How To Reset Your BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) Appliance Password

Unable to recall the password for your BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) Appliance? Fear not! This article demonstrates the process for resetting the password for the "root" user, which is used to log in to the Management Console.

Wait! I use "admin" as the username when logging in to the Management Console; you might be thinking. That you do! However, what you may not realize is that "admin" is an alias to the system user (i.e., root). So, let's reset the password for that user.

Prerequisite(s):

• Physical access to the IBDR Appliance, hereafter referred to as "the Appliance"
• Monitor and keyboard connected to the appliance

Topics:

• Appliance running Infrascale OS v8.6 or earlier
• Appliance running Infrascale OS v8.7 or later

Note: The different versions (i.e., 8.7 and 8.6) of the Infrascale OS utilize different versions of GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader). As a result, the steps to reset a password differ. To determine the version of the Infrascale OS your appliance is running, visit the login prompt for the Management Console; the version is listed at the bottom of the screen.

Resetting Your Password - Infrascale OS v8.6 or earlier

To begin, restart the appliance. During the boot sequence, interrupt the bootloader (which waits for five seconds) by pressing any key, except ENTER.

Highlight Infrascale OS [VERSION] (VGA) and press the e key.

Then, highlight kernel /boot/kernel-current ... and press the e key.

Next, force the system to boot into "single user mode" by adding a space and the number one (1) at the end of the line:

Lastly, press the ENTER key to save the change and press the b key to start the system.

From the command prompt bash-4.1#, use the passwd command and follow the on-screen prompts to set a new password:

Warning: We highly recommend using a secure password, which takes into account the following characteristics:

- Is unique; use a different password for each account; systems and websites.
- Is 12 or more characters in length; longer is better!
- Contains an uppercase and lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and special character (e.g., @ # $ %)
- Does NOT contain patterns; such as a sequence (e.g., abc or 123), repeating characters (aaa or 111), or a memorable keyboard path (e.g., qwerty or qazwsx)
- Does NOT contain personal information (e.g., names, dates, et cetera), common words (i.e., terms in a dictionary)

With a new password set, use the reboot command to restart the appliance, and then access the Management Console using the newly established password.

Resetting Your Password - Infrascale OS v8.7 or later

To begin, restart the appliance. During the boot sequence, interrupt the bootloader (which waits for five seconds) by pressing any key, except ENTER.

Highlight Infrascale OS [VERSION] and press the e key.

Next, force the system to boot into "emergency mode" by adding a space and "rd.break" at the end of the linux ($root)/boot/vmlinuz ... line:

Lastly, press Ctrl+x to start the system.

In "emergency mode", we are working with a read-only file system. Therefore, we must remount it as read/write. Use the mount command to accomplish this:

switch_root:/# mount -o remount,rw /sysroot

Next, use the chroot command to start a new shell with the /sysroot directory as the / (root) directory:

switch_root:/# chroot /sysroot

Now, use the passwd command to set a new password for the "root" user:

sh-4.4# passwd root

Warning: We highly recommend using a secure password, which takes into account the following characteristics:

- Is unique; use a different password for each account; systems and websites.
- Is 12 or more characters in length; longer is better!
- Contains an uppercase and lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and special character (e.g., @ # $ %)
- Does NOT contain patterns; such as a sequence (e.g., abc or 123), repeating characters (aaa or 111), or a memorable keyboard path (e.g., qwerty or qazwsx)
- Does NOT contain personal information (e.g., names, dates, et cetera), common words (i.e., terms in a dictionary)

Lastly, force file-system relabeling by executing the following command:

sh-4.4# touch /.autorelabel

With a new password set, type exit and press the ENTER key to leave the chroot system. Then, type exit, again, and press the ENTER key to leave "emergency mode" and restart the appliance. Now, access the Management Console using the newly established password.

Conclusion

You have restored access to the Management Console of your appliance. Make sure to store the new password in a safe place.