Lost admin password on AP8965

[jjcsgi_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 10/23/2015

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Hello, posting here as a last ditch effort.

I have 4 APC AP8965 PDU's in a remote data center with no hands and feet. They are currently configured for Radius, so we do have the ability to log into them with our AD creds. We're trying to get rid of Radius and when I went to go use the APC admin account we found that no one has the password. They've been set up for years and none of the passwords (including the default) work.

And it appears that there is no way to reset the apc password unless you already know the apc password, for some reason. 

Is there any way to reset this if we have the ability to login and are admin on the device? Most of the things I found online mention having to use a paperclip and serial cable to do a reset, but it feels like I should be able to do *something* since I actually can log into it. Below is the info on the device:

Model #: AP8965

HW Revision: 02

Manufacture Date: 08/24/2011

NMC Model #: AP9538

HW Revision: 05

Manufacture Date: 08/24/2011

Application Module Name: rpdu2g

Version: v.5.1.1

Date: 12/13/2010

APC OS version: 5.1.4

Date: 6/17/2010

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 10/23/2015

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Hello Jason,

So by referencing the default username and password, you mean apc/apc, right? Just verifying you found accurate defaults.

The problem is, if you can log into the web interface, yes, you can reset the administrator's username and password but you need to know the current password to do so. Since you don't know that, it won't help that you got to the screen in the web interface where you can do it.

The other option that should work though, if you can afford it, would be to reset the PDU to defaults (and you can exclude TCP/IP settings since you're remote). This would reset it back to apc/apc and I believe would be an option assuming your RADIUS user(s) are set up as administrators and see the Administration tab in the web (or you can use the CLI too).

And yes, the other option would be the password reset option which requires local access via the serial cable and a paperclip and lets you temporarily access the system with apc/apc so that you can log in and save new credentials.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions. I wanted to mention too that this firmware is really old so once you get all sorted with setting stuff up and getting off of RADIUS, I'd suggest looking at a firmware upgrade for numerous bug fixes and feature enhancements including Network Port Sharing - share one IP across up to (4) PDUs, multiple user log ins, etc.

[jjcsgi_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 10/23/2015

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Thank you. Yes, I was referring to the default apc/apc.

I was looking at the firmware options. I noticed in the notes of the latest 6.x that it mentioned the ability to reset the apc account. If I upgraded to that, would I gain the ability? Does updating the firmware reset the outlets or powered devices?

My management is really hesitant about letting us do the reset all (excluding tcp/ip). Does that affect the outlets or the powered devices at all?

Our main concern is obviously not to effect anything, plus since we're remote we don't want to lose the ability to get functions.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 10/26/2015

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6.X firmware has a super user that cannot be deleted or renamed. Other than that, it is pretty close to v5.X in relation to your current pickle. The super user and administrators (cause now you can have multiple administrators) can reset each other's passwords and other, less privileged users. I would not upgrade to that until you sort this issue out as this is a "major" upgrade and well, there is a tiny risk you could run into a problem with that itself and lose remote access if there is a problem with the upgrade process - we can look into that later though as I mentioned. Besides, you cannot reset the super user account unless you know its password and if you don't, the reset password procedure will be required which means you need to use the serial cable, etc. 

No, upgrading firmware on network management card devices does not affect a UPS or power strip's outlets unless otherwise specified. Some cooling units and large UPS units require special precautions but those are handled by APC field service engineers anyway. The only time I'd use caution on a PDU like yours is if you had error messages in the event log or in the web interface where the product isn't functioning properly to begin with.

Resetting to defaults also does not affect the outlet status and I'd only be cautious again if you had some critical alarms within the PDU that are alarming where we'd review that first.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any further questions before doing anything.