ORAPWD : Password complexity failed for SYS user

I was creating an Oracle Data Guard environment when I got the following error while I was creating the password file:

[oracle@techdatabasket]$ orapwd file=orapwtech password=oracleEXAMPLE force=Y

OPW-00029: Password complexity failed for SYS user : Password must contain at least 1 digit.

And the reason behind this error is that Oracle Corporation has been working hard to ensure more security in their database releases. Therefore, from the Oracle database release version 12.2, Oracle has changed some policies within passwords, and due to it, no longer weak passwords are allowed unless you want to. The new requirements about passwords that are allowed can be found in the chapter “3 Configuring Authentication” of the Database Security Guide release 12.2, and it follows as below:

This function checks for the following requirements when users create or modify passwords:

The password contains no fewer than 8 characters and includes at least one numeric and one alphabetic character.

The password is not the same as the user name, nor is it the user name reversed or with the numbers 1–100 appended.

The password is not the same as the server name or the server name with the numbers 1–100 appended.

The password does not contain oracle (for example, oracle with the numbers 1–100 appended).

The password is not too simple (for example, welcome1, database1, account1, user1234, password1, oracle123, computer1, abcdefg1, or change_on_install).

The password differs from the previous password by at least 3 characters.

The following internal checks are also applied:

The password does not exceed 30 characters.

The password does not contain the double-quotation character ("). However, it can be surrounded by double-quotation marks.

Knowing that, if you still want to use passwords that were allowed in previous releases for some reason, you can use the clause “format=12” which will guarantee you to be able to create that password. An example can be seen below:

[oracle@techdatabasket]$ orapwd file=orapwtech password=oracleEXAMPLE  force=Y format=12
[oracle@techdatabasket]$ ls -ltr
total 21916
-rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall     2048 Sep 12 18:44 orapwtech
[oracle@techdatabasket dbs]$

I hope this post helps you!

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