RE: Long passwords in V5R2 -- MIDRANGE-L

It is important to understand Al's definition of ugly.  Ugly = not the way
it was before :-) Just a little ribbing Al.

There are interoperability problems with Win95/NT/ME platforms. If you have
systems running these windows platforms, you might run into problems with
those systems being able to use things like Netserver. This has become a
lot less of an issue since the pre-GA of V5R1 as people move away from
unsupported MS systems.

If you have multiple OS/400 systems they all have to be set to the same
password level if you want a high level of interoperability between them.

If you have 3rd party software or software you have built yourself that
performs authentication itself, then unless that software has been changed
to accomodate longer passwords there may be interoperability problems.

The best way to test is to leave your password composition rules the way
they are today and to set the max length to 10. Then change the password
level to 2. If you run into interoperability problems then you will be able
to switch back to 0 without forcing everyone to change their passwords.

Note that changing to level 1 or 3 will remove the copy of your password
encrypted with the windows algorithm. If you need compatibility with
windows, you probably don't want to go these levels. If you don't need
windows compatibility with your passwords then it's a good idea to pick one
of these levels after testing at level 2.

Patrick Botz




                                                                                
                                         
                      Jim Damato                                                
                                         
                      <jdamato@dollargener        To:       "'Midrange'" 
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>                       
                      al.com>                     cc:                           
                                         
                      Sent by:                    Subject:  RE: Long passwords 
in V5R2                                   
                      midrange-l-bounces@m                                      
                                         
                      idrange.com                                               
                                         
                                                                                
                                         
                                                                                
                                         
                      11/12/2003 04:17 PM                                       
                                         
                      Please respond to                                         
                                         
                      Midrange Systems                                          
                                         
                      Technical Discussion                                      
                                         
                                                                                
                                         
                                                                                
                                         




> Ken Graap:
>We are contemplating moving to 128 charater
>passwords on our V5R2 system....
>
>If so.... any words of warning or tips would be greatly appreciated.

> Me:
>128 character passwords can be more difficult to remember.

> Ken:
>I think the idea behind having a 128 character password
>is that it becomes a pass phrase....
>
>For example, my pass phrase might be: "My niece McKaylah is 7 years old"


Sorry -- forgot the :) again.

I had to decide between that response or "we were going to implement long
passwords but we hadn't accounted for the expense of moving to larger
post-its".

Actually we're looking to move from password level 0 to password level 2.
We're leaving maximum password length at 10 though.  We'll be implementing
it to take advantage of mixed-case password support.  We started using
mixed-case on the Windows Domain and it doesn't integrate well with upper
(non-mixed) case iSeries passwords.  We already switched to level 2 for a
test, then switched back with no problems.  If you have a few hours of down
time you can spare for playtime you might try the same test.  I'd stay away
from password level 3 though.  We saved security data first as a
precaution.

I couldn't find anything to worry about.  Users can key their upper case
passwords in mixed, lower, or upper case until the first time they change
their password.  Once you change your password it becomes case sensitive
and
you can again sync Domain passwords against Netserver.  We don't have a
complex environment for external connections though, and we're not really
going to long passwords.  I was gonna ask Al what was ugly about long
password support, but this has been discussed before so I figured I'd check
the list archives first.  ...unless maybe he thought we were talking about
long library list support.  :)

-Jim

James P. Damato
Manager - Technical Administration
Dollar General Corporation
<mailto:jdamato@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



_______________________________________________
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.