hmcauth Command

Purpose

The hmcauth command is used to authenticate with a Hardware Management Console (HMC) and get a token to use the HMC services for a AIX® Live Update operation. It can also be used to invalidate a token.

Syntax

To authenticate with an HMC and get a token, use the following syntax:

hmcauth [ -u user_name ] [ -p password ] [ -a hmc ] [ -P port ]

To invalidate and remove a previously generated token, use the following syntax:

hmcauth -r [ -a hmc ] [ -u user_name ]

To list all the known HMC authentication tokens, use the following syntax:

hmcauth -l

To display the command usage statement, use the following syntax:

hmcauth -h

Description

You can use the hmcauth command if you have all object access and appropriate HMC administrative authority. The hmcauth command generates a token that can be used by an AIX partition administrator to perform the Live Update operation. If the command succeeds, a token is stored in the kernel so that the geninstall interface can perform the Live Update operation.

To use this command, you must have authority to perform the following tasks:

Power on a managed partition.
Shut down a managed partition.
Remove a managed partition (automatic mode only).
Create a managed partition based on the current profile (automatic mode only).
Set the boot device of a managed partition.
Manage the virtual Ethernet adapters.

The hmcclientliveupdate HMC role has all the privileges that are required for the Live Update operation. If a user is defined on the HMC with this role, the authentication can be done with this user rather than the hscroot user.

The hmcauth command can also be used without any flags. If you do not specify any flags, the hmcauth command prompts for all the required information such as user_name, hmc, and password.

Note: If the LPAR is restarted, the HMC authentication token is not preserved. Therefore, you must authenticate with the HMC again before attempting a Live Update operation.

If the hmcauth command is failing because of an HMC version that is not compatible, update the hmcauth command files from the latest interim fix.

Parameters

Item	Description
`user_name`	A string of up to 64 characters that specifies the HMC user name.
`password`	A string of up to 64 characters that specifies a password.
`hmc`	A string of up to 64 characters that specifies either the host name or the IP address of the HMC to authenticate with.
`port`	A string of up to 16 characters that specifies a port number to contact the HMC.

Flags

Item	Description
-a `hmc`	Specifies the host name or the IP address of the HMC to authenticate with. If the `hmc` variable is not specified, the command prompts for it.
-h	Writes the command usage statement to standard output.
-r	Removes the token that is generated by the HMC.
-P `port`	Specifies a port number to be used to contact the HMC. The -P flag is optional. Therefore, if the port number is not specified, the port number is defaulted to the value of 12443. The HMC always uses port 12443, but if any proxy setup is used, you can use the -P option to allow the proxy to use a port other than 12443.
-p `password`	Specifies the password for authentication. If the password is not specified on the command line, you are prompted for the password.
-u `user_name`	Specifies the HMC user name to authenticate as. You must have all object access and appropriate task authority on the HMC.

Examples

To authenticate with the HMC called apollo, enter the following command:
```
# hmcauth -a apollo -u hscroot -p T2x6z42p
```
To authenticate with an HMC at IP 5.5.55.121 with password prompt, enter the following command:
```
# hmcauth -a 5.5.55.121 -u hscroot
Enter password for hscroot:
```
To invalidate a previous authentication with an HMC at IP 5.5.55.121, enter the following command:
```
# hmcauth -r -a 5.5.55.121
```
To authenticate with an HMC called apollo that has a firewall, where the HMC port 12443 is not accessible, a rebound proxy node can be set up to use a different open port. To use the SSH client with port 14111 on a proxy node that is called proxy1 to authenticate from a logical partition mylpar, enter the following commands:
```
(0) root @ proxy1: /
# ssh -R localhost:14111:apollo:12443 root@mylpar

(0) root @ mylpar: /
# hmcauth -a localhost -u hscroot -P 14111
Enter HMC password: 
```
You can specify localhost as the management_console attribute in the hmc stanza of the lvupdate.data file to initiate the Live Update operation.