  Distributed Authentication? Password Security? 
 The Question is:
 
Is there any way to move user names and passwords from VMS to NT or
Unix(Linux)?
 
 
 The Answer is:
 
  OpenVMS can share passwords with Windows NT domains, using the OpenVMS
  V7.1 distributed authentication support and the assistance of PATHWORKS
  LAN Manager.  The same username and password can be used on OpenVMS and
  on Windows NT, and a change in either place will change the other.
 
  The Purdy polynomial used to hash the password on OpenVMS was expressly
  chosen as it is believed to be extremely difficult to reverse.  Further,
  when OpenVMS performs a password comparsion, it hashes the specified
  password before checking it against the saved, hashed, password value.
  The cleartext password is not stored.
 
  To relocate the hashed password values, the OpenVMS password hashing
  algorithm would require integration into the other platforms, or the
  other platforms would have to depend on OpenVMS to authenticate the
  password.
 
  Creating a list of usernames in a file can be performed using AUTHORIZE
  commands such as LIST/BRIEF.
 
  There are plans to extend the support for external authentication to
  other schemes in future OpenVMS releases.
 
