To add to Anand's answer (in a separate e-mail), MD5 allows you to use passwords that are 256 characters in length.
Note: If you have the shipping version of RH 7.2, you should apply the PAM updates to fix a bug with PAM and passwords that are > 8 characters. SysAdmin Magazine has an excellent pair of articles about MD5 encryption in the October and November 2001 issues. The articles are "Revisiting UNIX Password Controls, Parts I and II". Unfortunately, they are not available on the web. The articles do give an excellent description of MD5 and standard crypt. At 04:23 PM 5/13/2002 -0500, you wrote: >Can someone tell me what the advantage and disadvantages of using MD5 >passwords are? > >Is it just stronger encryption? > >Does it make it harder to run a brute force dictionary crack on a >password file harder? > >Does it require more resources if you have thousands of password >lookups going on in a short time frame? > >Thanks very much for any insignt or pointers. > >Scott > > > >_______________________________________________ >Redhat-list mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list ---- John Costello, RHCE - Synopsys, Inc. -- Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not for Synopsys, Inc. "What if nothing matters? What if everything matters?"--Hobbes "Which would be worse?"--Calvin _______________________________________________ Redhat-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
