Recover a lost password on UCS for 6400 & 6500 Fabric Interconnects

Introduction

This document provides a comprehensive guide on the procedure to recover a lost password on a Fabric Interconnect 4th and 5th generation.

Prerequisites

Physical access to the Fabric Interconnect.

Components Used

Fabric Interconnect 6536.

RJ45 to DB9 Serial Cable.

Laptop.

Recover the Admin Account Password

Procedure

1. Connect to the console port. Plug the RJ-45 end of the serial management cable into the console port on the fabric interconnect, and connect the DB-9 male end into the serial port on a laptop or other computer.
   
   
2. Power cycle the Fabric Interconnect:
   1. Power off the Fabric Interconnect.
   2. Power on the Fabric Interconnect.
      
      
3. Press the key combination in the console as it boots: Ctrl + C.
   
   
4. At the loader prompt, find the system image used with command dir.
   
   

   loader > dir                                                                   
   
   bootflash::  
   
     lost+found
     ucs-manager-k9.4.2.3e.bin
     .rpmstore
     ucs_chassis_imgs
     installables
     ucs-6400-k9-system.9.3.5.I42.3d.bin   <----
     nuova-sim-mgmt-nsg.0.1.0.001.bin 

5. Run the command cmdline recoverymode=1 to enable recovery mode.
   
   

   loader > cmdline recoverymode=1       

6. Boot the system image on the Fabric Interconnect.
   
   

   loader > boot ucs-6400-k9-system.9.3.5.I42.3d.bin   ​

7. Then, enter to the config terminal mode.
   
   

   switch(boot)# config terminal 
   Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
   switch(boot)(config)# ​

8. Reset the admin password.
   
   

   switch(boot)(config)# admin-password <your_password>​

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

Caution: The new password will display in clear text mode.

9. Exit the config terminal mode.

10. Load the system image.

switch(boot)(config)# exit 
switch(boot)# load ucs-6400-k9-system.9.3.5.I42.3d.bin 

If it is a cluster configuration. Repeat steps to get to the loader prompt.

1. Connect to the console port.
   
   
2. Power cycle the Fabric Interconnect:
   1. Power off the Fabric Interconnect.
   2. Power on the Fabric Interconnect.
      
      
3. Press the key combination in the console as it boots: Ctrl + C.
   
   
4. At the loader prompt for the subordinate Fabric Interconnect, boot the image to bring it up.
   
   

loader > boot ucs-6400-k9-system.9.3.5.I42.3d.bin

Tip: Fabrics Interconnect must be on the same firmware version to form the cluster.

Verify

Establish a connection via SSH to the fabric's management IP and Log In using the updated password.

login as: admin
Pre-authentication banner message from server:
| Cisco UCS 6500 Series Fabric Interconnect
End of banner message from server
admin@X.X.X.X's password: N3wp4ssw0rd
Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software
TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
Copyright (c) 2009, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
owned by other third parties and used and distributed under
license. Certain components of this software are licensed under
the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or the GNU
Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1. A copy of each
such license is available at
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php

FI-6536-A#

Related Information

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/hw/6454-install-guide/6454/6454_chapter_011.html