SARK V4.0.0 Password
Changing the Browser Password
For security reasons, we recommend that you change the default browser password immediately after installation using the change password panel. The system requires a password of at least 8 characters and you should try to use a mixture of upper and lower case and at least one numeric character. The change password panel will change the browser password ONLY. It will not change the root password of the box.
===Changing the root password on SME based systems===. For the x86 based SARK systems running under SME server the root password can be changed by visiting the to the SME Server Linux platform administration app. You can connect to it using
https://sarkserver-ip-address/server-manager
Documentation for SME server can be found on the SME server Wiki here at http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation
Changing the root password on embedded systems (SARK200 and SARK500)
The root password can be changed by establishing an SSH console session with the unit and issuing the linux passwd command. The format of the command is as follows
PASSWD(1) User Commands PASSWD(1)
NAME
passwd - change user password
SYNOPSIS
passwd [options] [LOGIN]
DESCRIPTION
The passwd command changes passwords for user accounts. A normal user may only change the
password for his/her own account, while the superuser may change the password for any account.
passwd also changes the account or associated password validity period.
Password Changes
The user is first prompted for his/her old password, if one is present. This password is then
encrypted and compared against the stored password. The user has only one chance to enter the
correct password. The superuser is permitted to bypass this step so that forgotten passwords may
be changed.
After the password has been entered, password aging information is checked to see if the user is
permitted to change the password at this time. If not, passwd refuses to change the password and
exits.
The user is then prompted twice for a replacement password. The second entry is compared against
the first and both are required to match in order for the password to be changed.
Then, the password is tested for complexity. As a general guideline, passwords should consist of
6 to 8 characters including one or more characters from each of the following sets:
· lower case alphabetics
· digits 0 thru 9
· punctuation marks
Care must be taken not to include the system default erase or kill characters. passwd will
reject any password which is not suitably complex.
Hints for user passwords
The security of a password depends upon the strength of the encryption algorithm and the size of
the key space. The legacy UNIX System encryption method is based on the NBS DES algorithm. More
recent methods are now recommended (see ENCRYPT_METHOD). The size of the key space depends upon
the randomness of the password which is selected.
Compromises in password security normally result from careless password selection or handling.
For this reason, you should not select a password which appears in a dictionary or which must be
written down. The password should also not be a proper name, your license number, birth date, or
street address. Any of these may be used as guesses to violate system security.
You can find advices on how to choose a strong password on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength
