This article covers the process of how to perform a password recovery on an ACI Fabric Switch (Leaf or Spine) which was removed from a fabric without being decommissioned/wiped, and you do not have the proper credentials to the Switch. If you are looking for how to perform password recovery on an APIC, take a look here!

Prerequisites

• You will need physical access to the device
• You will need console access to the device

ACI Fabric Switch Password Recovery Process

Unlike the APIC, there is no rescue-user account provisioned to leafs/spines. If you do not know the login credentials for a given switch, you will need to follow the password recovery procedure below:

1. Gain Console access to the device
2. Power cycle the device
3. When boot process on the switch begins, press Control+C to break the boot sequence and get access to the loader prompt (Note – The break sequence may differ depending on which terminal emulator you are using).
4. cmdline clear_config
5. dir
6. Copy the image name (from the dir output) you would like to boot
7. boot <image_name>
8. After the device boots, login with admin (no password is required)
9. Execute the setup-clean-config.sh command
10. Reload the box

Once you have wiped the Switch, it will be ready to join the Fabric!