HP 9000 User Name and Password Reset

[glennes]

I have an HP 9000 K370 server that I acquired for personal use. It has a tape drive, UPS, and a 20-disk array unit, all rack mounted, including a CD drive, and console, and other HP hardware options, along with all the documentation that came with the machine when it was new (and there is a lot  of documentation and about two dozen HP CDs!). It has a user DBMS product, running on Oracle, already installed on it that  I have no use for and do not care about losing, though I would like to keep Oracle installed, if possible. I do not know the user name or password for the application or for Oracle. Is there a way to find it? I am not proficient in HP-UX, so I have no idea as yet how to get around in the system. I acquired the system in order to learn HP-UX using the HP 9000 as a sandbox. I am reasonably proficient in the Oracle DBMS if I can get into the system without losing the Oracle installation.

I intend to use the server for research and educational purposes only. It is not installed in a corporate environment with multiple users, nor is it installed on a network (though it is connected to the Internet), and will not be, though it was used in a corporate environment by the company I bought it from. I did not acquire any of their workstations which were connected to it previously. They left all the user software and databases installed on the machine, but did not provide me with the login credentials.  I just want to be able to use it to learn to use HP-UX and to explore the capabilities of the server. I do not have any HP-UX application programs (other than the GUI facility, and, possibly, Oracle, along with an array of HP programs on various CDs) that I want to use on the machine.

I at least want to be able to log into the server in its original installation with HP-UX 10.x and use it as a raw HP-UX machine without having to re-install HP-UX from scratch. I have all the HP-UX software CDs, but I cannot get it to boot from the HP-UX install CD, so unless I can figure out how to erase the system and re-install HP-UX, I will have to use the machine with the software that is installed on it now.

The system currently boots up into the graphical user interface asking for a user name and password. I do not know either one, and I do not know if this screen is asking for the root user name and passsword or if it is asking for the user name and password for the application (there is only one application on the machine). Do I log in to this screen as the root user?

How do I reset the server so that I can enter a new user name and password (or the password for the root user - even if it means losing all the application software on the machine now? I would be just as happy for the server to boot into single user mode as there are no other users of the machine (and there will not be any additional users). All the work I do on the machine will be at the console and not at a connected workstation. I would prefer it boot into the HP graphical user interface (in single user mode) rather than the command prompt, if possible. Is there a way to do this?

In short, I want to refresh the server to be used by a single user with its current installation of HP-UX 10.x in place. (I do not plan to upgrade to HP-UX 11.x since I do not have that software and am not going to buy it.)  As it stands, since I do not know the user name and password, I am essentially locked out of the system, therefore, I need to know how to reset the system so that I can log into it and use it. I like the GUI and want to keep that software on the system, even if I have to re-install it after getting into the machine.

Bottom line - the system is used only for experimentation, so any software on it other than the operating system that winds up having to go away is fine with me - no harm done and nothing material would be lost. Any HP programs that I want to have on it can be reinstalled from the CDs I have after getting into the basic, native system. I just want to be able to get access to the machine in at least a basic level in order to explore it and its capabilities, just as I would do if it were a new Windows server with only the Windows Server software pre-installed.

Can anyone offer me a method, including the appropriate HP-UX commands and instructions, for getting into this machine and using it as described?

P.S. This thread has been moved from HP 9000 to HP-UX > sysadmin. - HP Forum Moderator