Q2. How to Set Account Never Expires?

Short Answer:

To set a user account to never expire in Linux, use:

To verify:

Detailed Explanation

In Linux, user account expiration is controlled by the shadow file:

Each user entry contains:

• Password aging info

• Account expiration date

• Password expiration days

The chage command modifies these parameters safely.

Set Account Never Expires

Step 1: Set account expiry to never

-E -1 → Removes account expiration date.

Step 2: Verify

You should see:

Difference Between Password Expiry & Account Expiry

Many candidates confuse these two in interviews.

Production (Real Scenario)

Scenario:

A service account running a banking application suddenly stops working.

Root cause:

• Password expired automatically.

• Application cannot authenticate.

Impact:

• Production outage.

• Payment gateway stopped.

Solution:

For service accounts:

✔ No password expiry
✔ No account expiry

Best Practice in Production

Never set regular user accounts to never expire.

Only use for:

• Service accounts

• Application accounts

• Monitoring agents

For human users:

• Enforce password policies

• Use /etc/login.defs

• Follow compliance rules

Interview One-liner

“In production, we set account never expire using chage -E -1, especially for service accounts, but regular user accounts should follow password policies for security compliance.”