Password Quality Requirements

As an administrator, you can enforce password complexity by setting password complexity rules.

Note:
The credit value of each field indicates the requirement of the corresponding item in the password. For example,
  • Uppercase credit 0 : Uppercase characters may or may not be included in the password.
  • Uppercase credit -2: The password must contain a minimum of 2 uppercase characters.
  • Uppercase credit 2: If uppercase characters are included in the password, 2 of these characters will have a length credit assigned, which means, each of these 2 uppercase characters will be counted as 2 characters towards the minimum password length. Additional uppercase characters included in the password will not get this credit and will be counted only as 1 towards the minimum password length. Positive credit for a character does not imply that that character must be included in the password.
To configure the password complexity rules:
  1. Under Administration, click System users.

  2. Click Password Requirements.

    The Password Requirements tab is displayed with the three sections, such as Password history configuration, Password aging configuration, and Password rule configuration.

  3. In the Password Requirements tab, configure the password quality requirements.

    The following rules and configuration instructions apply to all system accounts by default. For more details on the configuration options, refer to the field description table below.
    Table 1. Password Requirements - Field Description
    Field Description

    Password history configuration

    Enable password change history

    Enable the checkbox for maintaining the password change history to prevent reuse of previously set passwords.

    Passwords to remember

    Enter the number of previously set passwords to remember.

    Password aging configuration

    Minimum days

    Enter the minimum number of days allowed between the password changes. If the value is 0, the user can change their password at any time.

    Maximum days

    Enter the maximum number of days that the password can be used. If the value is -1, the password will not expire.

    Warning days

    Enter the number of days before the password expiry when a warning should be given.

    Password rule configuration

    Minimum length

    Enter the minimum number of characters a password must contain.

    By default, the password must contain at least 8 characters.

    Uppercase credit

    Enter the maximum length of credit for having uppercase characters in the password. If less than 0, it is the minimum number of uppercase characters required.

    Lowercase credit

    Enter the maximum length of credit for having lowercase characters in the password. If less than 0, it is the minimum number of lowercase characters required.

    Digit credit

    Enter the maximum length of credit for having digits in the password. If less than 0, it is the minimum number of digits required.

    Non-alphanumeric credit

    Enter the maximum length of credit for having non-alphanumeric characters in the password. If less than 0, it is the minimum number of non-alphanumeric characters required.

    Minimum character classes

    Enter the minimum number of character classes required. The four classes are digits, uppercase, lowercase, and non-alphanumeric characters.
    Note: To require 1 character from each class, set this value to 4.

    Maximum class repeat

    Enter the maximum number of allowed consecutive characters of the same class. The option is disabled if the value is 0.

    Maximum repeat

    Enter the maximum number of same consecutive characters allowed. The option is disabled if the value is 0.

    Character difference

    Enter the number of characters in the new password that must not be present in the old password during a password change.

    User real name check

    Enable the checkbox to check whether any words, more than three characters long, from the account owner's real name (the "User name" field of the account) are contained in the password, in which case the password is not acceptable.

    Reset non-compliant password

    Enable the checkbox to force the password change at logon if the password does not comply with the password quality requirements.

    Forbidden words

    Enter the space-separated list of forbidden words (containing more than three characters). These are the additional words included in the normal cracklib dictionary check.

  4. Click Save.