Specifying Plain-Text Passwords

The JUNOS software has special requirements when you create plain-text passwords on a routing platform:

• The password must be at least 6 characters long.
• You can include most character classes in a password (alphabetic, numeric, and special characters), except control characters.
• Valid passwords must contain at least one change of case or character class.

You can include the plain-text-password statement at the [edit system diag-port-authentication], [edit system pic-console-authentication], [edit system root-authentication], and [edit system login user username authentication] hierarchy levels.

Table 5 lists error messages that display when you enter an invalid plain-text password.

Table 5: Plain-text Password Error Messages

Problem with password	Resulting error message
Too few characters; for example, "abC".	Minimum password length is 6
Does not include a change of case, numeric, or special character; for example, "abcdefg".	Require change of case, digits or punctuation
Does not match the original password.	Passwords are not equal; aborting

For more information about how to create plain-text passwords, see Configuring the Root Password, Configuring User Accounts, and Configuring the Password on the Diagnostics Port.