HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Configuration Management HP-UX 11i v3 (B3921-90017, September 2010)

User login scripts can be used to override the system defaults. When HP SMH or
useradd adds a user, default user login scripts are copied to the user’s home directory
from the skeleton directory, which defaults to /etc/skel. See “Changing the Skeleton
Directory” (page 56). The POSIX and Korn shells use .profile. The C shell uses
.login and .cshrc. See the Shells: User’s Guide and the Technical Addendum to the
Shells: User’s Guide for information on customizing user login scripts.
NOTE: Do a full backup once you have initially set up and customized your system.
This allows you to reconstruct your system — kernel, system files, file system structure,
user structures, and your customized files — if you need to. Use HP-UX commands to
perform the backup, as described in the HP-UX System Administrator’s Guide: Routine
Tasks.
Setting Shadow Password Mode
Shadow password mode is a state in which account and password security information
and passwords are stored in a file, /etc/shadow, that can only be accessed by a
superuser. The standard password file, /etc/passwd, retains all the other customary
information, except that the password fields for all users is changed to an x.
See pwconv(1M) and shadow(4) for details.
To Switch to Shadow Password Mode
Execute the following command:
# pwconv
For each entry in /etc/passwd, the password is changed to x, and the password and
password aging information are transferred to /etc/shadow.
To Switch to Standard Password Mode
Execute the following command:
# pwunconv
For each entry in /etc/shadow, the password and the password time limit information
are stored in the password field of the user entry in /etc/passwd. Account aging and
the password warn limit are discarded. The /etc/shadow file is deleted.
Enabling Long Passwords
By default, the HP-UX uses only the first eight characters of a user's configured
password. For added security, you can enable long passwords. When enabled, HP-UX
will use up to 255 characters of a user's configured password.
In order to enable long passwords you must:
• Install HP-UX 11i Version 3, September 2009 Update (or newer)
• Install the HP-UX PHI11i3 bundle (available on AR0903 or later releases)
Setting Shadow Password Mode 45