Minimum Password Length in HPUX 11v1

[Justin Chiu]

May I know how to edit the default password length to what is desired? Assume to start everything from scratch. Thank you

[Ganesan R]

Hi,

You cannot have more than 8 characters in password in non-trusted systems. You need to convert the system to trusted to have more than 8 characters.

[Ganesan R]

Hi Again,

Forget to add. Default password lenth is 8 in non-trusted systems. There is one more parameter which controls the minimum password lenth in /etc/default/security file.

You can set this parameter in /etc/default/security file to control min password length.

MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH
This parameter controls the minimum length of new passwords. It is not applicable to the root user on an untrusted system. MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH=N New passwords must contain at least N characters. For untrusted systems N can be any value from 6 to 8. For trusted systems N can be any value from 6 to 80.

Default value: MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH=6

[Justin Chiu]

Hi Ganesh, thanks for replying. I do not see the security file in my /etc/ folder. Mine is already a trusted system. May i know what needs to be done?

[Ganesan R]

Hi Justin,

Check if you have enabled more than 8 characters password length here.

SAM -> Auditing and Security -> System Security Policies -> Password Format policies -> maximum password length.(You have to set the password length here)

By default it will have 8 characters. you can change it.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

/etc/default/security

Lets you set minimum and maximum and history retention on passwords.

The default desired length is 8 characters. Anything less than 6 will give you security audit problems.

It is standard to require 1 number and one special character.

There is a nice man page for /etc/default/security

SEP

[Justin Chiu]

The maximum password length is at default of 8. Just wondering how to modify the minimum password length instead

[Bill Hassell]

> I do not see the security file in my /etc/ folder.

Correct. This file is never supplied. You must create it.

> The maximum password length is at default of 8. Just wondering how to modify the minimum password length instead

Use this command to create the /etc/default/security file:

echo "MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH=6" >> /etc/default/security

Now you have the beginning of your security file. Read the man page for "secuirity" for more options. Note that the minimum password cannot be smaller that 6.

[Justin Chiu]

Thanks Bill Hassell.
Just another question. Can i create this file using vi and after that chmod/chown so that o.s recognises this file?

[Dennis Handly]

>Can I create this file using vi and after that chmod/chown so that OS recognises this file?

Yes.

[Justin Chiu]

Thank u Dennis Handly. Appreciated

[Justin Chiu]

Has anyone tried this solution with existing accounts bearing 6 characters password? Any impact?

[Bill Hassell]

> Has anyone tried this solution with existing accounts bearing 6 characters password? Any impact?

Password format rules do not have any effect on a login. These rules are enforced when you change the password. Attached is an example security file. Pay attention to the caution about the # character.