Configure passwords

  1. Configure the system password for the root user on the compute nodes. This password can be provided in encrypted or clear text form using the chtab command.

    • Clear text:

      chtab key=system passwd.username=root passwd.password=abc123
      
    • Encrypted using openssl:

      chtab key=system passwd.username=root passwd.password=`openssl passwd -6 abc123`
      
  2. Configure the passwords for Management modules of the compute nodes.

    • For OpenBMC managed systems:

      chtab key=openbmc passwd.username=root passwd.password=0penBmc
      
    • For IPMI/BMC managed systems:

      chtab key=ipmi passwd.username=ADMIN passwd.password=admin
      
    • For HMC managed systems:

      chtab key=hmc passwd.username=hscroot passwd.password=abc123
      

      If the username/password is different for multiple HMCs, set the username and password attribute for each HMC node object in xCAT

    • For Blade managed systems:

      chtab key=blade passwd.username=USERID passwd.password=PASSW0RD
      
    • For FSP/BPA (Flexible Service Processor/Bulk Power Assembly) the factory default passwords must be changed before running commands against them.

      rspconfig frame general_passwd=general,<newpassword>
      rspconfig frame admin_passwd=admin,<newpassword>
      rspconfig frame HMC_passwd=,<newpassword>
      
  3. If using the xCAT REST API

    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