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How to set Linux password aging using chage command

Password aging is a mechanism that allows the Linux system to enforce a certain lifetime for passwords and this is a good security practice.

Password aging information can be configured with the Linux chage command. If the chage command is immediately followed by a username, the administrator will be interactively prompted for the password aging values.

 Option

Description

-m days

Specify the minimum number of days between which the user must change passwords. If the value is 0, the password does not expire.

-M days

Specify the maximum number of days for which the password is valid.

-d days

Specify the number of days since January 1, 1970 the password was changed.

-I days

Specify the number of inactive days after the password expiration before locking the account. If the value is 0, the account is not locked after the password expires.

-E date

Specify the date on which the account is locked, in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Instead of the date, the number of days since January 1, 1970 can also be used.

-W days

Specify the number of days before the password expiration date to warn the user.

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