L-Class GSP Password Cracking

[Ralph Grothe]

Hello,

our company bought a used L-Class from a non-HP-affiliated HW broker.

Unfortunately for contentious licensing issues between that broker and HP when our sales dept. requested this server to be put under HW service contract like our other HP-shipped servers, I cannot expect (I guess) any help in that matter from neither HP nor the broker.

When I wanted to configure the LAN console I was rejected to issue the LC command from the GSP because some idiot had set a password.

Trying to issue the RP command also failed for the same reason.

Even physically resetting the GSP altogether through the reset button was no remedy.

Now I wonder if there is some sort of semi-secret master password, or a non-documented insider hack to crack the GSP password.

Regards

Ralph

[Pete Randall]

Hi Ralph,

These threads may help:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xcdbe7680e012d71190050090279cd0f9,00.html
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xd1bb50dde50cd71190050090279cd0f9,00.html


Pete

[Pete Randall]

And Tobias' response in this one:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xd41006350fe2d61190050090279cd0f9,00.html


Pete

[Robert-Jan Goossens]

Hi Ralph,

Check this link too,

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x495950011d20d6118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

Hope it helps,

Robert-Jan.

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Ralph,
which reset button do you use? Is it on GSP card? Then do the following: shut down host, press reset button and turn on host holding button. This way password should be reset. The same procedure works for web consoles (holding its button)
Eugeny

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi ralph,

On the LOCAL Console do a GSP reset.
You will observe a brief "Press R to Reset GSP to default values" for a few seconds, during which you should press 'r'.
The GSP Password will be reset.

on our site, we really enjoy the LAN console facility :)

Cheers
Yogeeraj

[Cheryl Griffin]

I believe the options to reset the GSP password may be different depending on the firmware revision. Do this from the local console only.

After pressing the reset button on the core i/o board, it should state:
Resetting GSP
Then press p to clear all GSP passwords and users.

[Ralph Grothe]

Thanks folks,

though this seems to be a well known issue, gathering from the amount of links and previuos threads, all the mentioned recipes which I followed closely do no change whatsoever.

Believe me, Itried all sorts of combinations, be it in GSP> ->XD->r, /dev/GSPdiag1 from the shell, or direct button pressing.

Apart from the message that the GSP is resetting nothing else appears on the screen.

Within the mentioned 5 secs I pressed 'p' keys to no avail.

Doing all this, I at least reset the GSP ten times.

[Eugeny Brychkov]

I would never do what Chris advised. HP trusts its customers, and customers should not cheat with HP. I'm sure that if you'll do this HP will replace card, but there're many issues you can experience when moving cards like: good system may die, due to firmware incompatibilities good system may not work etc. Think what will happen if HP CE will notice it and call his manager?
You wrote "I cannot expect (I guess) any help in that matter from neither HP nor the broker". You guess? Why don't you call HP and try? It's worth doing it. I believe it's possible to get to agreement!
Eugeny

[Steven E. Protter]

With regards to the licensing problem, I had a similar problem with a HP affiliated broker.

We bought 3 L class boxes, rp5450 and the vendor never bothered to do the paperwork required to transfer us the right to use license.

We got HP on their case and the problem was resolved in 3 hours. They didn't want to jepardize their relationship with HP.

Picking where you buy remarketed hardware is a good choice.

A GSP card isn't that expensive. At this point, I'd buy a new one, with installation, add it to your hardware contract and be done with it.

Then I'd go about extracting the expense from whomover sold you the system. That is a legal battle, you'll win with expenses.

Did your vendor do the right paper work so you get the right to use license?

SEP

[Pete Randall]

I'm inclined to agree with Eugeny. Call HP and tell them that you're putting this machine under contract (or you're about to do so) but you need to solve this problem. Or just put it under contract and then call.


Pete

[Yogeeraj_1]

i agree with Eugeny too. It's time to call HP. Am sure that everything will be OK after that.

cheers
Yogeeraj

[Ralph Grothe]

Hello again,

I hope you are not crossed with my uniform medium point assignment to your replies, but none of the suggested methods worked so far.
On the other hand I'd like to show that I appreciate your efforts to help me.

When I carried out the different tests yesterday I noted that the GSP's firmware revision is 17.04,
and I thought as a last resort maybe to try to do a firmware update through, was it XU?
I could easily download a new firmware, I guess, and put it on another server in the same LAN that could act as an ftp server.
But I fear that the execution of the firmware update will also require GSP admin privileges which I cannot gain.

Luckily I currently have another GSP related HW support call lingering for an L-class where the GSP seems to be defunct.
Access even via a directly connected terminal (that I even reinitialized) isn't at all possible, and the LEDs glow continously red (EMS agent keeps churning out warnings about communiaction problems with the GSP).
Thanks to the "wise" design decision of HP engineers to conceal the GSP card's reset button behind a lid whose opening would require the whole chassis case to be drawn out of the rack (cabling excess is too short to allow this whithout disconnecting) I was prevented from excercising the physical reset.
Thus today an HP service engineer is coming to fix this defunct GSP.
This will give me the opportunity to draw his attention to the other password protected GSP.

I'll tell you if he will have had yet another trick up his sleeve.

[E.J. de Vroom]

Hi Ralph,

We more or less are experiencing the same problem on a N4000.
Whatever reset-procedure we follow, still the access level stays at "Operator" while "Administrator" is needed to execute commands like SO and XU.

In your last e-mail (dated 28.03) you wrote:
"I'll tell you if he will have had yet another trick up his sleeve.".

And did a trick come out of his sleeve ?
We very much like to know.

Best regards,

Erik Jan

[Ralph Grothe]

Hello,

here is just the feedback what finally helped.

I could only solve it the hard way.

All the other tricks mentioned didn't work at all, which I think is owe to the very dated GSP firmware revision 17.04 (which seems to be the first release for N4000)
On the other hand upgrading the firmware only works over the LAN console port that I wasn't able to configure (again the hen and egg problem)

What helped, was to shutdown the server completely, unplug the mains, unscrew the cabinet that hosts the GSP, and slide a strap of paper between the GSP's battery and contact metal strip for a minute.
This finally flushed the GSP settings completely and left me with virgin settings where I finally could configure all to my heart's content.

[E.J. de Vroom]

Just a short follow-up from our side.

At the end our solution was to simply turn off the monitor, turn it on again and resetting the GSP (with pressing p when asked).