Configure passwords¶

Configure the system password for the root user on the compute nodes.
- Set using the chtab command: (Recommended)
  chtab key=system passwd.username=root passwd.password=abc123
  To encrypt the password using openssl, use the following command:
  chtab key=system passwd.username=root passwd.password=`openssl passwd -1 abc123`
- Directly edit the passwd table using the tabedit command.
Configure the passwords for Management modules of the compute nodes.
- For IPMI/BMC managed systems:
```
chtab key=ipmi passwd.username=USERID passwd.password=PASSW0RD
```
- For HMC managed systems:
```
chtab key=hmc passwd.username=hscroot passwd.password=abc123
```
  The username and password for the HMC can be assigned directly to the HMC node object definition in xCAT. This is needed when the HMC username/password is different for each HMC.
```
mkdef -t node -o hmc1 groups=hmc,all nodetype=ppc hwtype=hmc mgt=hmc \
username=hscroot password=hmcPassw0rd
```
- For Blade managed systems:
```
chtab key=blade passwd.username=USERID passwd.password=PASSW0RD
```
- For FSP/BPA (Flexible Service Processor/Bulk Power Assembly), if the passwords are set to the factory defaults, you must change them before running and commands to them.
```
rspconfig frame general_passwd=general,<newpassword>
rspconfig frame admin_passwd=admin,<newpassword>
rspconfig frame HMC_passwd=,<newpassword>
```
If the REST API is being used configure a user and set a policy rule in xCAT.
1. Create a non root user that will be used to make the REST API calls.
  useradd xcatws passwd xcatws # set the password
2. Create an entry for the user into the xCAT passwd table.
  chtab key=xcat passwd.username=xcatws passwd.password=<xcatws_password>
3. Set a policy in the xCAT policy table to allow the user to make calls against xCAT.
  mkdef -t policy 6 name=xcatws rule=allow
When making calls to the xCAT REST API, pass in the credentials using the following attributes: userName and userPW