How to reset the root password in vRealize Application Remote Collector

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to reset the virtual appliance root password in vRealize Application Remote Collector.

• In vRealize Application Remote Collector, when you log in to the console of the virtual application for the first time, you are forced to set a root password.

Environment

VMware vRealize Operations 8.0.x
VMware vRealize Operations 8.2.x
VMware vRealize Operations 8.3.x
VMware vRealize Operations 8.1.x
VMware vRealize Operations 8.x

Resolution

To reset root password in  vRealize Application Remote Collector follow the steps below.

1. In the vSphere Client, open the console of the vRealize Application Remote Collector.
2. With the console open, restart or power on the virtual machine.
3. When the GRUB loader menu appears, immediately use the up and down arrow keys to navigate to the end of the line that starts with Photon OS or linux for new deployments.

Notes:

• Press the up and down arrow keys even if the option appears to already be selected. Otherwise, the machine continues to boot, and you have to start over.
• Type the letter e to go to the GNU GRUB edit menu.
• The cursor appears at the end of a line of boot options near the bottom of the display.
• If you cannot reach the boot menu before it disappears, enable Force BIOS setup in tne the Virtual Machine's Settings > VM Options > Boot Options and reboot.

4. Add a space, then type rw init=/bin/bash which adds another option to the line.
5. Press F10.

Note: The virtual appliance starts in single-user mode.

6. Type passwd root and follow the prompts to create a new root password.

Note: If the above command fails, try running sudo passwd root instead.

7. To unlock the root account, open /etc/pam.d/system-auth in a text editor.
8. Comment out the following line by adding a # in front of it:

auth    required    pam_tally2.so onerr=fail deny=3 unlock_time=900 root_unlock_time=900 file=/var/log/tallylog

Example: #auth    required    pam_tally2.so onerr=fail deny=3 unlock_time=900 root_unlock_time=900 file=/var/log/tallylog

9. Save and close the file.
10. Type sync and press Enter to flush the data to disk.
11. Type umount / and press Enter.
12. Type reboot -f and press Enter.

Note: If the reboot command fails, restart the Virtual Machine through vSphere.

13. In the vSphere Client, reopen the console of the desired node and login using root.
14. Run the following command:

pam_tally2 -u root --reset

Note: This command may need to be run twice.

15. Open /etc/pam.d/system-auth in a text editor.
16. Uncomment the line from step 10 by removing the # in front of it.

Example: auth    required    pam_tally2.so onerr=fail deny=3 unlock_time=900 root_unlock_time=900 file=/var/log/tallylog

17. Save and close the file.

 

Additional Information

To check if the root account is locked, complete the following while in single user mode. 
Note: Running the passwd command from the steps above will unlock the root account.

• Type passwd -S root to determine if the root account is locked.

Note: If the account is not locked, you will see PS next to the username.  If the account is locked, you will see LK next to the username.

Example: 

Unlocked: root PS 01/24/2019 0 365 7 -1
Locked: root LK 01/24/2019 0 365 7 -1