Reference Guide

586 Brocade Fabric OS Command Reference
53-1004112-02
passwd
The passwd command behaves as follows:
• If you are changing your own password, you are prompted to enter the old password and, if your entry is valid,
you are prompted to enter the new password. Alternately, you may specify the old and new password on the
command line.
• If a you are changing another user's password with greater privileges than your current login level, you are
prompted to enter that user level's old password and, if your entry is valid, you are prompted for a new
password.
• If you are changing another user's password, the target account's AD member list must be a subset of your
account's AD member list.
• If you are logged in as the root user when changing another user's password, you are not prompted to enter
the old password. If you are a factory account, an admin, or SecurityAdmin account, you are not prompted to
enter the current password unless the target account is root.
• Changing the password of any user level causes the login session of that account (if logged in) to terminate.
When invoked without an operand, this command changes the password for the current user account.
Notes The execution of this command is subject to Virtual Fabric restrictions that may be in place. Refer to "Using Fabric
OS Commands" and "Command Availability" for details.
Operands The following operand is optional:
user_account
Specifies the user account for which the password is to be changed. The user account must
be an existing account, either default or user-created. Only users with accounts of type
"root", "factory", "SecurityAdmin", or "admin" can execute this operand and have permission
to change passwords for accounts other than their own.
-old old_password
Specifies the old password. This operand is optional; if omitted, the command interactively
prompts for the old password.
-new new_password
Specifies the new password. This operand is optional; if omitted and only the old password
is specified on the command line, the command interactively prompts for the new
password.
Diagnostics The system may generate one or more of the following error messages. Refer to the Fabric OS Message
Reference for more diagnostic information.
RADIUS enabled error
Password change disallowed, RADIUS authentication is enabled.
Password error
Password length, strength, or history policy not met.
"User" is not a valid user name
You have not specified a valid recognized user name on the system.
Permission denied
You do not have permission to change the password for the specified user.
Incorrect password
You have not entered the correct password when prompted for the old password.