Password updating and expiration

This feature allows you to set the minimum interval at which users can change their passwords. If a user logs in to change the password but the time passed since the last change is less than this interval, the system denies the request. For example, if you set this interval to 48 hours, a user cannot change the password twice within 48 hours.

The set minimum interval is not effective when a user is prompted to change the password at the first login or after its password aging time expires.

Password expiration imposes a lifecycle on a user password. After the password expires, the user needs to change the password.

If a user enters an expired password when logging in, the system displays an error message. The user is prompted to provide a new password and to confirm it by entering it again. The new password must be valid, and the user must enter exactly the same password when confirming it.

Web users, Telnet users, SSH users, and console (or AUX) users can change their own passwords. The administrator must change passwords for FTP users.

When a user logs in, the system checks whether the password will expire in a time equal to or less than the specified notification period. If so, the system notifies the user when the password will expire and provides a choice for the user to change the password. If the user sets a new password that is complexity-compliant, the system records the new password and the setup time. If the user chooses not to change the password or the user fails to change it, the system allows the user to log in using the current password.

Web users, Telnet users, SSH users, and console (or AUX) users can change their own passwords. The administrator must change passwords for FTP users.

You can allow a user to log in a certain number of times within a period of time after the password expires. For example, if you set the maximum number of logins with an expired password to 3 and the time period to 15 days, a user can log in three times within 15 days after the password expires.

With this feature enabled, the system stores passwords that a user has used. When a user changes the password, the system compares the new password with the current password and those stored in the password history records. The new password must be different from the current one and those stored in the history records by a minimum of four characters. The four characters must be different from one another. Otherwise, the system will display an error message, and the password will not be changed.

You can set the maximum number of history password records for the system to maintain for each user. When the number of history password records exceeds your setting, the most recent record overwrites the earliest one.

Current login passwords of device management users are not stored in the password history, because a device management user password is saved in cipher text and cannot be recovered to a plaintext password.