Privileges Provided by MySQL

The primary function of the MySQL privilege system is to authenticate a user who connects from a given host and to associate that user with privileges on a database such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.

Information about user privileges is stored in the user, db, host, tables_priv, columns_priv, and procs_priv tables in the mysql database (that is, in the database named mysql). The MySQL server reads the contents of these tables when it starts.


MySQL access control involves two stages when you run a client program that connects to the server:

The server uses the user, db, and host tables in the mysql database at both stages of access control

See also: Setting Privileges.