Recovering a lost system (sysadmin) password on Unified or File VNX.

Unable to log in to Unisphere or Unisphere Service Manager.

The "sysadmin" or the global/administrative  system account password is lost.

Option 1 - when another global/administrator account exists:

First check to see if there are any other global/administrator accounts. If so, use one of those accounts to log in to Unisphere and change the "system" account password. The default system account is  "sysadmin," but it may have been changed to something else.

From the VNX Control Station, run the the following command:

# /nas/sbin/navicli -h spa security -list -type
Username:    sysadmin              <<< In this example, "sysadmin" is the system account.                                                                         
Role:        administrator
Scope:       global
Type:        system                                                   
 
Username:    emcadmin              <<< In this example, another global/administrator account exists: "emcadmin."
Role:        administrator
Scope:       global
Type:        user

In this example, if someone knows the "emcadmin" password, you can use that account to login to Unisphere and change the "sysadmin" user's password.

Then log in to Unisphere with the user account "emcadmin"  go to the "Domains" Section  and the click on "Manage Global Users," highlight the "sysadmin" account and then click "Modify," to change the password.

Option 2 - when no other global/administrator accounts exist or all global/administrator passwords are unknown :

In a File/Unified VNX, the "system"  account (usually "sysadmin") and password are stored in the SYMAPI database. This allows us to run Navisphere commands without knowing the password.

Create a global/administrator user "temp," with password "temp" and use that account to change the sysadmin password:

# /nas/sbin/navicli -h spa security -adduser -user temp -password temp -scope 0 -role administrator

Then log in to Unisphere with the user account "temp" go to the "Domains" Section  and the click "Manage Global Users," highlight the "sysadmin" account and then click "Modify," to change the password.

Then log out and log back in, as sysadmin and delete the temp user account you just created.