APIC Controller - Password Recovery

Uploaded by

havewe7983

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

14 views

APIC Controller - Password Recovery

Uploaded by

havewe7983

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 6

Prerequisites
You will need physical access to the device
You will need CIMC-KVM, CIMC-SOL, or console access to the device. If you have
CIMC access to the device, I’d recommend using the Serial-Over-Lan option.
Before trying this procedure, I would try to use the rescue-user account on the APIC
(if available, it will save a lot of time!). If an admin password has been set already
previously, the ‘rescue-user’ login account will utilize the same password that was
previously set for the admin account. For questions on the rescue-user account,
check out the APIC Troubleshooting Guide on CCO, and search for “rescue-user”.
The rescue-user is an emergency login that provides access to the Cisco APIC
even when it is not in a cluster. You can use this login to run troubleshooting
commands including erasing the configuration.
For a standby Cisco APIC, you can log in using SSH with the username “rescue-
user” and no password. If the standby Cisco APIC was previously part of a
fabric, the “rescue-user” account will retain the old administrator password,
unless the operating system is re-installed using the keyboard, video, mouse
(KVM) console.

Caveats

You will need to physically remove the cables connected from the APIC to the Fabric Leaf
switches. It is not enough to simply disable the connection; (i.e., shutting the interface).
The APIC Controller Password Recovery process will fail if the cable from the APIC to the
Fabric Leaf switches remains connected.

APIC Controller Password Recovery Process

1. Create and save an empty file named “aci-admin-passwd-reset.txt”.
2. Add the file to a USB drive.
3. Connect the USB drive to one of the rear USB ports on the Cisco APIC.
4. Disconnect the APIC (that the USB is plugged into) from the Fabric Leaf switches.
5. Reboot the APIC from the CIMC or by hard power cycling the device.
6. When the APIC displays the “Press any key to enter the menu” prompt, press a key
to interrupt the boot process.
7. The APIC displays supported Linux versions. Highlight the version installed on your
system and press ‘e’ to edit the commands before booting:
8. Press “e” a second time to edit the kernel command in the boot sequence:

9. Add the name of the empty file to the end of the command line:

10. Press Enter to save the file.

11. Press “b” to boot the APIC.
12. The APIC will boot up and prompt for a new administrator password.
13. Re-attach the APIC Controller back to the Fabric Leaf switches and allow a few
minutes for the password to propagate to the rest of the fabric.

Alternate APIC Recovery Procedure

If the procedure above does not work, or you just want to try to recover your APIC via
another method, the procedure below should allow you to wipe and recover your fabric.
While this isn’t necessarily a “password recovery” procedure, it will allow you to perform
the APIC setup process, which would include setting a new password.

1. Download your APIC ISO file from CCO (cisco.com).

2. Load the ISO image using your CIMC via attaching\mounting the .iso file
1. Alternatively – you can boot the .iso file from a USB drive on the system.
3. After the APIC firmware is loaded and reboots, it should boot up fresh and run thru
the setup script again.

APIC Controller - Password Recovery

Uploaded by

APIC Controller - Password Recovery

Uploaded by

Menu

APIC Controller: Password Recovery

APIC Controller Password

APIC Controller Password Recovery Process

10. Press Enter to save the file.

Alternate APIC Recovery Procedure

1. Download your APIC ISO file from CCO (cisco.com).

Note: This option will take a while to complete

Posted in All, Management

← ACI Switches: Password Recovery ACI: vPC in ACI →

2 thoughts on “APIC Controller:

Pingback: ACI Switches: Password Recovery

You might also like