HP-UX Reference (11i v2 03/08) - 1 User Commands N-Z (vol 2)

p
passwd(1) passwd(1)
forced to change the password before using the account.
The
-n min and -x max arguments are each represented in units of days. These arguments are
rounded up to the nearest week on a standard system. If only one of the two arguments is supplied and
the other argument does not exist, then the number of days is set to zero.
Default values may be set in the
/etc/default/security
file for the -n min, -x max, and -w
warn options. See security (4). The parameters to select password aging defaults are:
PASSWORD_MINDAYS
PASSWORD_MAXDAYS
PASSWORD_WARNDAYS
Password Construction Requirements
Passwords must be constructed to meet the following requirements:
On an untrusted system, only the first eight characters of a password are significant.
On an untrusted system, passwords of non-root users must have at least six characters. On a
trusted system, passwords of all users must have at least six characters. This restriction on the
password length can be increased to a value larger than six. Refer to the security (4) manual page
for detailed information on configurable parameters that affect the behavior of this command. The
parameter to select the minimum password length is
MIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH
Characters must be from the 7-bit US-ASCII character set; letters from the English alphabet.
A password must contain at least two letters and at least one numeric or special character.
A password must differ from the user’s login name and any reverse or circular shift of that login
name. For comparison purposes, an uppercase letter and its corresponding lowercase equivalent
are treated as identical.
A new password must differ from the old one by at least three characters (one character for non
super user if changed by the super user in a trusted system).
Repository Configuration
The
/etc/nsswitch.conf
file specifies the repositories for which the password must be modified.
The following configurations are supported:
passwd: files
passwd: files nisplus
passwd: files nis
passwd: compat (--> files nis)
passwd: compat (--> files nisplus)
passwd_compat: nisplus
Smart Card Login
If the user account is configured to use a Smart Card, the user password is stored in the card. This pass-
word has characteristics identical to a normal password stored on the system.
The Smart Card must be inserted into the Smart Card reader. The user is prompted for a PIN instead of
a password during authentication.
Enter PIN:
The password is retrieved automatically from the Smart Card when a valid PIN is entered. Therefore, it
is not necessary to know the password, only the PIN.
If the system retrieves a valid old password from the card, a new password is requested (twice). If the
new password meets all requirements, the system automatically overwrites the old password stored on
the card with the new password.
Therefore, the new dialog resembles:
Enter PIN:
New password:
Re-enter new password:
HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003 3 Hewlett-Packard Company Section 1667