HP XC System Software Installation Guide Version 3.1

B Host Name and Password Guidelines
This appendix contains guidelines for making informed decisions about information you are asked to
supply during the installation and configuration process. This appendix addresses the following topics:
• “Host Name Guidelines” (page 117)
• “Password Guidelines” (page 117)
B.1 Host Name Guidelines
Follow these guidelines when deciding on a host name:
• Host names can contain from 2 to 63 alphanumeric uppercase or lowercase characters (a-z, A-Z,
0-9). Fully qualified host names (for example, mysys.example.com) can contain a maximum of
254 characters. Each component of the domain name can contain up to 63 characters, and components
must be separated by periods.
• Host names must begin with a letter.
• Hyphens ( - ) are permitted in host names.
• Underscores ( _ ) are not permitted in host names.
• Periods ( . ) are permitted in fully qualified domain names.
• Before deciding upon a host name, consult with your site administrator to make sure you select a
unique name that adheres to your corporate host naming conventions.
B.2 Password Guidelines
Passwords protect the data on your system and control access to your system by providing a means to
verify identity and ensure individual accountability. On an HP XC system, you set passwords for several
different users; none of these passwords are required to match:
• Root user
• Configuration and management database administrator
• Nagios administrator
• LSF administrator
The Linux operating system permits the root user (also known as the superuser) to have permissions that
supersede those of ordinary users. The root user is generally the person who is responsible for system
administration tasks and has access to all files, all user accounts, and all devices. The root user is not
restricted from changing anything on the operating system. For this reason, the root user needs a special,
unique password that must be closely guarded for security purposes.
Do not select a root or general user password that can be guessed by an unauthorized person. Because the
root user has absolute power over the operating system, the root password must be carefully protected.
The basic guideline is to make the password something that you can remember but difficult for someone
else to guess.
Never share a password with anyone, and never write it down. If you have to write down a password to
remember it, change the password.
Follow these guidelines to develop strong passwords:
• A password must contain a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 16 characters.
• A password must contain a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.
• At least one of the first six characters in a password must be a number, a special character, or an
uppercase letter.
• HP recommends, but does not mandate, that you use a combination of numbers and special characters
in a password such as the dollar sign ( $ ), the percent sign ( % ), the number sign ( # ), the period ( .
), the hyphen ( - ), the underscore ( _ ), or the at sign ( @ ). If you do not use a special character or
number in the password, at least one of the first six characters must be an uppercase letter or a number.
When choosing a password, do not use any of the following:
• Single words found in any dictionary in any language.
• Personal information about you or your family or significant others such as first and last names,
addresses, birth dates, telephone numbers, names of pets, and so on.
• Any combination of single words in the dictionary and personal information.
• An obvious sequence of numbers or letters, such as 789 or xyz.
B.1 Host Name Guidelines 117