Are there any dangers in changing the splunk user password on a deployment server?

[todd_r_martin21]

I am trying to restart the deployment server service as a root user.

./splunk reload deploy-server

I get an error

Could not create splunk settings directory at '/root/ .splunk

So I tried to sudo su splunk (to switch to splunk user)
Tried again and it will run but prompts for username/password. I never created this user and don't know the password.
Since I have root on the box, I can easily change the splunk user's password. however, with great power.........bla bla bla..
Are there any dangers in changing the splunk user password on the deployment server?

[ddrillic · Accepted solution]

When you run ./splunk reload deploy-server, the user you use is the UI user, quite often, admin. So, it's not related to the Linux user which runs the Splunk processes...

[todd_r_martin21]

Thank you for your explanation, I was over thinking it as a Linux perms issue.
I ran the command as the splunk user and entered a username /password that was configured on the UI with admin priv.

reloaded w/o issue.

client inputs.conf is still old. so hoping that the client will phone home and download the new file form the DS.

[masonmorales]

It sounds like you are being prompted for Splunk credentials. To reset Splunk's admin password, rename $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/passwd to something else, then restart splunk. You will then be able to execute the "splunk reload deploy-server" command with admin/changeme.