The PAM authentication plugin must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, set the value of plugin_dir at server startup to tell the server the location of the plugin directory.

To enable the plugin, start the server with the --plugin-load option. For example, put the following lines in your my.cnf file. If object files have a suffix different from .so on your system, substitute the correct suffix.

[mysqld]
plugin-load=authentication_pam.so

Use the plugin name authentication_pam in the IDENTIFIED WITH clause of CREATE USER or GRANT statements for MySQL accounts that should be authenticated with this plugin.

To verify plugin installation, examine the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement. See Obtaining Server Plugin Information.