How to Reset the Dell NetWorker Administrator Account Password on Linux

In this comprehensive tutorial, we walk you through the step-by-step process of resetting the NMC (NetWorker Management Console) password for NetWorker 9.0 and later releases. Whether you’re a seasoned IT pro or just getting started, this video provides clear instructions and best practices. For more Information, check our Knowledge Base click here.

Hello and welcome to our tutorial on how to reset the administrator password on a Linux NetWorker server. Please note that these instructions are only applicable for NetWorker 9 and later releases. Let's start with generating a new password in Base64 encoded format.

The password requirements are a minimum of 9 characters, including at least 1 upper case letter, 1 lower case letter, 1 special character, and 1 numeric character. On your NetWorker server, type the command `echo -n 'your_new_password' | base64` to generate a Base64 encoded password. Next, we will copy the password details to the 'authc' template file. This file is found in '/opt/nsr/authc-server/scripts' and is called 'authc-local-config.json.template'. Make a copy of this file, open it, and replace 'your_username' with 'administrator' and 'your_encoded_password' with the password you just generated. Save and close the file using the command 'wq!'.

Then, rename the file by typing 'mv' followed by the filename and the new filename, removing the '.template.copy'. Now, we need to copy the password file into the 'authc' folder and set the permissions. Type the command `cp filename auth-local-config.json /nsr/authc/conf`. Open the folder using `cd /nsr/authc/conf`. Set the permissions using `chmod 755 filename`, which makes the file executable by root. Use `ll -ltr` to check if the permissions are correct. It's time to restart the NetWorker Server for the new password to be configured.

If the NetWorker server also hosts the NMC server or NWUI server, you should also restart the GST and NWUI service as well. Use `systemctl stop networker` to stop the NetWorker Server. Check the status with `systemctl status networker`. If it's inactive, you can continue. Start the Server again with `systemctl start networker`. Check the status again, and if it's active, you can continue. Try to log in using `nsrlogin -f -u administrator -p your_unencoded_password`.

If the authentication is successful, then the password change was successful. In case of issues, check the log files for errors. You can find the 'authc-server.log' and 'authc-server-audit.log' in the path '/nsr/authc/logs'. Thank you for watching this tutorial. We hope it was helpful.