The VCS provides a root account which can be used to log in to
the VCS operating system. This account has a username of root
(all lower case) and a default password of TANDBERG (all upper
case). For security reasons you must change the password as
soon as possible. A warning is displayed on the web interface
and the CLI if the root account has the default password set.

The root account should not be used in normal operation,
and in particular system configuration should not be
conducted using this account. Use the admin account
instead.

Changing the root account password

To change the password for the root account:
1. Log in to the VCS as

root. By default you can only do this

using a serial connection or SSH.

2. Type

passwd.

You will be asked for the new password.

3. Enter the new password and when prompted, retype the

password.

4. Type

exit to log out of the root account.

Accessing the root account over SSH and Telnet

By default, the root account can be accessed over a serial
connection or SSH only - access over Telnet is disabled by
default. You may wish to enable access over Telnet, but for
security reasons we do not recommend this.
To enable and disable access to the root account using SSH and
Telnet:
1. Log in to the VCS as

root.

2. Type one of the following commands:

•

rootaccess -t on to enable access using Telnet

•

rootaccess -t off to disable access using Telnet

•

rootaccess -s on to enable access using SSH

•

rootaccess -s off to disable access using SSH

3. Type

exit to log out of the root account.

If you have disabled SSH access while logged in using
SSH, your current session will remain active until you log
out, but all future SSH access will be denied.

If your VCS is part of a cluster, do not disable root access
using SSH. The clustering feature depends on SSH
access.

Resetting passwords

Resetting a forgotten administrator or root password

If you forget the password for the default admin account or any
other administrator account, log in to the VCS using the account
of another administrator with read/write access and change the
password.
However, if you do not have any other administrator accounts
with read/write access, or have forgotten the passwords for
them all, you can set a new password for the admin account
using the following procedure. This can also be used if you have
forgotten the password for the root account:
1. Connect a PC to the VCS using the serial cable as per the

instructions in the

VCS Getting Started Guide [28}

2. Restart the VCS.
3. Log in from the PC with the username pwrec. No password is

required.

4. Select the account (root or admin) whose password you wish

to change.

5. You will be prompted for a new password.

The pwrec account is only active for one minute following
a restart. After that time you will have to restart the
system again to change the password.