From my experience such "mysterious" changes most often happen the following way - somebody changes the 'current-configuration' without saving it as 'saved-configuration'. Everything works for months and sometimes years until a power outage. Then device reboots loading an old 'saved-configuration' file that contains config nobody remembers about :-)
BTW, what else could have happened - maybe somebody changed the 'saved-configuration' pointer... Check it with 'dir /all' command how many .cfg files are on the switch, maybe the old config that you are looking for is still there, but the 'saved-configuration' pointer (you can check it with 'display startup' command) points to the wrong file... Just guessing :)
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Ivan Bondar
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Original Message:
Sent: May 17, 2022 01:32 PM
From: Mike Riethmiller
Subject: 3COM 5500 won't let you enter a username
Hello Ivan,
Thank you very much for the info!
We were able to apply those steps to see the username prompt appear once again.
Yes we were using a minicom serial connection.
As to how this property was changed, I can't say for sure. The few people who work on the switch hadn't altered any settings...
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Mike Riethmiller
Original Message:
Sent: May 17, 2022 01:14 PM
From: Ivan ivan.bondar@hpe.com
Subject: 3COM 5500 won't let you enter a username
Hi Mike,
Actually it is possible to configure "user-interface aux" with "authentication-mode password" command. In this case the session will be authenticated against the password set under the AUX port itself, like in this example:
<Sysname> system-view [Sysname] user-interface aux 0 [Sysname-ui-aux0] authentication-mode password [Sysname-ui-aux0] set authentication password simple 123 [Sysname-ui-aux0] user privilege level 2
Unlike "authentication-mode scheme" which allows you to use local user database or remote authentication server like RADIUS and TACACS+. There you will definitely get a 'Username:' prompt before the 'Password:'
So here comes my question - are you sure this swith was working in a different way before, e.g. why is it unexpected to you? BTW, are we talking about console port connection (AUX port) or SSH/Telnet (VTY)?
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Ivan Bondar
Original Message:
Sent: May 17, 2022 11:13 AM
From: Mike Riethmiller
Subject: 3COM 5500 won't let you enter a username
When I power on my 3COM 5500 it boots up fine and I get the "Login Authentication" and Press ENTER to get started.. as soon as I press enter it asks for password. It won't let me enter a username. Is the switch corrupted or something?
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Mike Riethmiller
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