[[!meta title="How can I signup my personal or group locker for the MySQL service?"]]
If your group does not already have a locker, start by mailing
[accounts@mit.edu](http://web.mit.edu/accounts) to get one.

**Please note**: MySQL has hard-coded a 16 character limit for
usernames into its server and client. Since all MySQL accounts are
linked to Athena lockers by name,
*your locker must be no more than 16 characters to use the sql.mit.edu service*.
Individuals or groups that have lockers can easily register for a
MySQL account at an Athena prompt:

`athena$ add scripts`  
`athena$ signup-sql`

Individuals wishing to register an account for themselves should
select **option \#1** at the first prompt. To register an account
for a group, select **option \#2** at the first prompt.

You can then read your password from
[/mit/*locker*/.sql/my.cnf](/faq/59). You can use this to log in to
[sql.mit.edu](http://sql.mit.edu) under the “SQL Password” option.
You will need to create and drop databases from sql.mit.edu, but
you can do all other operations from any MySQL client. We recommend
using [phpMyAdmin](http://sql.mit.edu/phpMyAdmin/).