Configuring the Password Policy

Attribute Name

Definition

 

 

 

discourage users from reusing old passwords.

 

For example, setting the minimum password

 

age to 2 days prevents users from repeatedly

 

changing their passwords during a single

 

session to cycle through the password history

 

and reuse an old password once it has been

 

removed from the history list. The minimum

 

age can be from 0 to 2147472000 seconds

 

(24,855 days). A value of zero indicates that

 

the user can change the password

 

immediately. The default value of this attribute

 

is 0.

 

 

passwordHistory

This attribute indicates whether the directory

 

stores a password history. When set to on,

 

the directory stores the number of passwords

 

specified in the passwordInHistory attribute

 

in a history. If a user attempts to reuse one of

 

the passwords, the password will be rejected.

 

When this attribute is set to off, any

 

passwords stored in the history remain there.

 

When this attribute is set back to on, users

 

will not be able to reuse the passwords

 

recorded in the history before the attribute

 

was disabled. This attribute is off by default,

 

meaning users can reuse old passwords.

 

 

passwordInHistory

This attribute indicates the number of

 

passwords the directory stores in the history.

 

There can be 2 to 24 passwords stored in the

 

history. This feature is not enabled unless the

 

passwordHistory attribute is set to on. This

 

attribute is set to 6 by default.

 

 

passwordCheckSyntax

When on, this attribute indicates that the

 

password syntaxis checked by the server

 

before the password is saved. Password

 

syntax checking ensures that the password

 

string meets or exceeds the length and

 

complexity requirements and that the string

 

does not contain any trivial words. A trivial

 

word is any value stored in the uid, cn, sn,

 

givenName, ou, or mail attributes of the

 

user's entry. This attribute isoff by default.

 

 

passwordMinLength

This attribute specifies the minimum number

 

of characters that must be used in passwords.

 

 

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HP UX Red Hat Direry Server Software Discourage users from reusing old passwords, Changing their passwords during a single