Recovering a Lost Password

This chapter includes the following sections:

Password Recovery for the Admin Account

The admin account is the system administrator or superuser account. If an administrator loses the password to this account, you can have a serious security issue. As a result, the procedure to recover the password for the admin account requires you to power cycle all fabric interconnects in a Cisco UCS instance.

When you recover the password for the admin account, you actually change the password for that account. You cannot retrieve the original password for that account.

You can reset the password for all other local acounts through Cisco UCS Manager. However, you must log in to Cisco UCS Manager with an account that includes aaa or admin privileges.


Caution

This procedure requires you to power down all fabric interconnects in a Cisco UCS instance. As a result, all data transmission in the instance is stopped until you restart the fabric interconnects.

Determining the Leadership Role of a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure
  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1 UCS-A# show cluster state  

Displays the operational state and leadership role for both fabric interconnects in a cluster.

 

The following example displays the leadership role for both fabric interconnects in a cluster, where fabric interconnect A has the primary role and fabric interconnect B has the subordinate role: 

UCS-A# show cluster state
Cluster Id: 0x4432f72a371511de-0xb97c000de1b1ada4

A: UP, PRIMARY
B: UP, SUBORDINATE

HA READY

Recovering the Admin Account Password in a Standalone Configuration

This procedure will help you to recover the password that you set for the admin account when you performed an initial system setup on the fabric interconnect. The admin account is the system administrator or superuser account.

Before You Begin

  1. Physically connect the console port on the fabric interconnect to a computer terminal or console server

  2. Determine the running versions of the following firmware:


    • The firmware kernel version on the fabric interconnect

    • The firmware system version


Tip

To find this information, you can log in with any user account on the Cisco UCS instance.

Procedure
Step 1   Connect to the console port.
Step 2   Power cycle the fabric interconnect:
  1. Turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
  2. Turn on the power to the fabric interconnect.
Step 3   In the console, press one of the following key combinations as it boots to get the loader prompt:

  • Ctrl+l

  • Ctrl+Shift+r

You may need to press the selected key combination multiple times before your screen displays the loader prompt.

Step 4   Boot the kernel firmware version on the fabric interconnect. 
loader > boot /installables/switch/kernel_firmware_version


Example:
loader > boot /installables/switch/ucs-6100-k9-kickstart.4.1.3.N2.1.0.11.gbin
Step 5   Enter config terminal mode. 
Fabric(boot)# config terminal
Step 6   Reset the admin password. 
Fabric(boot)(config)# admin-passwordpassword

Choose a strong password that includes at least one capital letter and one number. The password cannot be blank.

The new password displays in clear text mode.

Step 7   Exit config terminal mode and return to the boot prompt.
Step 8   Boot the system firmware version on the fabric interconnect. 
Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/system_firmware_version


Example:
Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/ucs-6100-k9-system.4.1.3.N2.1.0.211.bin
Step 9   After the system image loads, log in to Cisco UCS Manager.

Recovering the Admin Account Password in a Cluster Configuration

This procedure will help you to recover the password that you set for the admin account when you performed an initial system setup on the fabric interconnects.The admin account is the system administrator or superuser account.

Before You Begin

  1. Physically connect a console port on one of the fabric interconnects to a computer terminal or console server

  2. Obtain the following information:


    • The firmware kernel version on the fabric interconnect

    • The firmware system version

    • Which fabric interconnect has the primary leadership role and which is the subordinate


Tip

To find this information, you can log in with any user account on the Cisco UCS instance.

Procedure
Step 1   Connect to the console port.
Step 2   For the subordinate fabric interconnect:
  1. Turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
  2. Turn on the power to the fabric interconnect.
  3. In the console, press one of the following key combinations as it boots to get the loader prompt:

    • Ctrl+l

    • Ctrl+Shift+r

    You may need to press the selected key combination multiple times before your screen displays the loader prompt.

Step 3   Power cycle the primary fabric interconnect:
  1. Turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
  2. Turn on the power to the fabric interconnect.
Step 4   In the console, press one of the following key combinations as it boots to get the loader prompt:

  • Ctrl+l

  • Ctrl+Shift+r

You may need to press the selected key combination multiple times before your screen displays the loader prompt.

Step 5   Boot the kernel firmware version on the primary fabric interconnect. 
loader > boot /installables/switch/kernel_firmware_version


Example:
loader > boot /installables/switch/ucs-6100-k9-kickstart.4.1.3.N2.1.0.11.gbin
Step 6   Enter config terminal mode. 
Fabric(boot)# config terminal
Step 7   Reset the admin password. 
Fabric(boot)(config)# admin-password password

Choose a strong password that includes at least one capital letter and one number. The password cannot be blank.

The new password displays in clear text mode.

Step 8   Exit config terminal mode and return to the boot prompt.
Step 9   Boot the system firmware version on the primary fabric interconnect. 
Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/system_firmware_version


Example:
Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/ucs-6100-k9-system.4.1.3.N2.1.0.211.bin
Step 10   After the system image loads, log in to Cisco UCS Manager.
Step 11   In the console for the subordinate fabric interconnect, do the following to bring it up:
  1. Boot the kernel firmware version on the subordinate fabric interconnect. 
    loader > boot /installables/switch/kernel_firmware_version
  2. Boot the system firmware version on the subordinate fabric interconnect. 
    Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/system_firmware_version