UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi Guys,

i want to ask how i can add a special policies for users.
for example i want so say that each user must chnage the password every 4 weeks the password should have min 5 chacaters ........

passwd -n DAYS ....... and which string is for the min password lenght ......

many thx!

What OS and version? Are you using NIS or NIS+ (which don't use password aging)?

Man page for shadow (if you are using it) shows the following:
Each entry in the shadow file has the form:

username: password:lastchg: min:max:warn: inactive:expire:flag

So you want the max field:

lastchg
The number of days between January 1, 1970, and
the date that the password was last modified.

min The minimum number of days required between pass-
word changes.

max The maximum number of days the password is valid.

warn The number of days before password expires that
the user is warned.

Read the man page for shadow and post back if you still don't get it.