SSM Option 6 - Define Password Definitions

This option allows you to define and update user and account password definitions.

On selecting Option 6 on the SSM screen, the following prompt appears:

"U" for user password definitions; "A" for account password definitions

If you enter U, the USER PASSWORD DEFINITION FILE MAINTENANCE screen is displayed.
If you enter A, the ACCOUNT PASSWORD DEFINITION FILE MAINTENANCE screen is displayed.

The appearance of the two screens is similar, but not identical.

User password definitions

The PASSWORD DEFINITION screen for user password definitions is:

                   USER PASSWORD DEFINITION FILE MAINTENANCE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
User Password Definition ID >

 1) Min password length         =             2) Max password length         =

 3) Min num of upper case chars =             4) Min num of lower case chars =
 5) Min num of alpha chars      =             6) Min num of numeric chars    =
 7) Min num of symbol chars     =             8) Min num of character tests  =

 9) Definition case sensitivity =
10) Exclude USER id             =            11) Exclude USER desc words     =
12) Excluded chars              =            13) Max num of repeated chars   =
14) Max num of ascending chars  =            15) Max num of descending chars =

16) Password verb prompt str    =

Enter password definition id.
Or 'CR' to exit, '?' for list, 'D' for default or '*' for current)

At the Password Definition ID > prompt, do one of the following:

Enter the ID of a password definition to create or update.
Enter ? to list the defined definitions.
Enter D to update the default definition.
Enter * to update the current definition.
Press RETURN to return to the SSM screen.

The cursor waits at the prompt until you respond.

If you specify an existing definition, SSM reads the definition from the PW.DEFINITIONS file and shows it.
If you specify an ID that is not on file, SSM notes that "definition-id is a new ID" and prompts as follows:
```
Enter an existing ID to use as a template;
Or 'CR' to exit, '?' for list, 'D' for default or '*' for current)
ID =
```
At the ID = prompt, do one of the following:
- Enter the ID of a password definition to use as a template. This can save you having to enter much of the definition again.
- Enter ? to list the defined definitions.
- Enter D to use the default definition as the template.
- Enter * to use the current definition as the template.
  
  If there is no current definition you are told "Current definition not defined" and re-prompted for a template.
- Press RETURN to abandon the new password definition return to the SSM screen.

Account password definitions

The PASSWORD DEFINITION screen for account password definitions is:

                ACCOUNT PASSWORD DEFINITION FILE MAINTENANCE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Account Password Definition ID >

 1) Min password length         =             2) Max password length         =

 3) Min num of upper case chars =             4) Min num of lower case chars =
 5) Min num of alpha chars      =             6) Min num of numeric chars    =
 7) Min num of symbol chars     =             8) Min num of character tests  =

 9) Definition case sensitivity =
10) Exclude ACCOUNT id          =
11) Excluded chars              =            12) Max num of repeated chars   =
13) Max num of ascending chars  =            14) Max num of descending chars =

15) Password verb prompt str    =

Enter password definition id.
Or 'CR' to exit, '?' for list, 'D' for default or '*' for current)

At the Password Definition ID > prompt, do one of the following:

Enter the ID of a password definition to create or update. This should be the same name as the account.
Enter ? to list the defined definitions.
Enter D to update the default definition.
Enter * to update the current definition.
Press RETURN to return to the SSM screen.

The cursor waits at the prompt until you respond.

If you specify an existing definition, SSM reads the definition from the PW.DEFINITIONS file and shows it.
If you specify an ID that is not on file, SSM notes that "definition-id is a new ID" and prompts as follows:
```
(CR) to create a definition, "S" to create a Synonym:
```
Press Return if you want to create an entirely new definition. Alternatively, enter S if this new definition is to be a pointer to an existing definition.
If you are creating a synonym definition, SSM prompts as follows:
```
Enter existing ID for synonym to reference;
Or 'CR' to exit, '?' for list, 'D' for default or '*' for current)
ID =
```
At the ID = prompt, do one of the following:
- Enter the ID of the password definition to which this new definition will point (the target).
- Enter ? to list the defined definitions.
- Enter D to use the default definition as the target.
- Enter * to use the current definition as the target.
  
  If there is no current definition you are told "Current definition not defined" and re-prompted for a target.
- Press RETURN to abandon the new password definition return to the SSM screen.

PW.DEFINITIONS file maintenance options

Note that the Exclude USER desc words option is not applicable to account passwords, so the option numbers differ between the two screens.

Min password length

Specifies the minimum number of characters allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Minimum length of password :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length.

For example, if you enter 12, passwords must contain at least 12 characters. A value of 0 means there is no minimum length.

Max password length

Specifies the maximum number of characters allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Maximum password length :
Must be a positive number

For example, if you enter 24, passwords must contain no more than 24 characters. A value of 0 means there is no maximum length

Min num of upper case chars

Specifies the minimum number of uppercase letters allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Minimum number of upper case characters :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if you enter 2, passwords must contain at least 2 uppercase letters.

Min num of lower case chars

Specifies the minimum number of lowercase letters allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Minimum number of lower case characters :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if you enter 4, passwords must contain at least 4 lowercase letters.

Min num of alpha chars

Specifies the minimum number of alphabetic characters (letters) allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Minimum number of alpha characters :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if you enter 3, passwords must contain at least 3 letters (whether uppercase or lowercase). Enter 0 to place no restrictions on how many or how few letters are allowed.

Min num of numeric chars

Specifies the minimum number of digits allowed in a password.

Prompt:

Minimum number of numeric characters :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if you enter 2, passwords must contain at least 2 digits (0-9).

Min num of symbol chars

Specifies the minimum number of symbol characters allowed in a password. A symbol character is any printable character that is not a letter or a number.

Prompt:

Minimum number of non-alpha and non-numeric characters :
Must be a positive number LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if you enter 2, passwords must contain at least 2 symbol characters.

Min num of character tests

Specifies the minimum number of tests specified by options 3) to 7) that a password must specify.

Prompt:

Minimum number of successful tests (from active fields 3,4,5,6 & 7) :
Must be a positive number LE number of active tests, valid range 0-X.

Enter a number between 0 and X, which is the number of tests set by options 3) to 7) inclusive, that is:

Min num of upper case chars
Min num of lower case chars
Min num of alpha chars
Min num of numeric chars
Min num of symbol chars

For example, if you set non-zero values for all options 3) to 7), you can set Min num of character tests between 0 and 5. If you set it to 3, this means that a password must satisfy at least 3 of the tests, although it does not matter which ones. If you set it to 5, the password must satisfy all 5 of these tests. If you set it to 0, the password must satisfy none of them (this is not recommended).

Definition case sensitivity

Specifies whether these attributes of the password definition are case-sensitive: Exclude USER/ACCOUNT id, Exclude USER desc words (for user password definitions only), Excluded chars, Max num of repeated chars, Max num of ascending chars and Max num of descending chars.

Prompt (for a user password definition):

Case Sensitivity in tests 10,11,12,13 14 & 15 (S/I) :
Must be an 'S' or an 'I'.

Prompt (for an account password definition):

Case Sensitivity in tests 10,11,12,13 & 14 (S/I) :
Must be an 'S' or an 'I'.

Enter S or I.

Exclude USER/ACCOUNT id

Specifies whether a password can include the user/account ID (as appropriate).

Prompt:

Do not allow USER/ACCOUNT name (Y/N) :
Must be a 'Y' or an 'N'.

Enter Y or N.

Exclude USER desc words

Specifies whether a password can include words from the user profile description; this option is available only for user password definitions.

Prompt:

Do not allow words used in USER description (Y/N) :
Must be a 'Y' or an 'N'.

Enter Y or N.

Excluded chars

Specifies any characters that are unacceptable in a password.

Prompt:

String of individual characters to be excluded from password.
:
Passwords cannot contain any of these characters.

Enter a list of the excluded characters. If the definition is case-sensitive (Definition case sensitivity = Sen), uppercase and lowercase letters can be separately excluded. System delimiters are rejected.

Max num of repeated chars

Specifies how many times a character can be consecutively repeated in a password.

Prompt:

Maximum number of consecutive repeated characters :
Must be a positive number GT 1 & LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

Enter a number between 0 and the defined maximum password length. For example, if Max num of repeated chars is set to 2, then "TREELIKE" is valid but "BULLLIKE" is invalid. If the definition is case-sensitive (Definition case sensitivity = Sen), sequences of uppercase and lowercase letters are counted separately, so "BullLike" would be valid.

Max num of ascending chars

Specifies how many consecutive alphabetically- or numerically-ordered characters are allowed in a password; that is, ABCD or 1234.

Prompt:

Maximum number of consecutive characters in an ascending sequence:
Must be a positive number GT 1 & LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if Max num of ascending chars is set to 3, then "UNDERSTUDY" is invalid because it contains "RSTU". If the definition is case-sensitive (Definition case sensitivity = Sen), sequences of uppercase and lowercase letters are counted separately, so "UnderStudy" would be valid.

Max num of descending chars

Specifies how many consecutive reverse alphabetically- or numerically-ordered characters are allowed in a password; that is, ZYWV or 9876.

Prompt:

Maximum number of consecutive characters in a descending sequence:
Must be a positive number GT 1 & LE maximum password length, zero to inhibit.

For example, if Max num of descending chars is set to 3, then "SCOUTSREVIEW" is invalid because it contains "UTSR". If the definition is case-sensitive (Definition case sensitivity = Sen), sequences of uppercase and lowercase letters are counted separately, so "ScoutsReview" would be valid.

Password verb prompt str

Specifies the prompt string that is displayed if a user attempts to create an invalid password with the PASSWORD command.

If a string is already defined:

New string to be displayed by PASSWORD verb.
:
Informs users of the definition rules. "" or '' will null the field.
Current value is "current-prompt"

If a string is not already defined:

New string to be displayed by PASSWORD verb.
:
Informs users of the definition rules.

The prompt string should summarise the rules set out in the password definition. For example, Passwords must be between 7 and 24 characters and must contain at least 2 uppercase letters, 2 lowercase letters and 2 numbers. System delimiters are rejected.

NoteThe introduction of password definitions in Reality V15.2 made the PasswordLength database configuration parameter redundant. On upgrading from a prior release the current value of PasswordLength (if any) is used to set the Min password length attribute of the DEFAULT user password definition.

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