HP FlexNetwork 5130 Switch Login Issue

[Oroc]

Hi all,

I have 2 5130 Switches that are experiencing a login issue. After some seemingly random amount of time, I am no longer able to log on to the switches. Restarting the switches fixes this, but the issue will happen again in the future. I've tried through SSH and the GUI, as well as a direct serial connection, and all experience this same issue. It is happening to both switches, so I feel it is likely a configuration issue, but I'm not sure what to look into.

[Ivan_B]

Hi @Oroc !

Do you have password control enabled in those switches? You can check this by inspecting your configuration for the line "password-control enable". Do you use RADIUS or TACACS external authentication and authorization for management users?

[Oroc]

Hi @Ivan_B,

Password control is enabled. Just had a quick read into the settings and what they effect. User account idle time is set to 35 days. Do you think this could be the cause of our issue? We're only logging on to the switch maybe once every 2 months.

In regards to RADIUS or TACACS, we're only using the local admin account on the switches currently. No other accounts or authentication methods have been configured.

[Ivan_B · Accepted solution]

Hi @Oroc !

I am almost 100% sure the root cause is password-control and in particular idle time. Sometimes instable NTP service together with password-control enabled cause accounts to be locked out because of incorrect clock settings. In order to verify this idea just set the "password-control login idle-time 0" and monitor your switch for a while.

[Oroc]

Looks like that was the cause of the issue, thanks for the assistance Ivan!