Resetting An Administrator Or Root Password; Resetting User Account Passwords - Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server Administrator's Manual

Note: the root account should not be used in normal operation, and in particular system configuration
should not be conducted using this account. Use the admin account instead.
Changing the root account password
To change the password for the root account:
1. Log in to the VCS as root. By default you can only do this using a serial connection or SSH.
2. Type passwd.
You will be asked for the new password.
3. Enter the new password and when prompted, retype the password.
4. Type exit to log out of the root account.
Accessing the root account over SSH and Telnet
By default, the root account can be accessed over a serial connection or SSH only - access over
Telnet is disabled by default. You may want to enable access over Telnet, but for security reasons this
is not recommended.
To enable and disable access to the root account using SSH and Telnet:
1. Log in to the VCS as root.
2. Type one of the following commands:
rootaccess -t on to enable access using Telnet
l
rootaccess -t off to disable access using Telnet
l
rootaccess -s on to enable access using SSH
l
rootaccess -s off to disable access using SSH
l
3. Type exit to log out of the root account.
If you have disabled SSH access while logged in using SSH, your current session will remain active
until you log out, but all future SSH access will be denied.
Note: if your VCS is part of a cluster, do not disable root access using SSH. The clustering feature
depends on SSH access.

Resetting an administrator or root password

If you forget the password for the default admin account or any other administrator account, log in to
the VCS using the account of another administrator with read-write access and change the password.
However, if you do not have any other administrator accounts with read-write access, or have
forgotten the passwords for them all, you can set a new password for the admin account using the
following procedure. This can also be used if you have forgotten the password for the root account:
1. Connect a PC to the VCS using the serial cable as per the instructions in the VCS Getting Started
Guide [28].
2. Restart the VCS.
3. Log in from the PC with the username pwrec. No password is required.
4. Select the account (root or admin) whose password you want to change.
5. You will be prompted for a new password.
The pwrec account is only active for one minute following a restart. After that time you will have to
restart the system again to change the password.

Resetting user account passwords

To change a password on behalf of a user without knowing their existing password (for example, when
a user forgets their password):
Cisco VCS Administrator Guide (X6.1)
Maintenance
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