Category: System Administration

How to reset GRUB password for VCSA

What is required:

  • vCenter Appliance
  • Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.2 or CENT OS 7.2 ISO

Step 01:

Mount bootable ISO to the VCSA

Select connect at power on

Change the boot loader priority to ISO

Step 02:

Boot the VM and select “Troubleshooting”

Step 03:

Select the rescue mode and press enter to continue.

Step 04:

Select “Continue” to mount the VCSA’s root file-system in Read/write mode under /mnt/sysimage. RHEL or CENT is capable to detecting the VCSA’s root volume and mounting it.

Step 05:

VCSA’s root file-system is mounted under /mnt/sysimage and you got the shell to play with this.

Step 06:

Navigate to /mnt/sysimage/boot directory and list the contents (cd /mnt/sysimage/boot/ and then ls -lrt).

Step 07:

Navigate to grub directory and list the contents. “menu.lst” is the file which holds the GRUB boot loader password.

Step 08:

Use “vi” editor to edit the menu.lst file. ( vi menu.lst).

Step 09:

Remove Password line from menu.lst (After that just save the file by pressing key sequence  :wq).

Step 10:

Exit the shell by typing exit (YOU ARE DONE).

Backing Up to Multiple Removable Drives in Windows Server Backup

The Windows Backup wizard wants all targets present at the time of configuration.  Since we only have one dock (and a minimum of two drives), if we try to add additional hard drives to the job, the wizard fails with the error: “The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect” and the backup job is not modified.

 

This can be achieved in simple steps.

Find “Command Prompt” in the start menu and “Run as Administrator” from the right-click menu.

Get the drive ID of the disk we want to add to the job as we’ll need it for the next step:

At the command prompt, type wbadmin get disks

Each drive attached to the system will be listed; so, find the removable disk and copy the long string of numbers (and the brackets) that make up the “Disk Identifier” Copy this to the clipboard

At the command prompt, now type WBADMIN ENABLE BACKUP -addtarget:{PASTE-YOUR-DISK-ID-HERE}

You’ll get a one or a bunch of prompts (depending on if the drive is formatted for backups or not, if existing backups are present on the disk, etc.)

Finally, make sure you answer Y to the question “Do you want to enable scheduled backups with the above settings?”

Now, when you look at the Backup screen, you’ll see multiple targets in the DESTINATION settings, and the Destination Usage drop down will show the drive that’s connected PLUS the disconnected drive.