minimum password length

minimum password length allows you to customize the length of server-wide password values or per-login or per-role password values. The per-login or per-role minimum password length value overrides the server-wide value. Setting minimum password length affects only the passwords you create after you have set the value; existing password lengths are not changed.

Use minimum password length to specify a server-wide value for minimum password length for both logins and roles. For example, to set the minimum password length for all logins and roles to 4 characters, enter:

sp_configure "minimum password length", 4

To set minimum password length for a specific login at creation, use sp_addlogin. For example, to create the new login “joe” with the password “Djdiek3”, and set minimum password length for “joe” to 4, enter:

sp_addlogin joe, "Djdiek3", minimum password length=4

To set minimum password length for a specific role at creation, use create role. To create the new role “intern_role” with the password “temp244” and set the minimum password length for “intern_role” to 0, enter:

create role intern_role with passwd "temp244", minimum password length 0

The original password is seven characters, but the password can be changed to one of any length because the minimum password length is set to 0.

Use sp_modifylogin to set or change minimum password length for an existing login. sp_modifylogin only effects user roles, not system roles. For example, to change minimum password length for the login “joe” to 8 characters, enter:

sp_modifylogin "joe", @option="minimum password length", @value="8"

To change the value of the overrides for minimum password length for all logins to 2 characters, enter:

sp_modifylogin "all overrides", "minimum password length", @value="2"

To remove the overrides for minimum password length for all logins, enter:

sp_modifylogin "all overrides", @option="minimum password length", @value="-1"

Use alter role to set or change the minimum password length for an existing role. For example, to set the minimum password length for “physician_role”, an existing role, to 5 characters, enter:

alter role physician_role set minimum password length 5

To override the minimum password length for all roles, enter:

alter role "all overrides" set minimum password length -1