So I am a little grumpier than usual this evening. Seems a larger number of people decided to leave their brains at home in their iPhone charges this morning (there is my reference to iPhone). Password issues have got to be the number one pet peeve for any Systems Administrator, no matter which platform they work with. Since this blog is dedicated to all the foolish issues Sys Admins have to deal with I might as well start with the password word issue from today.
If you are a computer user on an administered network you probably have to change your password every 60 to 90 days. This is a most important step in password security although not very complicated, well for most. Take today for example; user calls in a panic telling me that she has been locked out because she did not change their password in the time allotted. My system here forces you to change your password every 90 days, at which time you are given 6 grace logins to do so. After said logins you are then locked out and have to contact the Grumpy Ole Admin.
I access the interface needed to reset the users grace logins so that she can change her password yet she still has 4 grace logins left. Understand, this is on a Tuesday and the user logged in yesterday. I call back and tell here she still has logins left and she then tells me, “I know, but it is not working.”
Now I am utterly befuddled. I reply to the user, “You told me that your grace logins had been used and that you could not login.”
“Well maybe it was a different error, I can’t remember. All I know is that I am putting in my password and it is not letting me in”, the user replies.
So now computers are taking it personal and not letting people in. I take a deep breath and tell the user, “All you have to do is use the password that you used yesterday and you can get in.”
“I already have,” utters the user, “I know I am using the right password, but the computer is not letting me in.”
I now begin counting to ten before I try explaining, in vain, to this user that the computer is not against her and that she needs to just slow down so that she can remember the correct password. I then realize that it would be a waste of time when the user tries to tell me that she has been using the same password for years. It is at this point I know I have lost this battle and will never get these ten minutes of life back. So I reset her password to, you guessed it “password”, and gave her one grace login to change it. Knowing she has won she mutters a thank you and hangs up.
So you want to be a Systems Administrator? The above story, and more such as these will outline the standard ID10T errors that make up your job.
Good Night!
If you are a computer user on an administered network you probably have to change your password every 60 to 90 days. This is a most important step in password security although not very complicated, well for most. Take today for example; user calls in a panic telling me that she has been locked out because she did not change their password in the time allotted. My system here forces you to change your password every 90 days, at which time you are given 6 grace logins to do so. After said logins you are then locked out and have to contact the Grumpy Ole Admin.
I access the interface needed to reset the users grace logins so that she can change her password yet she still has 4 grace logins left. Understand, this is on a Tuesday and the user logged in yesterday. I call back and tell here she still has logins left and she then tells me, “I know, but it is not working.”
Now I am utterly befuddled. I reply to the user, “You told me that your grace logins had been used and that you could not login.”
“Well maybe it was a different error, I can’t remember. All I know is that I am putting in my password and it is not letting me in”, the user replies.
So now computers are taking it personal and not letting people in. I take a deep breath and tell the user, “All you have to do is use the password that you used yesterday and you can get in.”
“I already have,” utters the user, “I know I am using the right password, but the computer is not letting me in.”
I now begin counting to ten before I try explaining, in vain, to this user that the computer is not against her and that she needs to just slow down so that she can remember the correct password. I then realize that it would be a waste of time when the user tries to tell me that she has been using the same password for years. It is at this point I know I have lost this battle and will never get these ten minutes of life back. So I reset her password to, you guessed it “password”, and gave her one grace login to change it. Knowing she has won she mutters a thank you and hangs up.
So you want to be a Systems Administrator? The above story, and more such as these will outline the standard ID10T errors that make up your job.
Good Night!
1 comment:
I think this probably would have been a good story, but I couldn't open up the page to read it. The computer wouldn't let me in. Changed my password on me. Damn computers! Who do they think they are anyway???
LOL!
~B~
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