When you use IndraDrive components, you rely on parameters programmed into the software. If these parameters are accidentally changed — or, though we don’t like to think about it, maliciously changed — you may in a very bad situation. Without the correct parameters, your component can turn into a very expensive boat anchor. Fortunately, you can protect the parameters with passwords.
Writable parameters
- There are 3 groups of writable parameters:
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- Administration parameters are generally write-protected and include motor parameters, hardware code parameters, encoder parameters, and error memories. These parameters are necessary for the correct function and performance of the drive.
- Customer parameters can be grouped together and protected with a customer password. This allows you to protect parameters that are used to adjust the drive to the axis, such as acceleration and deceleration times.
- Other writable parameters are not write-protected by default.
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Passwords
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The drive firmware allows you to activate and deactivate write protection for parameter values using three different passwords:
- Customer password: This password can be used to protect customer parameters. This is the basic level for passwords. Your engineers will use these passwords.
- Control password: This password can be used to change customer parameters that are protected by a customer password. The control passwords should be available to someone in case the person who uses the customer password is unavailable or goes rogue and can’t be trusted. Things like that.
- Master password: This password can be used to change all writable parameters, including administration parameters and parameters protected by a customer password. Very few people should have access to this password, but it gives you an extra layer of confidence in case the users of the lower levels of passwords are all swept away by a hurricane or something.
Choosing passwords
It is important to choose strong passwords that are difficult to guess. “Difficult to guess” should generally mean that they are difficult for machines to guess. Most brute force password guessing is done by bots. “P@$$w0rD” is actually very easy for a machine to guess, while also being hard for humans to remember. “FairyTickleHatchback” is hard for machines to guess but easier for human beings to remember. Any random string of words will be a better password than any variation on an obvious word.
Speaking of obvious, human-guessable passwords are less of an issue, but there are some things people often choose as passwords that are easy for other humans to guess. Your birthday, your kids’ or dogs’ names, and your address are all perfect examples. If you use social media , this kind of information is readily available to anyone who cares to look.
You should also change your passwords regularly. It may be irritating — okay, it is definitely irritating — but password management tools like LastPass or DashLane can reduce the irritation. Used correctly, password tools allow you to have unique, difficult passwords for everything but only to remember the password you use to log in at the password manager.