Customer Portal FAQ

How do I retrieve my credentials for the Customer Portal?
How do I reboot the server?
Where can I cancel a device?
What is the new IBMid, and how does it relate to SoftLayer users?
How do I retrieve my credentials for the Customer Portal?

For users in accounts that use IBMid for authentication, upon placing your first order or being added as a user to an account, an email is sent that has a link to get you started with your IBMid. If your username or password is lost or forgotten, go to your IBMid profile and reset or recover the password by following the instructions that follow Sign In. You will be prompted to enter specific information, which might include providing answers to your security questions.

For users in accounts that do NOT use IBMid for authentication, after you place your first order or you are added as a user to a Customer Portal account, you receive an email that contains your username and initial password to get started in the Customer Portal. We recommend that you change your password after you log in for the first time by editing your user profile.

If a password is lost or forgotten after logging in, use the Forgot Password feature available on the login screen of the Customer Portal. You will be prompted to enter specific information, which may include a set of security questions you specified while editing your user profile.

If a username is lost or forgotten, please contact your account's administrator or master user, who has the ability to retrieve your username. If you are the administrator or master user on the account, please contact Support for additional assistance.

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How do I reboot the server?
  • In the SoftLayer portal, go to the Support tab.
  • Click on Reboot
  • Choose the server that you wish to reboot, click on Reboot
  • Choose how you would like to reboot the server:
    • Default (attempt via ipmi and then power strip)
    • IPMI
    • Power Strip
  • Click reboot…or
  • This page also offers the ability to boot into the Rescue Kernel
  • This is very helpful when experiencing an issue in which the server cannot boot to the OS because of a configuration issue. After booting to the Rescue Kernel, you can mount the drive/drives of your server, and then fix the configuration issue. Once the issue has been fixed, just reboot the server from the command line, and the server will reboot into the default kernel for your server.
  • Once you have issued the reboot, you will see an estimated time of completion.
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Where can I cancel a device?

Devices may be canceled at any time through the Customer Portal. Refer to Cancel a Device for detailed instructions on completing a cancellation request.

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What is the new IBMid, and how does it relate to SoftLayer users?

Most new accounts will require IBMid for authentication.  Existing or legacy accounts will continue to use the Softlayer username and password for authentication until they can run the migration tool to switch to an IBMid.

Your SoftLayer account has a master user who then has authority to add more users within that same account. The login process works in one of these ways:

  •     The master user has an IBMid to authenticate.  Then, each user that the master user creates will have an IBMid.
  •     The master user has a SoftLayer ID to authenticate.  Then, each user that the master user creates will have a SoftLayer username.  The master user and each user that the master user creates will need to run the migration tool to switch to an IBMid.
  •     In a few cases, for example,  for IBM business partners, you must contact Support to determine which user ID applies for your account.
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