Details on "Use Restriction Rules"

[Richard Norton]

Can anyone point me at a resource, preferably authoritative (within the HP domain) that describes specifically what the "Use Restriction Rules" checkbox in SAM does?

Every reference I've found just says it "Enables strong password checking" or words to that effect.

I need details to satisfy a picky S-OX auditor.

Thanks,

Richard

[Tim Nelson]

I look at the help in the user modify section and it says.

This Yes/No/Default option button selects or disables the use of restriction
rules in setting a user's password. Selecting Default causes the current
system-wide default to apply to this user.

If restriction rules are in place, the password is processed by the spell
command to ensure that it does not appear in the dictionary database used by
spell. This prevents the use of common words as passwords, which could
possibly occur, for example, when system-generated pronounceable passwords
are being created.

Restriction rules enabled is not needed when the system is generating random-
character passwords because the probability of a plain-language password in
such cases is negligible when machine-generated. When ordinary users create
their own passwords, the system enforces the rule that the password contain at
least some numeric and some non-numeric characters (this restriction does not
apply to passwords created by a user whose user ID is zero).

To specify whether to use restriction rules, select the pushbutton to view the
yes/no/default options menu, then select Yes, No, or Default as appropriate
to complete the option definition.