vSAN Free Root Console/SSH access

Software-based VM-centric and flash-friendly VM storage + free version

Moderators: anton (staff), art (staff), Max (staff), Anatoly (staff)

Post Reply
grefte
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:47 pm

Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:51 pm

Hi all,

Is it possible to login with the root account on the (VMware) console or by SSH on a vSAN Free appliance?

I was able to change the password of the root account. Then I have to use that password when connecting the server to the Starwind Management Console. So the new password is working.
But I cannot login in to the (VMware) console or by SSH.
yaroslav (staff)
Staff
Posts: 2361
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:11 am

Wed Jul 19, 2023 9:09 pm

Welcome to StarWind Forum.
Sadly no.
Use the user called
user
. It's default password is rds123RDS.
Then I have to use that password when connecting the server to the Starwind Management Console.
Could you be more specific here? Did you change the password for the CVM WEB UI (reachable at ip:9090) root user for the StarWind VSAN root account in StarWind Management Console? The latter allows Management Console and StarWind Service talking.
grefte
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:47 pm

Thu Jul 20, 2023 11:38 am

Hello and thanks for the quick reply.

I have change the "root" password with the following Powershell script:
+++++++++++++++
$server = "IP"
$port=3261
$user="root"
$old_password="starwind"
$new_password="New password"
Import-Module StarWindX
$server = New-SWServer $addr $port $user $old_password
$server.Connect()
$server.SetServerParameter("Password",$new_password)
$server.Disconnect()
+++++++++++++++
We have changed the password for the "user" account through the webconsole https://ip:9090
We have to change the default passwords for security reasons.

So far everything is working, but when I am trying to solve some selfcreated disasters (for testing purpose) the VM sometimes is halted after reboot on the VMware console with message:
+++++++++++++++
Welcome to emergency mode! After logging i, type "journalctl -xb"to view
system logs, "systemctl renoot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or ^D to
try again to boot into default mode.
Give root password for maintenace
(or press Control-D to continue):
+++++++++++++++
At this point I want to try to get the VM up and running normally but cannot perform any actions on it.
yaroslav (staff)
Staff
Posts: 2361
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:11 am

Thu Jul 20, 2023 12:09 pm

root user you are referring to is the StarWind Service user account. See my comment on it below. You need to supply encrypted value into StarWind.cfg. See this thread for more details https://forums.starwindsoftware.com/vie ... ZDg#p33727
Looks like you were removing mount point for that VM so it could not boot up with entries in /etc/fstab as mount point it was trying to boot up was not found. Try using nofail mount option.
At this point I want to try to get the VM up and running normally but cannot perform any actions on it.
True, you need root account to leave the emergency mode. You can try resetting root password on your own (e.g., as described here https://www.clouvider.com/knowledge_bas ... tos-linux/)
grefte
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:47 pm

Mon Jul 24, 2023 12:49 pm

I managed to change the Linux root account with the instructions you provided.
These steps won't break installing future updates of the StarWind software?

When I change the StarWind root service account with the powershell command I see the Password hash value in the StarWind.cfg changing automatically.
Is this enough or should I perform any other actions?
yaroslav (staff)
Staff
Posts: 2361
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:11 am

Mon Jul 24, 2023 1:31 pm

Greetings,

StarWind VSAN updates can be performed both offline (https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... d-version/) and online (https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... -vsan-cvm/).
No actions are to be taken additionally.
Post Reply