SPM: System for Password Management
Michael A. Cooper
University of Southern California
Abstract
Most UNIX operating systems are not delivered with adequate
facilities to address password management in medium to large,
heterogeneous environments. The System for Password Management
(SPM, pronounced spam) provides multiple levels of user
verification beyond the normal password verification procedure,
both local and centralized password database management, a
consistent command interface across multiple platforms and
multiple password database types, fast and efficient updates to
large NIS passwd databases, proactive password checking, and
password aging. SPM is intended to replace the passwd, yppasswd,
nispasswd, chfn, chsh, ypchfn, ypchsh, and rpc.yppasswdd
programs, although it can run without replacing these programs.
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