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Spectracom 9383: How to do password reset

BL
Bruce Lane
Sun, Jan 29, 2023 11:51 PM

    I'm posting this in the hopes of helping anyone else who may get
hold of a Spectracom 9300 series NetClock, and is locked out of
configuration by the previous owner's password. I just went through this
situation with my recently-acquired Spectracom 9383. Considering
Spectracom's merger with Orolia, and the apparent requirement of a
(expensive, probably) service contract to render tech help, we're pretty
much on our collective own with these units.

    The 9383 has a single-board PC at its core (in my case, an
Advantech SOM-4455) which runs a stripped-down version of 32-bit Linux.
I couldn't determine the exact variant (the system banner read 'Vile
Linux,' of all things), but the fact it was running on the ext3 file
system gave me some clue as to its age and 32-bitness.

    So -- You're locked out of configuring the thing, default passwords
inoperative. No problem! Here's what you'll need to get around it.

  • A spare computer, running whatever Linux you can find which can
    handle 32-bit environments (I used Debian 11).

  • Root access on said computer.

  • A USB-to-CompactFlash (CF) card adapter which your Linux load is
    happy with.

  • Comfort with the linux CLI, including mount/unmount disks and doing
    chroot operations.

    Take the top cover off your NetClock by removing ALL the small
flat-head screws on top. One or more may be hidden under calibration
seals; Don't worry about it, just take them out. A #2 Phillips works
great. Also, note the cover may be slightly sticky coming up due to
heat-sink goo between it and the SBC's CPU. Just rotate/wiggle the cover
a bit and it should pop free.

    You should see, on the main PC board, a CF card installed slightly
to the left of center (looking at it from the front). This card contains
the unit's entire OS and configuration settings. Release the wire clamp
holding the card in and slide it out.

    A side-note: You may also notice a standard female VGA D-sub
connector and PS/2 Keyboard mini-DIN connector on the main board. You
can, if you want, hook up an appropriate keyboard and LCD display to
these ports, giving you a local console into the embedded PC and (once
you finish resetting the passwords) full control over the OS.

    Back to password-tweaking: Boot up your second Linux box and log in
as root (I don't recommend trying to do the mods using sudo). Plug the
CF card into the USB/CF Reader, and plug the whole thing into your
second system. Note what device name it comes up with on the screen, as
you will need this in a minute. I will assume, for example, it turns out
to be sdb.

    On your spare system, create a directory wherever is most
convenient for you to work with. Personally, I simply stayed in my home
directory and created a subdirectory called 'spec.' I'll assume, as an
example, that you're doing it the same way.

    Mount the CF card to your newly-created directory with the command:
mount /dev/sdb1 ./spec

    Next, to make sure it took, do ls -l (or ll) ./spec         You
should see a pretty normal-looking Linux disk directory tree.

    Now the fun part. Type the following commands (adjust the path of
your mount point directory accordingly):

    mount --bind /dev ./spec/dev
    mount --bind /dev/pts ./spec/dev/pts
    mount --bind /proc ./spec/proc
    mount --bind /sys ./spec/sys
    chroot ./spec

    Presto! You should now have a root-based command prompt from the OS
load on the CF card, just as if you'd been able to get into it originally.

    Now, use the regular Linux passwd command to reset the password for
the user 'admin' to whatever you want. In my case, I initially reset it
to Spectracom factory default (admin123).

    You can even, if you want, reset the password for the user ID's
'root' or 'factory' to anything you want. In my case, I re-did root as
well, to give me a back door in case I got curious about what else might
be in there in the future. ;-)

    Next step: Back out of the chroot function (almost) the same way
you came in.

    umount ./spec/sys
    umount ./spec/proc
    umount ./spec/dev/pts
    umount ./spec/dev

    Unplug the CF card, reinstall it in the NetClock, connect (if you
want) your spare monitor and keyboard to the matching ports on the
mainboard, and power the unit back up. It may go into 'Updating
Firmware' mode for a few minutes, as it reprograms the FPGA's on the
main board with whatever changes it needs to do.

    At this point, you should be able to log in to either the built-in
web interface or the CLI serial port as user 'admin' with whatever
password you assigned. You should also be able to log in as any other
user you reset the password for. If so, you're done! Button it up and
put it back in service.

    I'll try to answer whatever questions may come my way about this.
Happy tweaking.

--
Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR
kyrrin@bluefeathertech.com
"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (Red Green)

    I'm posting this in the hopes of helping anyone else who may get hold of a Spectracom 9300 series NetClock, and is locked out of configuration by the previous owner's password. I just went through this situation with my recently-acquired Spectracom 9383. Considering Spectracom's merger with Orolia, and the apparent requirement of a (expensive, probably) service contract to render tech help, we're pretty much on our collective own with these units.     The 9383 has a single-board PC at its core (in my case, an Advantech SOM-4455) which runs a stripped-down version of 32-bit Linux. I couldn't determine the exact variant (the system banner read 'Vile Linux,' of all things), but the fact it was running on the ext3 file system gave me some clue as to its age and 32-bitness.     So -- You're locked out of configuring the thing, default passwords inoperative. No problem! Here's what you'll need to get around it. * A spare computer, running whatever Linux you can find which can handle 32-bit environments (I used Debian 11). * Root access on said computer. * A USB-to-CompactFlash (CF) card adapter which your Linux load is happy with. * Comfort with the linux CLI, including mount/unmount disks and doing chroot operations.     Take the top cover off your NetClock by removing ALL the small flat-head screws on top. One or more may be hidden under calibration seals; Don't worry about it, just take them out. A #2 Phillips works great. Also, note the cover may be slightly sticky coming up due to heat-sink goo between it and the SBC's CPU. Just rotate/wiggle the cover a bit and it should pop free.     You should see, on the main PC board, a CF card installed slightly to the left of center (looking at it from the front). This card contains the unit's entire OS and configuration settings. Release the wire clamp holding the card in and slide it out.     A side-note: You may also notice a standard female VGA D-sub connector and PS/2 Keyboard mini-DIN connector on the main board. You can, if you want, hook up an appropriate keyboard and LCD display to these ports, giving you a local console into the embedded PC and (once you finish resetting the passwords) full control over the OS.     Back to password-tweaking: Boot up your second Linux box and log in as root (I don't recommend trying to do the mods using sudo). Plug the CF card into the USB/CF Reader, and plug the whole thing into your second system. Note what device name it comes up with on the screen, as you will need this in a minute. I will assume, for example, it turns out to be sdb.     On your spare system, create a directory wherever is most convenient for you to work with. Personally, I simply stayed in my home directory and created a subdirectory called 'spec.' I'll assume, as an example, that you're doing it the same way.     Mount the CF card to your newly-created directory with the command: mount /dev/sdb1 ./spec     Next, to make sure it took, do ls -l (or ll) ./spec         You should see a pretty normal-looking Linux disk directory tree.     Now the fun part. Type the following commands (adjust the path of your mount point directory accordingly):     mount --bind /dev ./spec/dev     mount --bind /dev/pts ./spec/dev/pts     mount --bind /proc ./spec/proc     mount --bind /sys ./spec/sys     chroot ./spec     Presto! You should now have a root-based command prompt from the OS load on the CF card, just as if you'd been able to get into it originally.     Now, use the regular Linux passwd command to reset the password for the user 'admin' to whatever you want. In my case, I initially reset it to Spectracom factory default (admin123).     You can even, if you want, reset the password for the user ID's 'root' or 'factory' to anything you want. In my case, I re-did root as well, to give me a back door in case I got curious about what else might be in there in the future. ;-)     Next step: Back out of the chroot function (almost) the same way you came in.     umount ./spec/sys     umount ./spec/proc     umount ./spec/dev/pts     umount ./spec/dev     Unplug the CF card, reinstall it in the NetClock, connect (if you want) your spare monitor and keyboard to the matching ports on the mainboard, and power the unit back up. It may go into 'Updating Firmware' mode for a few minutes, as it reprograms the FPGA's on the main board with whatever changes it needs to do.     At this point, you should be able to log in to either the built-in web interface or the CLI serial port as user 'admin' with whatever password you assigned. You should also be able to log in as any other user you reset the password for. If so, you're done! Button it up and put it back in service.     I'll try to answer whatever questions may come my way about this. Happy tweaking. -- Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR kyrrin@bluefeathertech.com "Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (Red Green)