Specifies the time, in minutes, a cred cache entry is valid.
The default value is 20.
If a user is using UNIX and tries to open a file with an ACL in a mixed or NTFS (Windows NT security style) qtree, the filer uses NTFS security semantics to determine whether the user has access to the file.
The filer does this by converting the UNIX UID (User ID) into a Windows NT credential, which is also known as a WAFL(tm) (Write Anywhere File Layout) credential. Windows NT uses the credential to verify that a user has access rights to the file. A UNIX user can have both a UNIX name and a Windows name.
Windows NT verifies each request for access to files. Each access usually takes between 10 and 500 milliseconds, and can take longer because contacting a domain controller to create a WAFL credential is time-consuming. To reduce the time spent in contacting a domain controller, the filer can cache the WAFL credential in a credential cache. This cache is called the WAFL credential cache, or simply the cred cache.
You control how long a WAFL credential remains in the cache and, therefore, remains valid, by typing in this field the number of minutes you want credentials to be valid.
After a credential has been in the cred cache the amount of time you specify, it is removed.
Windows NT verifies a credential when it is used the first time. The longer the credential is in the cache, the fewer the resources needed for credential verification, and the better the performance that the user experiences.
If you need to see security updates as they occur, you might want to use less time than the default. However, with a smaller value, users might experience slower performance.