Every day there are break-in attempts on Physics Department computers. It is therefore important that you have a strong password that is kept secret. Do not use the same password for different accounts, because if security is breached at one site, stolen passwords can be used to gain access elsewhere.
Physics Department Linux accounts use an authentication system called Kerberos. To change your password for accessing these services, you therefore need to change your Kerberos password.
If your computer has Kerberos installed and configured (e.g. if it is AFS-enabled), you can change your Kerberos password using the kpasswd command on your computer. Example:
kpasswd youraccount@HEP.WISC.EDU
Otherwise, you can use the kpasswd command on the Department Linux computers. To do the latter, you will need to connect to login.hep.wisc.edu via ssh. On a Windows computer, you can use the Command utility to use the ssh command . On a Mac, you can use the Terminal app found in Applications/Utilities.
Below is an example ssh session used to change my password. I am entering these commands via the Mac Terminal app. Note that the ‘$’ sign is not part of the command. It is part of the command prompt. Therefore, when copying the command, enter just ssh youraccount@login.hep.wisc.edu.
$ ssh dan@login.hep.wisc.edu The authenticity of host 'login.hep.wisc.edu (128.104.160.33)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is 12:f8:06:a3:1a:57:32:06:56:2b:29:4e:03:ac:95:ab. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added 'login.hep.wisc.edu' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
dan@login.hep.wisc.edu's password:
Last login: Tue Apr 15 11:24:06 2014 from 128.104.164.180
#######################################################
Welcome to login01.hep.wisc.edu
Scientific Linux release 6.4 (Carbon)
996.66 MB RAM
1 cores of type QEMU Virtual CPU version 1.1.2
#######################################################
[dan@login01 ~]$ kpasswd
Password for dan@HEP.WISC.EDU:
Enter new password:
Enter it again:
Password changed.
[dan@login01 ~]$ logout
Connection to login.hep.wisc.edu closed.