Cisco ACI: How to recover APIC CIMC Password in 7 Steps

It is unfortunate if you forget or lost the Cisco ACI APIC CIMC password but we have the way to recover it. Just follow the steps and do exactly in order to recover the Cisco ACI APIC CIMC password.

What is Cisco ACI APIC ?
One of the important pillar of Cisco ACI is APIC which is known as Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller. It is single pane of glass for automation and management for the Cisco ACI fabric, policy enforcement, and health monitoring. It also optimizes performance and manages and operates a scalable multitenant Cisco ACI fabric.

Ok let's try login to CIMC controller ( APIC1, APIC 2 or APIC 3), In our case it is APIC 3.
Username: NDNA_admin
Password : Oh no i forget, what to do now ? 

Fig 1.1- Cisco ACI APIC CIMC login screen

Let's recover the password now

Step 1: Create a new file named "apic-cimc-psw-reset.txt" and save it to your USB drive. (You may put any other name as well if you want)

Step 2: Add the file to a USB drive. You can format the USB drive to FAT or FAT32.

Step 3: Connect the USB drive to one of the rear USB ports on the Cisco APIC

Step 4: Reboot the Cisco APIC using Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) or power cycling the device.

Step 5: Press the Esc key during the 10-second countdown timer that appears at the top left to bring up the list of boot targets and Press the e key to edit the default grub line.

Step 6: Go to the line that begins with "linux." Using the End key or Right Arrow key, move the cursor to the end of that line and append "apic-cimc-psw-reset.txt".

Step 7: Press Ctrl+X to boot the entry. It may take a few minutes for the new password to take effect.