Resetting the Root Password for NSX Manager Without GRUB

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• The root password of NSX Manager appliance has expired or unknown.
• The appliance GRUB password was changed from the default password and is now also unknown
• Root password recovery cannot be performed because the GRUB password is unknown
• Administrators are unable to access and authenticate to the NSX Manager using root.

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

Root password expiration combined with the loss of the previously configured password prevents successful authentication. GRUB-assisted password recovery is the standard approach; however, if the GRUB password has been changed and is unknown, an alternate recovery method must be used.

Resolution

Follow the below steps for Resolution:

1. Login to NSX manager CLI using admin.
2. Note the details of any one of the NSX manager node UUID from command get cluster status 
3. Detach NSX Manager node from the cluster using command detach node <node_UUID>
4. Deploy a new NSX Manager node from NSX UI. During deployment, you will be prompted to configure the admin, root, and audit account passwords.
5. After deployment, the new NSX Manager node’s credentials should synchronize with the other NSX Manager nodes in the cluster.
6. Verify that root access is functioning after the deployment. If root login is still not working, follow the procedure in Resetting the Passwords of an Appliance to reset the NSX Manager root password, and use the default GRUB password referenced in KB 417635.
7. After rebooting, wait 5–10 minutes for the root password to synchronize across the NSX Manager cluster.
8. Note that the GRUB password does not synchronize across NSX Manager nodes. Once the root password has been successfully synchronized, you can follow KB 417635 to reset the GRUB password on each NSX Manager node as needed.

If the steps above do not resolve the issue, open a technical case with Broadcom Support.

 

Additional Information

See also:

Reset NSX Appliance 'root' password via GRUB

Refer to this article if GRUB access is available and password recovery through the standard GRUB-based procedure can be performed.