How to Change/Reset HP iLO Password from Linux Server Using HPONCFG

The normal way to reset an iLO password for ProLiant DL servers is by rebooting and pressing F8 to enter iLO configuration menu. For BL servers, this can easily be done via the Onboard Administrator (OA) web console without rebooting the blade.

What if you don't want downtime or do not have access on the OA web console and you need to reset the iLO password?

The procedure below will teach you how you can reset the iLO password from a Linux server.

Steps:

1. Create an XML script containing the username and password

2. Load the XML file in HPONCFG (HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility)

1. On a Linux server's terminal, create an XML script with the entry below. Replace the bold words according to your needs. And guess what? You don't need to know the current iLO password!

# vi pwreset.xml

2. Then, we need to load it from the server.

# hponcfg -f pwreset.xml -l log.txt
HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility
Version 4.1.0 Date 1/3/2013 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2013
Firmware Revision = 2.25 Device type = iLO 2 Driver name = hpilo
Script succeeded

The status log will be sent to a file log.txt.

If you encountered below error, it means your hponcfg version needs to be updated. But the good thing is the password reset still works. Tested on a BL460C G7 server with RHEL 6.8 OS, hponcfg version 4.0.0.

[root@phltest01 ~]# hponcfg -f pwreset.xml -l log.txt
HP Lights-Out Online Configuration utility
Version 4.0.0 Date 12/08/2011 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2011
Error opening libcpqci.so: libcpqci.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Firmware Revision = 1.87 Device type = iLO 3 Driver name = hpilo
Script succeeded

[root@phltest01 ~]# cat log.txt
<INFORM>Scripting utility should be updated to the latest version.</INFORM>