How to deactivate root password expiration on VMware Cloud Director Appliance

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to deactivate the root password expiration for VMware Cloud Director Appliance (versions 9.5, 9.7, 10.0, 10.1, and 10.2). The root password expires after 365 days by default.

Note: 365 days after the initial deployment of a VMware Cloud Director Appliance, the root password will expire. When this happens, the user will be prompted to reset it upon logging into the appliance via the console or SSH. If it is not desirable to ever have the root password expire, this feature can be deactivated.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 9.x
VMware Cloud Director 10.x

Resolution

To deactivate root password deactivation:

1. Login to the appliance via the console in vSphere or SSH.
2. Disable the root password expiration by running chage -M -1 root.

Note: Upgrading the appliance will reactivate the 365-day root password expiration.