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. The procedure to recover the password for the admin account requires you to power cycle all fabric interconnects and will lead to a temporary data transmission outage.

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 accounts through Cisco UCS Manager. However, you must log in to Cisco UCS Manager with an account that includes aaa or admin privileges.


Caution

For Cisco UCS Mini, this procedure requires you to pull all the fabric interconnects in a Cisco UCS domain out of their chassis slots. As a result, all data transmission in the Cisco UCS domain is stopped until you slide the fabric interconnects back into their chassis slots.

For other Cisco UCS configurations, this procedure requires you to power down all fabric interconnects. As a result, all data transmission in the Cisco UCS domain is stopped until you restart the fabric interconnects.

Determining the Leadership Role of a Fabric Interconnect

Important:

To determine the role of the fabric interconnects in a cluster when the admin password is lost, open the Cisco UCS Manager GUI from the IP addresses of both fabric interconnects. The subordinate fabric interconnect fails with the following message:

UCSM GUI is not available on secondary node.
Procedure
    Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.
    Step 2   In the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects.
    Step 3   Click the fabric interconnect for which you want to identify the role.
    Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
    Step 5   In the General tab, click the down arrows on the High Availability Details bar to expand that area.
    Step 6   View the Leadership field to determine whether the fabric interconnect is the primary or subordinate.

    Verifying the Firmware Versions on a Fabric Interconnect

    You can use the following procedure to verify the firmware versions on all fabric interconnects in a Cisco UCS domain. You can verify the firmware for a single fabric interconnect through the Installed Firmware tab for that fabric interconnect.

    Procedure
      Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.
      Step 2   In the Equipment tab, click the Equipment node.
      Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Firmware Management tab.
      Step 4   In the Installed Firmware tab, verify that the following firmware versions for each fabric interconnect match the version to which you updated the firmware:

      • Kernel version

      • System version

      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 domain.

      Procedure
        Step 1   Connect to the console port.
        Step 2   Power cycle the fabric interconnect:
        1. For Cisco UCS Mini, pull the fabric interconnect out of its chassis slot. For all other configurations, turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
        2. For Cisco UCS Mini, slide the fabric interconnect back into its chassis slot. For all other configurations, 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


        loader > boot /installables/switch/ucs-mini-k9-kickstart.5.0.3.N2.3.01a.bin
        Step 5   Enter config terminal mode. 
        Fabric(boot)# 
config terminal
        Step 6   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 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


        Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/ucs-mini-k9-system.5.0.3.N2.3.01a.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 domain.

        Procedure
          Step 1   Connect to the console port.
          Step 2   For the subordinate fabric interconnect:
          1. For Cisco UCS Mini, pull the fabric interconnect out of its chassis slot. For all other configurations, turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
          2. For Cisco UCS Mini, slide the fabric interconnect back into its chassis slot. For all other configurations, 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. For Cisco UCS Mini, pull the fabric interconnect out of its chassis slot. For all other configurations, turn off the power to the fabric interconnect.
          2. For Cisco UCS Mini, slide the fabric interconnect back into its chassis slot. For all other configurations, 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


          loader > boot /installables/switch/ucs-mini-k9-kickstart.5.0.3.N2.3.01a.bin
          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


          Fabric(boot)# load /installables/switch/ucs-mini-k9-system.5.0.3.N2.3.01a.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