If I make the SALT random for each user, how do I authenticate them?

Question

I\'ve been reading up on the benefits of salting and hashing passwords, but one thing still eludes me...

When I provide a random salt for each user, how do I then know

Answer 1

Salt is randomly generated for each user but it's saved somewhere in the database. You look up the salt for the particular user and use it to authenticate the user.

The point is, since salt is different for each user, you cannot use a prebuilt dictionary of hashes to map the hashed passwords to clear text (rainbow attack).