL Light or Win64 OpenSSL Light package, depending on your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit). The default installation location will be C:\OpenSSL-Win32 or C:\OpenSSL-Win64, depending on which package you downloaded. The following instructions assume a default location of C:\OpenSSL-Win32. Modify this as necessary if you are using the 64-bit package.

If a message occurs during setup indicating '...critical component is missing: Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables', cancel the setup and download one of the following packages as well, again depending on your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit):

After installing the additional package, restart the OpenSSL setup procedure.

During installation, leave the default C:\OpenSSL-Win32 as the install path, and also leave the default option 'Copy OpenSSL DLL files to the Windows system directory' selected.

When the installation has finished, add C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin to the Windows System Path variable of your server:

  1. On the Windows desktop, right-click the My Computer icon, and select Properties.

  2. Select the Advanced tab from the System Properties menu that appears, and click the Environment Variables button.

  3. Under System Variables, select Path, then click the Edit button. The Edit System Variable dialogue should appear.

  4. Add ';C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin' to the end (notice the semicolon).

  5. Press OK 3 times.

  6. Check that OpenSSL was correctly integrated into the Path variable by opening a new command console (Start>Run>cmd.exe) and verifying that OpenSSL is available:

    Microsoft Windows [Version ...]
    Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    C:\Windows\system32>cd \
    C:\>openssl
    OpenSSL> exit <<< If you see the OpenSSL prompt, installation was successful.
    C:\>
    

Depending on your version of Windows, the preceding path-setting instructions might differ slightly.

After OpenSSL has been installed, use instructions similar to those from Example 1 (shown earlier in this section), with the following changes:

  • Change the following Unix commands:

    # Create clean environment
    shell> rm -rf newcerts
    shell> mkdir newcerts && cd newcerts
    

    On Windows, use these commands instead:

    # Create clean environment
    C:\> md c:\newcerts
    C:\> cd c:\newcerts
    
  • When a '\' character is shown at the end of a command line, this '\' character must be removed and the command lines entered all on a single line.

After generating the certificate and key files, to use them for SSL connections, see Section 6.4, “Configuring MySQL to Use Secure Connections”.

6.6.3 Creating RSA Keys Using openssl

This section describes how to use the openssl command to set up the RSA key files that enable MySQL to support secure password exchange over unencrypted connections for accounts authenticated by the sha256_password plugin.

Note

There are easier alternatives to generating the files required for RSA than the procedure described here: Let the server autogenerate them or use the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup program. See Section 6.6.1, “Creating SSL and RSA Certificates and Keys using MySQL”.

To create the RSA private and public key-pair files, run these commands while logged into the system account used to run the MySQL server so the files will be owned by that account:

openssl genrsa -out private_key.pem 2048
openssl rsa -in private_key.pem -pubout -out public_key.pem

Those commands create 2,048-bit keys. To create stronger keys, use a larger value.

Then set the access modes for the key files. The private key should be readable only by the server, whereas the public key can be freely distributed to client users:

chmod 400 private_key.pem
chmod 444 public_key.pem

6.7 Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH

This section describes how to get a secure connection to a remote MySQL server with SSH. The information was provided by David Carlson .

  1. Install an SSH client on your Windows machine. For a comparison of SSH clients, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_SSH_clients.

  2. Start your Windows SSH client. Set Host_Name = yourmysqlserver_URL_or_IP. Set userid=your_userid to log in to your server. This userid value might not be the same as the user name of your MySQL account.

  3. Set up port forwarding. Either do a remote forward (Set local_port: 3306, remote_host: yourmysqlservername_or_ip, remote_port: 3306 ) or a local forward (Set port: 3306, host: localhost, remote port: 3306).

  4. Save everything, otherwise you will have to redo it the next time.

  5. Log in to your server with the SSH session you just created.

  6. On your Windows machine, start some ODBC application (such as Access).

  7. Create a new file in Windows and link to MySQL using the ODBC driver the same way you normally do, except type in localhost for the MySQL host server, not yourmysqlservername.

At this point, you should have an ODBC connection to MySQL, encrypted using SSH.