Configuring password security
The
Password security
page (
Users > Password security
) controls whether or not local
administrator
account
passwords must meet a minimum level of complexity before they are accepted.
If
Enforce strict passwords
is set to
On
, all subsequently configured local administrator account passwords
must conform to the following rules for what constitutes a strict password.
Configurable rules
The following rules apply by default but can be customized.
The password must contain at least 15 ASCII characters made up of at least:
n
2 numeric values ['0'..'9']
n
2 uppercase letters ['A'..'Z']
n
2 lowercase letters ['a'..'z']
n
2 special characters [such as '@' or '$']
You can also specify:
n
the minimum number of the 4 character classes (numeric , lower case, upper case, and special characters)
that must be present; use this setting if you want to mandate the use of 2-3 different character classes
without requiring all of them to be present
n
the maximum number of times the same character can be repeated consecutively; by default there is no
restriction
Additional non-configurable rules
The following strict password rules always apply and cannot be configured. Passwords must not:
n
be based on a dictionary word
n
contain too many consecutive characters such as "abc" or "123"
n
contain too few different characters
n
be palindromes
If
Enforce strict passwords
is set to
Off
, no checks are made on administrator passwords.
Note that:
n
Regardless of this setting, it is not possible to set a blank password for any administrator account.
n
This setting affects local administrator account passwords only. It does not affect any other passwords
used on the VCS such as in the local authentication database, LDAP server, external registration
credentials, user account passwords, or administrator account passwords stored on remote credential
directories.
n
All passwords and usernames are case sensitive.
Cisco VCS Administrator Guide (X8.1.1)
Page 262 of 507
User accounts
Configuring password security
