Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition

On my own Windows Small Business Server 2008, SEPM 11.05 seems to reject the password shortly after installation, while trying to configure SEPM. 

Resetting the password with the tool found in the Tools folder of the installation has no apparent effect - admin / admin doesn't work. 

Possibly related:  I am unable to connect to the server for AD authentication from SEPM's admin menu.

Any suggestions, please?

when you are configuring SEPM its not your sepm console password its you DB password.
are you using SEPM authentication or AD authentication, reset pass will work for SEPM authentication
follow this doc to get your DB password and then try reconfigure.
  http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/how-find-database-password-odbc

I'm using SEPM authentication, not AD (although as I stated, my attempt to get AD working failed).  When I go into ODBCAD32 as per the article you referenced, I don't see Sem5 or SEM anywhere.

The Symantec Endpoint Database and Symantec Endpoint Manager services are both started.

do you remember your first password? what you used when setting up the console?
if you have selected simple db then DBA pass and SEPM pass gonna be same
if you select advanced then it gonna be diff
follow this for odbc connection , if 64 you need to follow diff doc
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2007101811190348


64
http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/odbc-connectiondsn 

Can you clarify the below things?
Are you able to login to SEPM? 
"I am unable to connect to the server for AD authentication from SEPM's admin menu."----What is the error message you are getting here?

 Organizational Units from Active Directory in Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0

No, still unable to login to SEPM.  It is indeed a 64-bit system, so I had to use the modified procedure to get into ODBC, but am unable to follow just what is required to recover the password.  Mention is made of "use the original SEPM password", but that's exactly what isn't working.

And until I can login to SEPM again, I can't reach the point where I would set up AD for authentication, so can't report the exact error message yet.

Since this is my own test environment, I thought it might be simplest to just clear out everything and start again with a fresh SEPM install.  Is this doable?  What's the best way of removing/clearing the current database and starting again?  The only problem I foresee is this is now the 2nd time SEPM has started rejecting my passwords - what if this had to happen to one of my clients?  That would be a far more serious issue.

can set the password to never expire in servers - admin properties tab?
if the console is rejecting the password , reset password should work. 

I'm aware of the password expiry option - but the problem occurred the day after installation, so can't be an issue.
No, reset password has no apparent effect.

You mean you are unable to login to SEPM ,it is throwing the error authentication fail ? 
Then the reset pass which is located in \Program Files \Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\Tools if you run the user name and password should get changed to admin.Edit that file and assure that it is having following line "setpassword admin admin"

I'm afraid I still get authentication failures on SEPM after running resetpass, and I have confirmed the "setpassword admin admin" line.

seems like you have defined domain inside sepm
when you open sepm console, just put id and password , leave the domain field blank ( this is not your ad domain)
 

On SEPM login screen, user name is "admin", password is "admin", server is "localhost:8443", and domain is empty.

Result is still: Authentication Failure

Restart your server,run resetpass batch file ,try to login. 

Have tried resetting several times, ditto for resetpass.

if you not have much clients installed, uninstall /reinstall :)  SEPM

HI Rafeeq

That's what I thought would be recommended - anything in particular to watch out for, or is this a straightforward uninstall from the control panel, reboot then reinstall?

As I said, I've actually done the uninstall/reinstall before, only to have the password problem reoccur.  Fortunately, the site is small enough for the job to be manageable.

Since you have installed and not able to log in
there is not much you might have installed
remove from add or remove programs
install fresh
everything is brand new 

Hi Rafeeq

Progress in the sense that I've started again, and can login to SEPM.  I'm still getting errors when trying to connect to AD on the server - should I create a new thread for this topic? 

not needed!
when i fist installed SMB to test this, i said the same " authentication failure" even i'm sure that i was using the right password.
the problem i noticed was not giving the right email address while setting up, because of that i was not able to retrive the password too.
how did u set it ? correct email address ?  

Assuming you're right and somehow the wrong email address was entered (I can't recall), how do I correct this?  Is the AD authentication somehow tied in to the email address?
 

no its not related!
once you have logged in to spc only then you can change
now configure AD inside SPC
do not disable the default sepm authentication
try to log in , if that fails then atleast you should be able to log in with sep authentication
 

HI

Making progress - I can configure AD providing I use an administrator equivalent account to connect to AD; if I use the Administrator account, I get "the server failed to connect to the target directory server".  I'll need to check if the Administrator account has been locked out or otherwise disabled.

Can you kick someone accross an Internet connection?  I forgot - I renamed the server administrator account as a minor security step, and wasn't using the new administrator name when trying to setup AD.

Mea maxima culpa

Wow! you remembered now :)