This topic describes the root user and other types of administrative users in AppDynamics.

About the root User and Account Owners

The root user is a built-in Controller user with global administrator privileges in the Controller environment. Only the root user can access the System Administration Console, the web page where you can create and manage accounts in multi-tenant Controllers and configure global Controller settings in both single- or multi-tenant Controllers. 

The root user can be thought of as a superuser for the Controller. Unlike other types of users, you cannot remove the root user account or create other superuser accounts in the Controller. The password for the root user is first set at installation time, but you can change it after installation by following the steps below. 

While the root user has global administrative privileges, account administrators act as administrators only within individual accounts in a multi-tenant Controller. It's typically the role of the root user to create accounts and an initial administrator for the account, and the role of each account administrator to create additional users within the account.  

For information, see Configure Roles and Configure Users.

Change the Controller root User Password

You can change the root user password from the AppDynamics administration console page.

To change the root user password

1. In a browser, log in to the administration console as described in Access the Administration Console.
2. Click the Settings icon from the right side of the menu bar and then Administration.
3. In the Users tab, select the root user and click the Change Password link.  
    
4. Enter the new password for the root user in the New Password and Repeat New Password fields.
5. Click Save.    

Change the Glassfish admin User Password

The Controller uses the built-in administrator account in the underlying Glassfish application server. To change the password for this user, you need to change it in two places, in Glassfish and in the password file used by the Controller, as follows.  

To change the Glassfish admin user password

1. In a browser, log into the Glassfish admin console as the administrator as described in Access the Administration Console.
2. Click Domain from the navigation tree on the left. 
3. Open the Administrator Password tab. 
4. Type and retype the new password in the password fields, and click Save. 
5. Change the AS_ADMIN_PASSWORD value in the .passwordfile file located in the Controller home directory to match the new password. 

The password change takes immediate effect. 

Learn More

• Create New Accounts
• Install the Controller on Linux
• Install the Controller on Windows