Can't log into Compaq Web Based Management from network machine

[Tosh Yusaf]

Hi

I've been having this problem on and off on literally hundreds of servers...

Install the CSP on a proliant server, standard install, nothing special

Configure the Web Based Management to allow local access as administrator, and this works ok (http://localhost:2381)

Trying to connect from a remote machine on the network to the server's web based compaq management, and I get stuck at the login screen. Nothing I try works.

Does anyone know how to set/find the passwords for remote access to the web based management? Is there something I'm doing fundamentally wrong?

I've got three servers here, and i've worked at companies with 100+ servers, and it's hit and miss if this actually works.

Any links to any information anywhere would be useful. I'd like to fix this problem once and for all!

TIA

--Tosh

[Terry Hutchings]

There is no such thing as allowing just local or remote management on the web agents, unless some port filtering is configured somewhere.

Which OS is this? What SNMP settings do you have on the machine you're attempting to access? Under the security tab (both NT and 2000) do you have the option to "Accept SNMP packets from these hosts"? If you have this selected then I would recommend adding the loopback address to this list. Do you have a proxy configured on the remote monitoring machine? I would recommend temporarily disabling the use of this, to see if this makes a difference.

I've found this is normally not "hit and miss", but caused by differing settings on the target servers.

[Marc Eastburn]

When you installed the CSP, did you actually set the passwords for the agents, did you set them to overwrite the existing ones. What version CSP did you install?

[Tosh Yusaf]

ok, let's make things a little clearer.

terry:

I'm talking about the web-based agents accessed using a web browser. On the server console, if I connect to the web agents using http://localhost:2381 I have administrator access, since I am on the server console. Remote view of the webagent is done from my workstation on the network. Since I'm not at the console, the webagent asks me for authentication, which always fails.

I'm not using SNMP to do anything yet (not using insight manager). That's another whole can of worms, since I'm doing most of my mangagement over the Internet without a VPN. So I'm not using Insight Manager, instead I'm connecting to the server console using remote control software.

When I visit the site, I'd like to connect to the webagent from my workstation, which is the problem.

Marc:

I'm running v5.4 of the CSP (webagent is reporting v5.40) and I did overwrite the existing passwords with the default. But this doesn't seem to work.

I'd like to kill the password file/registry entries and try and set them again, without re-installing the CSP.

My experience of re-installing the CSP to fix this particular problem doesn't always work, and I'm pulling my hair out as to why re-installing (or removing, rebooting, re-installing, rebooting) doesn't always work.

Does anyone know where the passwords are kept, and how they are updated?

TIA

[Tosh Yusaf]

another bit of info:

the CSP is actually v6.10. One of the things I found out the hard way is the installation.

If you drag the CSP off the smartstart CD, and then do the install on the server, all of your config doesn't work. That's because your CSP files are all read-only, and the installation program doesn't warn you (but it's in the notes somewhere).

so the install goes:

- drag the files off the cd (if you're not on the network)
- make sure they're read/write
- run setup
- do the config
- install

(kind of a new server thing, you can leave the configured CSP on the server for future installs).

[Tosh Yusaf]

another bit of info:

the CSP is actually v6.10. One of the things I found out the hard way is the installation.

If you drag the CSP off the smartstart CD, and then do the install on the server, all of your config doesn't work. That's because your CSP files are all read-only, and the installation program doesn't warn you (but it's in the notes somewhere).

so the install goes:

- drag the files off the cd (if you're not on the network)
- make sure they're read/write
- run setup
- do the config
- install

(kind of a new server thing, you can leave the configured CSP on a central server for future installs).

[Terry Hutchings · Accepted solution]

There is no SNMP installed? This is required for these to work correctly.

Starting with version 5.3 of the agents, there is no way to login without having the password specified either through the support pack configuration or an assisted install.

You can go try editing the file which contains these, but it won't work. The file is cpqhmmd.acl. The passwords are not kept in plain text. The previous versions of the agents would recreate the default password if this file were deleted, but since there are no default passwords on the newer versions of the agents, this won't help either.

As far as remote/local access is concerned: the only difference between the two is you can use the loopback address locally. You can still log into the the default administrator account remotely. This should be an item available in the drop down box.

[Tosh Yusaf]

terry:

SNMP is installed, but nothing configured. Do I need to configure this in any way? When I use the webagent locally, everything is working - I can see the hardware status of the server with no problems.

Thanks for the info on the passwords.

Ok, so from your description, I should be able to log in using a remote web browser, if I've set the passwords during the install.

From my remote workstation, I get the login box, with the dropdowns, but the passwords don't work.

I've checked I have the .acl file, and it's read/write.

Ok, so now, I'm at the server console, and have brought up the webagent in a browser, and it's saying login account:administrator. Going to the management agents, I have the option to login.

This brings me to the Account Login page. Here I can change the password for the administrator account, and have checked that the .acl file is updated.

From my workstation, I try and login using the new password, and always get "your login attempt was rejected".

Any ideas? Do I need to restart the agents or something?

[Terry Hutchings]

Is the time on the server/client the same? Is there a proxy enabled at the client?

[Tosh Yusaf]

Server and Client have the same time - they are part of the same Windows 2000 domain.

Client workstation has IE 6 SP1, with no proxy server.

I think I may have found the problem...

If I connect to the server using the URL:

http://server:2301

My login always fails.

If I connect to the server using the URL:

http://192.168.100.4:2301

The login works fine.

Have you ever seen this before?

I've tried using the FQDN also, which also fails, but IP address always works.

My DNS server (AD) has the right A record - i've got no hosts or lmhosts file...

I've looked at the HTTP server log file, and there isn't anything in there to suggest I'm coming from another IP or DNS name or anything. Guess it doesn't like it's own name!

Thanks for your help tracking this down. Let me know if you've got a possible explanation!

Regards

--Tosh