Setting up an emergency user for the appliance.

Note:
Passwords may get lost, even if you do not expect it. Within complex systems, this can be a very inconvenient and expensive issue, especially if a virtual machine has to be completely relaunched and reconfigured. The required effort strongly depends on the complexity of the RCCMD configuration. For this reason, it is recommended to create an emergency backup user before starting the actual configuration work.

Passwords are often lost for various reasons. For example, documentation of installed systems may be missing, rarely used passwords are easily forgotten, or IT systems are taken over from other companies without proper records.

By default, RCCMD does not provide any backdoor access to recover lost passwords.

If you assign a different password to the standard console user admin and this password is lost, you basically have to set up the RCCMD client again. This could become a very complex problem in some cases, for example, if there are special scripts stored that have to be recreated.

To prevent this uncomfortable situation, it is recommendable to set up a backup user with administrative access rights.

After installation work for the appliance is done, access the console with a freeware tool like Putty is provided.:

User:                       admin

Password:              RCCMD

Getting root

Command: sudo su

Note that after logging in, you have not yet been granted the necessary rights to set up a corresponding emergency user. To set up such a user extended system rights are required.

Setting up user and password

Command 1: useradd <username>

With this command the user account is generated.

Command 2: passwd <username>

Assign a new password to the corresponding user.

Assign a user group

Command: usermod – G sudo -a Emergency

To grant the new user administrative rights, the user must be added to the corresponding user group

Logging out

Command: exit

You need to enter exit two times. The first exit will end the superuser, the second exit will quit the session.

Performing an emergency user password reset

Start a session with the emergency user account. With the command sudo su, root rights are granted.

Please note:

Your emergency user does not have the system rights to maintain the web console. Its only purpose is to reset the password for the user 'admin'.

However, navigate to the directory 'resources':

Command: cd /usr/rccmd/webconfig/resources

The configuration scripts required for the password query are located in this directory.

Opening the text editor to change the password

Command: nano realm.properties

With this command, the editor nano opens the corresponding configuration file. Within this file, it is possible to reset the password for the user "admin" that will be used for the web-based front end of RCCMD.

Edit the file as follows:

#RCCMD realm.properties

# username: password [,rolename ...]

#admin: CRYPT:adg.Dq8TXmNZI, admin                             -> Type # to disable this line

admin: Notfall, admin                                                          -> Add this line below

In this example, the user admin will use the Password 'Notfall'.

Save the file and quit the text editor. Make sure that the original file name is overwritten and that your changes are not saved with a different file name.

Reloading the RCCMD configuration

Command: /etc/init.d/rccmdConfig restart

This command activates the password you have just assigned. Alternatively, restart the appliance. Now, open the web interface of your RCCMD installation and log in with the new password. From there, navigate to the user settings and set a new password.