Michael McNamara

I've received a few inquires about how to reset the password and configuration on a Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600. In a previous article I showed everyone how to reset the configuration (and password) of a Nortel Ethernet Switch (including the ERS 5500 series) but not a Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch.

As with the previous procedure you'll need access to the console port on the switch. Specifically you'll need to cable up (9600,8,N,1) to the CPU (8690SF, 8691SF, 8692SF) you wish to reset.

If you've lost the password... cold boot the chassis while connected to the console port. When the switch starts to boot you should see something similar to the following (depending on the version of software installed);

Copyright (c) 2007 Nortel, Inc.
CPU Slot 5: PPC 745 Map B
Version: 4.1.5.4
Creation Time: Dec 17 2007, 15:31:21
Hardware Time: DEC 26 2007, 16:19:24 UTC
Memory Size: 0x10000000
Start Type: cold
SMI ZOOMCF
can't open "/pcmcia/pcmboot.cfg" 0x380003
S_dosFsLib_FILE_NOT_FOUND
/flash/ - Volume is OK
Change volume Id from 0x0 to 0x1a5

Loaded boot configuration from file /flash/boot.cfg
Attaching network interface lo0... done.

Press to stop auto-boot...
1

You'll need to interrupt the boot process by hitting the "Return" key . You should be greeted with a monitor prompt;

monitor#

From here you'll be able to issue a command to clear the passwords stored in NV RAM;

monitor# reset-passwd
monitor#

Now just go ahead and reset the CPU and you should be able to login with the default username (rwa) and password (rwa).

monitor# reset

CPU Slot 5: PPC 745 Map B
Version: 4.1.5.4
Creation Time: Dec 17 2007, 15:31:21
Hardware Time: DEC 26 2007, 16:25:09 UTC
Memory Size: 0x10000000
Start Type: cold
SMI ZOOMCF
can't open "/pcmcia/pcmboot.cfg" 0x380003
S_dosFsLib_FILE_NOT_FOUND
/flash/ - Volume is OK
Change volume Id from 0x0 to 0x1a5

Loaded boot configuration from file /flash/boot.cfg
Attaching network interface lo0... done.

Press to stop auto-boot...
Loading /flash/p80a4154.img ... 8761414 to 25459172 (25459172)
Starting at 0x10000...

SMI ZOOMCF
Booting PMC280 Mezz HW please wait
. The BootCode address is 0x2b00100 3303
.
Mezz taking over console and modem......
Mezz CPU Booted successfully


Initializing backplane net with anchor at 0x4100... done.
Backplane anchor at 0x4100... ..
Mounting /flash: .done.


Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 System Software Release 4.1.5.4
Copyright (c) 1996-2007 Nortel, Inc.

CPU5 [10/26/99 11:26:25] SW INFO System boot
CPU5 [10/26/99 11:26:25] SW INFO ERS System Software Release 4.1.5.4
CPU5 [10/26/99 11:26:26] SW INFO CPU card entering warm-standby mode...
CPU5 [10/26/99 11:26:27] SW INFO Loading configuration from /flash/config.cfg

CPU5 [10/26/99 11:26:27] SW INFO PCMCIA card detected in Stand-by CPU "ERS-8610"
slot 5, Chassis S/N SSPND*****

**************************************************
* Copyright (c) 2007 Nortel, Inc. *
* All Rights Reserved *
* Ethernet Routing Switch 8010 *
* Software Release 4.1.5.4 *
**************************************************

Login:

You should now be able to login with the default RWA username of "rwa" and the default password for "rwa".

If you wish to reset the configuration... you only need to delete the config.cfg file from the flash and reset the switch.

You should NOT delete the boot.cfg file unless you have a copy of the software on the PCMCIA card and know how to start the software using the boot command from monitor mode.

I believe the same monitor command is available for the Ethernet Routing Switch 1600 Series.

Cheers!

If you loose the administrator password for the Motorola Wireless LAN Switch (WS5000, WS5100) you can factory default the configuration and administrator password with the following procedure.

You'll need to console up to the physical switch with a null serial cable. I believe the majority of Motorola (Symbol) equipment defaults to 19200-8-N-1. You need to login to the console as the username "restore" with the password of "restoreDefaultPassword". Here's an example;

WS5100 login: cli

User Access Verification

Username: restore
Password: restoreDefaultPasword

WARNING: This will wipe out the configuration (except license key) and
user data under "flash:/" and reboot the device
Do you want to continue? (y/n): y

After the switch reboots you'll need to use the default administrator username and password to log into the switch. They are username "admin" and password "Symbol". I've seen some cases where the password was "symbol", the difference being the case of the first letter.

Cheers!

There have been a few folks asking me if I know what the following log entry is on their Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5500 Series, "NVR Audit data initialized - incorrect magic number: 0xffffffff".

I believe this is documented from Nortel as a bug in their latest software. The switch is throwing an error because the audit data (a new feature in the v5.x software line) is not present in the configuration or NVRAM the first time the switch boots after an upgrade to v5.x. This error could also occur if you've just factory reset your switch to the default configuration. I believe the error can be safely ignored as I've seen it on all 42 of my 5500 series switches.

I do remember seeing something about this error documented from Nortel, unfortunately I can't seem to find that reference now.

ERS-5520#show logging
Type Time Idx Src Message
---- ----------------------- ---- --- -------
S 00:00:00:00 1 NVR SNTP: Could not sync to NTP servers.
S 2007-04-05 17:18:08 GMT 2 NVR SNTP: Could not sync to NTP servers.
S 2007-04-05 17:22:07 GMT 3 NVR Audit data initialized - incorrect magic number: 0xffffffff
I 2007-04-19 01:21:03 GMT 4 Web server starts service on port 80.
I 2007-04-19 01:21:19 GMT 5 IGMP: Unknown Multicast Filter disabled
I 2007-04-19 01:21:19 GMT 6 PoE Port Detection Status: Port 1 Status: Delivering Power
I 2007-04-19 01:21:22 GMT 7 PoE Port Detection Status: Port 35 Status: Delivering Power
I 2007-04-19 01:21:49 GMT 8 Port 0/47 reenabled by VLACP
I 2007-04-19 01:21:49 GMT 9 Port 0/48 reenabled by VLACP
I 2007-04-19 01:23:05 GMT 10 SNTP: First synchronization successful.
I 2007-04-19 01:23:18 GMT 11 Warm Start Trap
I 2007-04-19 01:23:19 GMT 12 Link Up Trap Port: 1
I 2007-04-19 01:23:20 GMT 13 Trap: pethPsePortOnOffNotification
I 2007-04-19 01:23:20 GMT 14 Trap: bsAdacPortConfigNotification for Port: 47, Config: Applied

Cheers!

There can be times when you need to factory reset a switch. This process can be accomplished through the CLI but if you've lost the switch password you'll need to follow a special process. This process should work for any of the Ethernet Switches (450, 460, 470) and the Ethernet Routing Switches 2500 Series, 4500 Series, 5500 (5510, 5520, 5530) Series. There is a different process to recover lost passwords on the Ethernet Routing Switch 1600 and 8600.

Follow these steps:

1. Connect to the console port of the switch (9600,8,N,1)
   
2. Reboot the switch.
3. When the first line of the diagnostics tests is displayed, press CTRL-C. The system then displays a menu.
4. Select option "i" to factory default the switch.
5. Select option "a" to run the agent code.

Upon boot up, the switch will be in a factory default configuration.

Cheers!