# Converting an existing database to use NATIVE authentication

If you wish to apply NATIVE authentication to a database that was created without it, the procedure is slightly different depending on whether you specify NATIVE:credentialsDB or NATIVE:credentialsDB:LOCAL.

- If you specify NATIVE:credentialsDB, add users of the existing database to the credentialsDB. For instance, if the old database was created without any authentication, then its default user name is APP, and you could do the following:

      CALL SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_CREATE_USER('app', 'app');

- If you plan to specify NATIVE:credentialsDB:LOCAL, first connect to the existing database as its Database Owner using its old authentication scheme. Call `SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_CREATE_USER` to add credentials for the Database Owner. For example, if the existing database was created with no authentication, the Database Owner is APP, and you would add credentials for APP as shown above.

Parent topic: Configuring NATIVE authentication
Related concepts
Enabling NATIVE authentication explicitly
Working with a credentials database
NATIVE authentication and other database properties
Managing users and passwords