Unable to login to HyperFlex web interface

[mathew.goddard]

When I attempt to log in to the web interface as "admin", I get "Incorrect user name or password (100005)".

The admin guide suggests that this command, entered at the CLI of one of the HyperFlex VMs, enables you to update the password globally:

stcli security password set --user admin

I did that and the command was accepted. But then when I attempted to log in again, I got a different error: "Check your cluster status or logs for possible solutions." I went to lunch and when I came back and tried again, the error returned to "Incorrect user name or password (100005)."

Is there another way to reset the "admin" password for the web interface? Or perhaps the errors imply that there's another issue in play here? Any pointers on where to go to find the "cluster status or logs" it mentions?

The environment is running firmware version 2.5(1d), btw.

[mathew.goddard · Accepted solution]

Never mind, I found the problem: the time on all the HyperFlex VMs had drifted out of sync with their ESXi hosts and apparently that prevents the web interface credentials from working.

Note that the 'admin' account was a red herring. The correct account to use in this case was the 'administrator@vsphere.local' account. ('admin' is a local account on the HyperFlex VMs.)

The specific solution was:

- Edit '/etc/ntp.conf' on each VM

- Add NTP sources (e.g. 'pool 0.us.pool.ntp.org iburst', 'pool 1.us.pool.ntp.org iburst', and so on...)

- Restart NTP: service ntp restart

- Check time with the 'date' command and confirm that it matches that of the ESXi hosts

After that, I could log in no problem.

[Kirk J]

You probably don't want to edit the ntp.conf file directly.

The recommended way of adding/removing ntp/dns is with the stcli services command. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/hyperconverged_systems/HyperFlex_HX_DataPlatformSoftware/CLIGuide/4_0/b_HyperFlexSystems_CLIReferenceGuide_4_0/b_HyperFlexSystems_CLIReferenceGuide_4_0_chapter_01101.html 

stcli services ntp set  --ntp x.x.x.x

Kirk...

[mathew.goddard]

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@Kirk J wrote:

You probably don't want to edit the ntp.conf file directly.

The recommended way of adding/removing ntp/dns is with the stcli services command.

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Thanks, I reverted my changes and did it that way instead.

I note that the 'stcli' method takes effect cluster-wide, too. So you only need to make the change in one place. Good stuff!