verify the behavior of the clear button for password resets -- it's ONLY resetting the password no?

[justanothername]

I could be overly paranoid about this -- but we have very critical servers that
cannot afford any downtime. I'd like to verify the behavior of the clear button
on the 2810 switches. The Quick Installation Guide says:

"Deleting Passwords -- When pressed by itself for at least one second, the
button deletes any switch console access passwords that you may have configured. Use this feature if you have misplaced the password and need console access."

I have verified that works with a live switch we use internally in our office -- I could set the password, login, logout and reset it during runtime.

However, I have NOT done this yet on our switches in production, where we have business critical servers running off of.

Also, I've googled around and found nothing to the contrary -- but I figure I'd
go to the source just to verify.

I was talking this over with someone today and we figured ... JUST IN CASE .. might as well just swap the switches first by moving the cables over one at a time.

But, I figure I'd ask around here to see if we're just being silly or not.

[Jeff Carrell]

Not silly, totally understandable :-)

Pressing the clear button for 1-2 seconds as described will reset the locally configured uid/pw of a switch, provided that the security feature to disable that default function has not be activated (which can disable the clear button function).

I will offer this, I have not experienced in 7+ years being around ProCurve switches, that a switch did anything other than what it was supposed to do when pressing the clear button.

However, as in all things, carpe diem, soup of the day, you mileage my vary, no warranties offered, I provide no guarantees, etc, etc...as I have heard and experienced other thins that "were not" supposed to happen....it's electronics and electromechanical, "stuff happens".

Best practice, schedule an outage, be prepared if something happens, and if all works as it should, you are heroes :-) (make Scotty proud)

hth...Jeff