Static Salt vs Random Salt - Security PHP

Question

Is there any working difference between

$hash=sha1($key.$staticSalt);  

and

$hash=sha1($key.$randomSalt);  

Answer 1

I 'm not sure if you are salting correctly -- the purpose of a salt is to foil precomputed dictionary attacks if your database is compromised. Therefore you are using a database to begin with, so what does your "no need to use the DB" comment mean?

If you are not using a random salt, then you don't make it more difficult for the attacker to attack your hashes if they get their hand on the salt. You will be better off using a random salt -- you won't need to keep it hidden for your security to work.

The salt also does not need to be long or unusual. "rK" is a good salt. "1q" is also good. Its purpose is simply to vary the output of the hash function.