I was asked this question recently, and I thought it was a great little tidbit of knowledge to pass along. The short answer is “no”. The slightly longer answer was written up by Jan Kneschke when dealing with a forum post about proxy + connection pooling.

From http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?146,169265,169700

The clear-text password is _never_ transfered in the authentication phase.

On the network we have:
* client connects to server (no data)
* server sends a seed (40 char, one-time, random)
* client sends 40 char hash of (seed + PASSWORD(clear-text-password))
* server compares against the hash(seed + SELECT password FROM mysql.user WHERE username = )

That way we never have the password as clear-text on the wire. (only in SET PASSWORD or GRANT statements).

At this year’s MySQL Conference & Expo, taking place in Santa Clara, California in mid-April, I’m giving two sessions:

• Best Practices for Database Administrators
• Database Security Using White-Hat Google Hacking

You can see more info about me here, including descriptions of the workshops.

I look forward to seeing many of you there. Make sure you say hello!

Finally! The ability to look a little closer into what's happening with SHOW PROFILEHere’s how it works:mysql> set profiling=1;mysql> select count(*) from mysql.user;+----------+| count(*) |+----------+| 5 |+----------+1 row in set (0.00 sec)mysql> show profile;+--------------------------------+----------+| Status | Duration |+--------------------------------+-----

Dear Readers,

I have a favour to ask. Please register for the first hands-on workshop about programming CouchDB.

Here is the story:

With my slight NADD infection I have, of course, set up a Google Alert on CouchDB. A few weeks ago, an alert came in that surprised me. Fortunately in a good way. The call for papers of the 2008 edition of XTech, a (duh) tech conference in Dublin, Ireland, asked specifically for CouchDB related submission.

How cool is that?

I sent in a whole bunch of proposals, just to make sure one gets through and it …

Dear Readers,

I have a favour to ask. Please register for the first hands-on workshop about programming CouchDB.

Here is the story:

With my slight NADD infection I have, of course, set up a Google Alert on CouchDB. A few weeks ago, an alert came in that surprised me. Fortunately in a good way. The call for papers of the 2008 edition of XTech, a (duh) tech conference in Dublin, Ireland, asked specifically for CouchDB related submission.

How cool is that?

I sent in a whole bunch of proposals, just to make sure one gets through and it …

Dear Readers,

I have a favour to ask. Please register for the first hands-on workshop about programming CouchDB.

Here is the story:

With my slight NADD infection I have, of course, set up a Google Alert on CouchDB. A few weeks ago, an alert came in that surprised me. Fortunately in a good way. The call for papers of the 2008 edition of XTech, a (duh) tech conference in Dublin, Ireland, asked specifically for CouchDB related submission.

How cool is that?

I sent in a whole bunch of proposals, just to make sure one gets through and it …

The MySQL User's conference will be held in less than a month from now!!!

This year there is quite a good number of sessions on adding your own functions and procedures, such as:

• 
  
• Advanced Stored Procedures
  
• A Tour of External Language Stored Procedures for MySQL
  
• Code Generators for MySQL Plugins and User Defined Functions (UDFs)
  
• …

There will be a MySQL meetup on the start date for all of the US employees this next Monday, March 24th, at 7PM at the Elysian in Seattle.

We will provide beer, quesadillas and nachos, and giving away t-shirts (first come first serve). Come find out all about the integration of Sun and MySQL.

The Summer of Code is back.

Students, if you want to apply for a project with MySQL, be aware of the timeline.

What you need to do now, before the submission for application opens, is to discuss the ideas already published or suggest new ones using the mailing list.
This year there is an interesting …

Just a quick note to let folks in the Bay Area know about a cocktail party celebrating the Sun acquisition of MySQL. Come meet both MySQL and Sun folks, ask them questions, and most importantly, just have fun. The reception is at Jillian's @ The Metreon, 101 Fourth Street, San Francisco, and starts at 5:00pm. You can download a flyer that has directions to the venue.