This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
The auditor reads a paste. It says it is a planning aid, not an official standard, and not legal advice. It flags a minimum length under 8 and a history size of 0. It does not connect to Active Directory and it does not change the policy.
One number. Do not shorten the length or clear the history. Do not use the result as permission to try passwords. The directory is one you administer. A change is a later ticket.
If the paste shows neither finding, the tool says so. That is not a certification.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Paste a policy you exported from your directory.
- Read the length and the history.
- Pick one gap if there is one.
- Do not change the policy.
- Do not try passwords.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
AD Password Policy Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- The policy weakened.
- Passwords tried against accounts.
- A directory you do not administer.
- The result called legal advice.
- The policy changed during the reading.
Decisions to write down
One decision for AD Password Policy Audit Checklist: The directory is yours. One number is the gap, or the short list was clean. No change was made. No password was tried. And this is not legal advice and not an official standard.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The directory is written. Length and history are written. No change was made. No password was tried. And the note refuses legal advice. If one of those fails, stop.
# Not legal advice. Not an official standard.
# Flags length under 8, and history size 0.
# Does not connect.
# Do not try passwords.
# Do not weaken the policy.Before you leave the host
AD Password Policy Audit Checklist ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
Related pillar guides
More in this cluster
The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.
- Pillar: Server Hardening & Audit Guide
- Checklist: PowerShell Script Security Audit Checklist
- Checklist: Windows Firewall Rules Audit Checklist
- Checklist: IIS Config Audit Checklist
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.