How to increase the accepted password length in Solaris 9? I tried the /etc/default/passwd deal to increase from default to my desired amount (>twelve).  It didn't do the trick.

Answer:

You can't as long as you use the standard unix crypt algorithm, which pick the first 8 letters of the password to build its hash.

To change, either use a different backend for authenticating users (e.g. ldap) or replace the algorithm used to encrypt /etc/shadow password fields by setting CRYPT_DEFAULT=X in /etc/security/policy.conf

X=1 is for linux/bsd compatibility
X=2a is for blowfish
X=md5 is for ... md5

As all this is plugin based, you can even write your own plugin that demand say 32 minimal password length, and add it to the /etc/security/crypt.conf file 
 

You can go into thepolicy.conf file and changed these two lines:

FROM: #CRYPT_ALGORITHMS_DEPRECATE=__unix__
CRYPT_DEFAULT=__unix__

TO: (uncomment) CRYPT_ALGORITHMS_DEPRECATE=__unix__
CRYPT_DEFAULT=2a
 

In AIX 5.3 TL9, to change the password algorithm to have more than 8:

I can only tell you what I know.

Here's an extract from the /etc/security/user file (albeit on TL8):

Code:

* minlen        Defines the minimum length of a password.  The default is 0.
*               Range: 0 to 8.
*
*   Note: The minimum length of a password is determined by minlen and/or
*         'minalpha + minother', whichever is greater.  'minalpha + minother'
*         should never be greater than 8.  If 'minalpha + minother' is greater
*         than 8, then minother is reduced to '8 - minalpha'.

Have a look at yours and see what it says.

(all assuming you are using the usual local user authentication)

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