User IDs and passwords

User IDs and passwords

Understand character limitations for user IDs and passwords is important because they are used throughout the system to provide access and secure content. The character limitations provided here apply to the WebSphere Portal administrator, IBM WAS administrator, database administrator, LDAP server administrator, and user IDs. Database and LDAP servers can have more restrictive limitations than provided here. Therefore you should check the database and LDAP server product documentation for restrictions. Failure to correctly define user IDs and passwords during the installation process can result in installation failure. In addition, company may have more restrictive user ID and password requirements that also follow.
When a person signs up as a user or when an administrator enrolls a user, they must complete the user information form. On this form, do not enter characters that might not be supported. Regardless of what characters you are able to enter on the user information form, user ID and passwords are limited to the valid characters described here. You can specify other characters in the First Name and Last Name fields. If company policy is more restrictive, you can provide that information to users in the enrollment form help or as inline help directly on the form.
WebSphere Portal cannot create user Ids or passwords that contain spaces, although it fully supports any existing user Ids and passwords or those created in the user repository that contain spaces.
Under normal circumstances a valid user ID and password can contain the following characters:

Lower case characters {a-z}
Upper case characters {A-Z}
Numbers {0-9}
Exclamation point {!}
Open parenthesis {(}
Close parenthesis {)}
Dash {-}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Period {.}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Underscore {_}; this is the only supported special character in i
Grave accent {`}
Tilde {~}
Commercial at {@}, this character is not supported when creating the WebSphere Portal and WAS administrator during installation.

These are all ASCII characters. Non-ASCII characters are not allowed for username or password.
The only supported characters in IBM i are lower case characters, upper case characters, numbers, and the underscore.
(UNIX only) Some tasks may require you to enter the fully qualified user ID. If fully qualified user ID contains a space; for example:
cn=wpsadmin,cn=users,l=SharedLDAP,c=US,ou=Lotus,o=Software Group,dc=ibm,dc=com

. place the fully qualified user ID in the properties file or into a parent properties file instead of as a flag on the command line. For example, create a parent properties file called mysecurity.properties, enter the fully qualified user ID, and then run the task:
./ConfigEngine.sh task_name -DparentProperties=/opt/mysecurity.properties

(Windows only) Some tasks may require you to enter the fully qualified user ID. If fully qualified user ID contains a space; for example:
cn=wpsadmin,cn=users,l=SharedLDAP,c=US,ou=Lotus,o=Software Group,dc=ibm,dc=com

. place quotes around the fully qualified user ID before running the task; for example...
"cn=wpsadmin,cn=users,l=SharedLDAP,c=US,ou=Lotus,o=Software Group,dc=ibm,dc=com"

The table below contains a list of the required fields on the user information form and the supported characters.

User information Valid characters Unsupported characters
User ID The only supported characters in IBM i are lower case characters, upper case characters, numbers, and the underscore.
Lower case characters {a-z}
Upper case characters {A-Z}
Numbers {0-9}
Exclamation point {!}
Open parenthesis {(}
Close parenthesis {)}
Dash {-}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Period {.}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Underscore {_}; this is the only supported special character in i
Grave accent {`}
Tilde {~}
Commercial at {@}, this character is not supported when creating the WebSphere Portal and WAS administrator during installation.
Only ASCII characters are allowed.
The user ID cannot contain spaces; for example, user name. User IDs cannot be longer than 200 characters.
If you enter any unsupported characters during the installation, you will receive an error message that states which character is invalid. For example, "The special character [@] was found in the administrative user ID field. Enter the administrative user ID again."
You will receive a different error message if you enter any unsupported characters when creating users through the Manage users and groups portlet.
Password / Confirm password The only supported characters in IBM i are lower case characters, upper case characters, numbers, and the underscore.
Lower case characters {a-z}
Upper case characters {A-Z}
Numbers {0-9}
Exclamation point {!}
Open parenthesis {(}
Close parenthesis {)}
Dash {-}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Period {.}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password
Underscore {_}; this is the only supported special character in i
Grave accent {`}
Tilde {~}
Commercial at {@}, this character is not supported when creating the WebSphere Portal and WAS administrator during installation.
Diacritics, such as the umlaut, and DBCS characters are not allowed.
The password cannot contain spaces; for example, pass word. Passwords cannot be longer than 128 characters.
Login will fail if the password contains any unsupported characters, including DBCS characters. This will happen even if a user is successfully enrolled using a password containing DBCS characters.
If you enter any unsupported characters during the installation, you will receive an error message that states which character is invalid. For example, "The special character [@] was found in the password field. Enter the password again."
First Name All characters n/a
Last Name All characters n/a

The above characters are true if the user.UNIQUEID.charset parameter is set to ascii. If set to unicode, the standard Java™ Letter definition is used and all characters that are recognized as letter or digit by Java are allowed by default. See the Puma Validation Service section in the "Portal configuration services" link below for information about further parameters that can be modified to affect the behavior of Portal's validation of users, groups, and passwords.

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Plan to install WebSphere Portal

Portal configuration services

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User information	Valid characters	Unsupported characters
User ID	The only supported characters in IBM i are lower case characters, upper case characters, numbers, and the underscore. Lower case characters {a-z} Upper case characters {A-Z} Numbers {0-9} Exclamation point {!} Open parenthesis {(} Close parenthesis {)} Dash {-}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password Period {.}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password Underscore {_}; this is the only supported special character in i Grave accent {`} Tilde {~} Commercial at {@}, this character is not supported when creating the WebSphere Portal and WAS administrator during installation.	Only ASCII characters are allowed. The user ID cannot contain spaces; for example, user name. User IDs cannot be longer than 200 characters. If you enter any unsupported characters during the installation, you will receive an error message that states which character is invalid. For example, "The special character [@] was found in the administrative user ID field. Enter the administrative user ID again." You will receive a different error message if you enter any unsupported characters when creating users through the Manage users and groups portlet.
Password / Confirm password	The only supported characters in IBM i are lower case characters, upper case characters, numbers, and the underscore. Lower case characters {a-z} Upper case characters {A-Z} Numbers {0-9} Exclamation point {!} Open parenthesis {(} Close parenthesis {)} Dash {-}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password Period {.}; this character is not supported as the first character in the user ID or password Underscore {_}; this is the only supported special character in i Grave accent {`} Tilde {~} Commercial at {@}, this character is not supported when creating the WebSphere Portal and WAS administrator during installation.	Diacritics, such as the umlaut, and DBCS characters are not allowed. The password cannot contain spaces; for example, pass word. Passwords cannot be longer than 128 characters. Login will fail if the password contains any unsupported characters, including DBCS characters. This will happen even if a user is successfully enrolled using a password containing DBCS characters. If you enter any unsupported characters during the installation, you will receive an error message that states which character is invalid. For example, "The special character [@] was found in the password field. Enter the password again."
First Name	All characters	n/a
Last Name	All characters	n/a