Passwd – Dell POWEREDGE M1000E User Manual

Page 603

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Fabric OS Command Reference

575

53-1002746-01

passwd

2

passwd

Changes the password for a specified user.

SYNOPSIS

passwd
[user_account]
[-old old_password]
[-new new_password]

DESCRIPTION

Use this command to change a user account password.

Passwords can be changed locally on any switch. For the password database to be distributed to other
switches in the fabric, the switches must be configured to accept the password database with the fddCfg
command. The password database is distributed manually with the distribute command.

If RADIUS authentication is enabled, password change is blocked forusers changing their own
password. Administrators with the privilege to change passwords for other accounts may do so
regardless of whether RADIUS authentication is enabled; all such password changes operate on the
local password database.

The passwd command cannot be run on the Standby CP. When an admin account or a SecurityAdmin
account changes the password for other accounts, it does not prompt for the current password, unless
the target account is a factory or root account.

Any chosen password must satisfy the following password strength rules:

Password contains the minimum required number of lowercase characters.

Password contains the minimum required number of uppercase characters.

Password contains the minimum required number of numeric characters

Password contains the minimum required number of punctuation characters.

Password must be between minlength and 40 characters long. The minlength parameter is set with
the passwdCfg command.

Password may not contain the colon (:) character.

Password must satisfy repeated and sequential character constraints.

The password history policy is enforced across all user accounts when the user is setting his own
password. The password history policy is not enforced when an administrator sets a password for
another user, but the user's password history is preserved and the password set by the administrator is
recorded in the user's password history.

The passwd command behaves as follows:

If you are changing your own password, you are prompted to enter the old password and, if your
entry is valid, you are prompted to enter the new password. Alternately, you may specify the old and
new password on the command line.

If a you are changing another user's password with greater privileges than your current login level,
you are prompted to enter that user level's old password and, if your entry is valid, you are prompted
for a new password.

If you are changing another user's password, the target account's AD member list must be a subset
of your account's AD member list.

If you are logged in as the root user when changing another user's password, you are not prompted
to enter the old password. If you are a factory account, an admin, or SecurityAdmin account, you are
not prompted to enter the current password unless the target account is root.

Changing the password of any user level causes the login session of that account (if logged in) to
terminate.

When invoked without an operand, this command changes the password for the current user account.

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