Topics: AIX, Security, System Admin

Generating random passwords

When you set up a new user account, and assign a password to that account, you'll want to make sure that it is a password that can not be easily guessed. Setting the initial password to something easy like "changeme", only allows hackers easy access to your system.

So the best way you can do this, is by generating a fully random password. That can easily be achieved by using the /dev/urandom device.

Here's an easy command to generate a random password:

# dd if=/dev/urandom bs=16 count=1 2>/dev/null | openssl base64 | sed "s/[=O/\]//g" | cut -b1-8
This will create passwords like: 
ej9yTaaD
Ux9FYusx
QR0TSAZC
...




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