Passwords are crucial both to the security of your account and to the security of the entire system. Therefore, it is recommended that you change your password often. To change your pasword, type:
> yppasswdYou will be prompted for your old password once and your new password twice. Make your password at least 6 upper and lower case numbers and letters. Do not use any control characters, as the system sometimes has problems with them. The password cannot resemble any word in any language. This includes reversed and truncated words. If you attempt to use such words, they will most likely be rejected.
If you are getting an "RPC Server Error" when trying to change your password, Ask a consultant to reset your password to your Social Security Number. This should fix the error.
Choose a password that is hard to guess. "Guess", in this context, refers to a password guessing program that can try hundreds of passwords in a minute. Such programs usually try, in order, variations of your name, a list of commonly chosen passwords, and words from the English language. Passwords should be at least six characters long; 8 is a good length. I recommend the following methods for choosing passwords: + choose two short words and join them with a symbol, like "big$deal" + choose a phrase, and then use the first letters; for example, "A stitch in time saves nine": "asits9" + choose an address that you have never lived at, like "219S.45th" + use letters, numbers, and symbols to make a phrase, such as "2b|~2b" (To be or not to be) Don't use any of the passwords given above. Do not give out your password. This includes using that password for an account outside of the University. A clever way to get passwords is to advertise a Bulletin Board System or a network game of some sort, ask people who join to choose a password, and then use those passwords to try to break into their other accounts. Or someone could ask you to use a program that they wrote, which prompts you to enter your password. And don't set your password to anything that you don't make up yourself. For instance, someone could fake a posting from the Systems Administrator, saying "Everyone change your password to 'asits9'", and then break into everyone's account.