HP XC System Software Installation Guide Version 4.0

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. It addresses the following
topics:
• “Host Name Guidelines” (page 191)
• “Password Guidelines” (page 191)
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.
B.1 Host Name Guidelines 191