The Cisco UCS Manager can classify servers into resource pools based on criteria including physical attributes (such as processor, memory, and disk capacity) and location (for example, blade chassis slot). Server pools can help automate configuration by identifying servers that can be configured to assume a particular role (such as web server or database server) and automatically configuring them when they are added to a pool.

Resource pools are collections of logical resources that can be accessed when configuring a server. These resources include universally unique IDs (UUIDs), MAC addresses, and WWNs.

The Cisco UCS platform utilizes a dynamic identity instead of hardware burned-in identities. A unique identity is assigned from identity and resource pools. Computers and peripherals extract these identities from service profiles. A service profile has all the server identities including UUIDs, MACs, WWNNs, firmware versions, BIOS settings, policies, and other server settings. A service profile is associated with the physical server that assigns all the settings in a service profile to the physical server.

In case of server failure, the failed server needs to be removed and the replacement server needs to be associated with the existing service profile of the failed server. In this service profile association process, the new server automatically picks up all the identities of the failed server, and the operating system or applications that depend on these identities do not observe any change in the hardware. In case of peripheral failure, the replacement peripheral automatically acquires the identities of the failed components. This significantly improves the system recovery time in case of a failure. Server profiles include many identity pools:

UUID suffix pools

MAC pools

IP pools

Server pools

Universally Unique Identifier Suffix Pools

A universally unique identifier suffix pool is a collection of System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) UUIDs that are available to be assigned to servers. The first number of digits that constitute the prefix of the UUID is fixed. The remaining digits, the UUID suffix, are variable. A UUID suffix pool ensures that these variable values are unique for each server associated with a service profile which uses that particular pool to avoid conflicts.

If you use UUID suffix pools in service profiles, you do not have to manually configure the UUID of the server associated with the service profile.

An example of creating UUID pools is as follows:

Step 1. In the Navigation pane, click Servers.

Step 2. Expand Servers > Pools.

Step 3. Expand the node for the organization where you want to create the pool. If the system does not include multitenancy, expand the root node.

Step 4. Right-click UUID Suffix Pools and select Create UUID Suffix Pool.

Step 5. In the Define Name and Description page of the Create UUID Suffix Pool wizard, complete the following fields (see Figure 12-46):

Figure 12-46 Creating UUID Suffix Pool

Step 6. Click Next.

Step 7. In the Add UUID Blocks page of the Create UUID Suffix Pool wizard, click Add.

Step 8. In the Create a Block of UUID Suffixes dialog box, complete the following fields:

Step 9. Click OK.

Step 10. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

You need to assign the UUID suffix pool to a service profile and/or template.

The Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect behaves as a switching device between the servers and the network, and the Cisco UCS Manager is embedded in the fabric interconnect, providing server hardware state abstraction. This section covers switching and server network profile configurations.

UCS Virtual LAN

A virtual LAN (VLAN) is a switched network that is logically segmented by function, project team, or application, without regard to the physical locations of the users. VLANs have the same attributes as physical LANs, but you can group end stations even if they are not physically located on the same LAN segment.

Any switch port can belong to a VLAN. Unicast, broadcast, and multicast packets are forwarded and flooded only to end stations in the VLAN. Each VLAN is considered a logical network, and packets destined for stations that do not belong to the VLAN must be forwarded through a router or bridge.

VLANs are typically associated with IP subnetworks. For example, all of the end stations in a particular IP subnet belong to the same VLAN. To communicate between VLANs, you must route the traffic. By default, a newly created VLAN is operational. Additionally, you can configure VLANs to be in the active state, which is passing traffic, or in the suspended state, in which the VLANs are not passing packets. By default, the VLANs are in the active state and pass traffic.

You can use the Cisco UCS Manager to manage VLANs by doing the following:

Configure named VLANs

Assign VLANS to an access or trunk port.

Create, delete, and modify VLANs.

VLANs are numbered from 1 to 4094. All configured ports belong to the default VLAN when you first bring up a switch. The default VLAN (VLAN 1) uses only default values. You cannot create, delete, or suspend activity in the default VLAN.

The native VLAN and the default VLAN are not the same. Native refers to VLAN traffic without an 802.1q header and can be assigned or not. The native VLAN is the only VLAN that is not tagged in a trunk, and the frames are transmitted unchanged.

You can tag everything and not use a native VLAN throughout your network, and the VLAN or devices are reachable because switches use VLAN 1 as the native by default.

The UCS Manager – LAN Uplink Manager configuration page enables you to configure VLANs and to change the native VLAN setting. Changing the native VLAN setting requires a port flap for the change to take effect; otherwise, the port flap is continuous. When you change the native VLAN, there is a loss of connectivity for approximately 20–40 seconds.

Native VLAN guidelines are as follows:

You can configure native VLANs only on trunk ports.

You can change the native VLAN on a UCS vNIC; however, the port flaps and can lead to traffic interruptions.

Cisco recommends using the native VLAN 1 setting to prevent traffic interruptions if using the Cisco Nexus 1000v switches. The native VLAN must be the same for the Nexus 1000v port profiles and your UCS vNIC definition.

If the native VLAN 1 setting is configured, and traffic routes to an incorrect interface, there is an outage, or the switch interface flaps continuously, your disjoint Layer 2 network configuration might have incorrect settings.

Using the native VLAN 1 for management access to all of your devices can potentially cause problems if someone connects another switch on the same VLAN as your management devices.

You configure a VLAN by assigning a number to it. You can delete VLANs or move them from the active operational state to the suspended operational state. If you attempt to create a VLAN with an existing VLAN ID, the switch goes into the VLAN sub-mode but does not create the same VLAN again. Newly created VLANs remain unused until you assign ports to the specific VLAN. All of the ports are assigned to VLAN 1 by default. Depending on the range of the VLAN, you can configure the following parameters for VLANs (except for the default VLAN):

To understand the switching mode behavior, you need to understand the fabric-based failover feature for Ethernet in the Cisco UCS. Each adapter in the Cisco UCS is a dual-port adapter that connects to both fabrics (A and B). The two fabrics in the Cisco UCS provide failover protection in the event of planned or unplanned component downtime in one of the fabrics. Typically, host software—such as NIC teaming for Ethernet and PowerPath or multipath I/O (MPIO) for Fibre Channel—provides failover across the two fabrics (see Figure 12-28).

Figure 12-28 UCS Fabric Traffic Failover Example

A vNIC in the Cisco UCS is a host-presented PCI device that is centrally managed by the Cisco UCS Manager. The fabric-based failover feature, which you enable by selecting the high-availability vNIC option in the service profile definition, allows network interface virtualization (NIV)-capable adapters (Cisco virtual interface card, or VIC) and the fabric interconnects to provide active-standby failover for Ethernet vNICs without any NIC-teaming software on the host.

For unicast traffic failover, the fabric interconnect in the new path sends gratuitous Address Resolution Protocols (gARPs). This process refreshes the forwarding tables on the upstream switches.

For multicast traffic, the new active fabric interconnect sends an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Global Leave message to the upstream multicast router. The upstream multicast router responds by sending an IGMP query that is flooded to all vNICs. The host OS responds to these IGMP queries by rejoining all relevant multicast groups. This process forces the hosts to refresh the multicast state in the network in a timely manner.

Cisco UCS fabric failover is an important feature because it reduces the complexity of defining NIC teaming software for failover on the host. It does this transparently in the fabric based on the network property that is defined in the service profile.

The Cisco UCS Manager enables you to manage general and complex server deployments. For example, you can manage a general deployment with a pair of fabric interconnects, which is the redundant server access layer that you get with the first chassis that can scale up to 20 chassis and up to 160 physical servers. This can be a combination of blades and rack-mount servers to support the workload in your environment. As you add more servers, you can continue to perform server provisioning, device discovery, inventory, configuration, diagnostics, monitoring, fault detection, and auditing.

Beginning with release 4.0(2a), the Cisco UCS Manager extends support for all existing features on the following Cisco UCS hardware unless specifically noted:

Cisco UCS C480 M5 ML Server

Cisco UCS VIC 1495

Cisco UCS VIC 1497

Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

Cisco UCS VIC 1455

Cisco UCS VIC 1457

Cisco UCS C125 M5 Server

By default, the Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect, the Cisco UCS 6332 FIs, the Cisco UCS Mini 6324 FIs, and the UCS 6200 Series FIs include centralized management. You can manage the Cisco UCS blade servers and rack-mount servers that are in the same domain from one console. You can also manage the Cisco UCS Mini from the Cisco UCS Manager.

To ensure optimum server performance, you can configure the amount of power that you allocate to servers. You can also set the server boot policy, the location from which the server boots, and the order in which the boot devices are invoked. You can create service profiles for the Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers and the Cisco UCS Mini to assign to servers. Service profiles enable you to assign BIOS settings, security settings, the number of vNICs and vHBAs, and anything else that you want to apply to a server. Initial configuration of fabric interconnects is performed using the console connection. It is essential to maintain symmetric Cisco UCS Manager versions between the fabric interconnects in a domain.

Follow these steps to perform the initial configuration for the Cisco UCS Manager:

Step 1. Power on the fabric interconnect. You see the power-on self-test messages as the fabric interconnect boots.

Step 2. If the system obtains a lease IPv4 or IPv6 address, go to step 6; otherwise, continue to the next step.

Step 3. Connect to the console port.

Step 4. At the installation method prompt, enter GUI.

Step 5. If the system cannot access a DHCP server, you are prompted to enter the following information:

IPv4 or IPv6 address for the management port on the fabric interconnect

IPv4 subnet mask or IPv6 prefix for the management port on the fabric interconnect

IPv4 or IPv6 address for the default gateway assigned to the fabric interconnect

Note

In a cluster configuration, both fabric interconnects must be assigned the same management interface address type during setup.

Step 6. Copy the web link from the prompt into a web browser and go to the Cisco UCS Manager GUI launch page.

Step 7. On the Cisco UCS Manager GUI launch page, select Express Setup.

Step 8. On the Express Setup page, select Initial Setup and click Submit.

Step 9. In the Cluster and Fabric Setup area, do the following: