[rescue] rescue Digest, Vol 62, Issue 37

[Scott Quinn]

On Jan 27, 2008, at 6:01 AM, rescue-request at sunhelp.org wrote:

>
> When did that insanity start happening?
>
> Is there a purpose behind such an incredibly dangerous "feature"?


I've heard a similar thing (mfr-specific unlock code) is needed to  
reconfigure later SGI Origin3000 series machines. That was probably  
around 2002/2003, and my guess is the "purpose" has to do with the  
marketing department and support contracts (or more specifically,  
preserving support contract income). Hopefully the passwords get  
leaked at the end-of-support date.

I know that there was a similar issue (password required) for  
labeling disks on the early IRISes running GL2-W, but fortunately the  
passwords leaked. Sun E10k had some sort of a hardware password in  
the SSP.

Other instances?