Choosing Password Hash Length

MySQL server can store MySQL user passwords encoded in one of two ways:

• Using the old, 16-byte hashes, available in MySQL server versions 4.0 or earlier.
• Using the long 41-byte hashes, available in MySQL server versions 4.1 and later.

You need to choose MySQL password hash length when creating a user or changing their password:

When choosing a password hash length, keep in mind the following properties of MySQL password hashes:

1. Long hash provides better security.
2. Long hash may not be compatible with old software, in particular, with PHP4 applications.
3. Short hash is compatible with both PHP4 and PHP5.x applications.

The existing MySQL users created in H-Sphere versions prior to 3.6 SPU52, have short MySQL password hashes.