Password policy
Username and password for the informatik.hu-berlin.de domain are synchronized with the username and password for the hu-berlin.de domain (also referred to as CMS-account or HU-account).
A password change for the CMS-account will automatically update the user credentials for the corresponding informatik.hu-berlin.de account. However this update applies to the Unix-domain only. A manual synchonization needs be triggered by the user to keep the password in line for all computers and servers at the Department of Computer Science, including the ones located outside the Unix-domain (f.eg. Windows-domain):
synchronize password
The change will take effect at the latest on the next full or half hour. After successful synchronisation the new password will also be valid for computers and servers belonging to the Windows-domain.
If the attempt to change a password fails, it may be due to one or several of the following causes:
The password has more than 8 characters and has been unchanged since 2009.
Solution: Enter the first 8 characters of your "old" password only
The password contains a forbidden character f.eg. '|'.
Solution: The superuser only is able to perform a reset.
The the forms for requesting a password synchronization or password change are available without additional login if accessed from a computer inside the informatik.hu-berlin.de domain. If accessing the forms from the outside, the user is prompted to enter his CMS-account (aka HU-account) and current password for authentication before the synchronization request may be registered.
Applicable for accounts that have been created before the summer semester 2010:
Passwords are kept consistent between the Unix-domain and the Windows-domain.
The password should be changed by the user at least every 6 months.
change password
The change will take effect at the latest on the next full or half hour.
The old password remains valid until the change takes effect. The new password will be valid across all computers and servers at the Department of Computer Science available to the user. Note: There will be no synchronisation with the CMS-account (aka HU-account) password.
A password must have a length of at least 8 characters.
A password must contain at least one special character ( ! " $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ ] \ ^ _ { } ~ ).
A password must contain at least one number.
Passwords following a pattern like:
<character><character><character><special character><number><number><number>
will be rejected.