Restricted Characters for Passwords (QPWDLMTCHR)

The Restricted Characters for Passwords (QPWDLMTCHR) system value limits the use of certain characters in a password.

This value provides additional security by preventing users from using specific characters, such as vowels, in a password. Restricting vowels prevents users from forming actual words for their passwords.

The QPWDLMTCHR system value is not enforced when the password level (QPWDLVL) system value has a value of 2 or 3. The QPWDLMTCHR system value can be changed at QPWDLVL 2 or 3, but will not be enforced until QPWDLVL is changed to a value of 0 or 1.

Notes:
  1. This system value is a restricted value. See Security system values for details on how to restrict changes to security system values and a complete list of the restricted system values.
  2. If the QPWDRULES system value specifies any value other than *PWDSYSVAL, this system value cannot be changed and its value will be ignored when new passwords are checked to see if they are formed correctly.
Table 1. Possible values for the QPWDLMTCHR system value:
*NONE There are no restricted characters for passwords.
restricted-characters Specify up to 10 restricted characters. The valid characters are A through Z, 0 through 9, and special characters pound (#), dollar ($), at (@), and underline (_).
Recommended value: A, E, I, O, or U. You might also want to prevent special characters (#, $, and @) for compatibility with other systems.