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Rotate the master key

The Master key should be periodically rotated. Rotate the key if you believe the key has been compromised. The Master key rotation changes the Master key and tablespace keys are re-encrypted and updated in the tablespace headers. The operation does not affect tablespace data.

If the master key rotation is interrupted, the rotation operation is rolled forward when the server restarts. InnoDB reads the encryption data from the tablespace header, if certain tablespace keys have been encrypted with the prior master key, InnoDB retrieves the master key from the keyring to decrypt the tablespace key. InnoDB re-encrypts the tablespace key with the new Master key.

To allow for Master Key rotation, you can encrypt an already encrypted InnoDB system tablespace with a new master key by running the following ALTER INSTANCE statement:

mysql> ALTER INSTANCE ROTATE INNODB MASTER KEY;

The rotation operation must complete before any tablespace encryption operation can begin.

Note

The rotation re-encrypts each tablespace key. The tablespace key is not changed. If you want to change a tablespace key, disable and then re-enable encryption.

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Last update: 2023-09-27