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 chassis connectivity policy determines whether a specific chassis is included in a fabric port channel after chassis discovery. This policy is helpful for users who want to configure one or more chassis differently from what is specified in the global chassis discovery policy. The chassis connectivity policy also allows for different connectivity modes per fabric interconnect, further expanding the level of control offered with regards to chassis connectivity.

By default, the chassis connectivity policy is set to global. This means that connectivity control is configured when the chassis is newly discovered, using the settings configured in the chassis discovery policy. Once the chassis is discovered, the chassis connectivity policy controls whether the connectivity control is set to none or port channel.

Chassis /FEX Discovery

The chassis discovery policy determines how the system reacts when you add a new chassis. The Cisco UCS Manager uses the settings in the chassis discovery policy to determine the minimum threshold for the number of links between the chassis and the fabric interconnect and whether to group links from the IOM to the fabric interconnect in a fabric port channel. In a Cisco UCS Mini setup, chassis discovery policy is supported only on the extended chassis.

The Cisco UCS Manager cannot discover any chassis that is wired for fewer links than are configured in the chassis/FEX discovery policy. For example, if the chassis/FEX discovery policy is configured for four links, the Cisco UCS Manager cannot discover any chassis that is wired for one link or two links. Reacknowledgement of the chassis resolves this issue.

Rack Server Discovery Policy

The rack server discovery policy determines how the system reacts when you add a new rack-mount server. The Cisco UCS Manager uses the settings in the rack server discovery policy to determine whether any data on the hard disks is scrubbed and whether server discovery occurs immediately or needs to wait for explicit user acknowledgment.

The Cisco UCS Manager cannot discover any rack-mount server that has not been correctly cabled and connected to the fabric interconnects. The steps to configure rack server discovery are as follows:

Step 1. In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.

Step 2. Click the Equipment node. In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.

Step 3. Click the Global Policies subtab.

Step 4. In the Rack Server Discovery Policy area, specify the action that you want to occur when a new rack server is added and specify the scrub policy. Then click Save Changes.

Initial Server Setup for Standalone UCS C-Series

Use the following procedure to perform initial setup on a UCS C-Series server:

Step 1. Power up the server. Wait for approximately two minutes to let the server boot in standby power during the first bootup. You can verify power status by looking at the Power Status LED:

Off: There is no AC power present in the server.

Amber: The server is in standby power mode. Power is supplied only to the CIMC and some motherboard functions.

Green: The server is in main power mode. Power is supplied to all server components.

Note

Verify server power requirements because some servers (UCS C-240, for example) require 220V instead of 110V.

Note

During bootup, the server beeps once for each USB device that is attached to the server. Even if no external USB devices are attached, there is a short beep for each virtual USB device, such as a virtual floppy drive, CD/DVD drive, keyboard, or mouse. A beep is also emitted if a USB device is hot-plugged or hot-unplugged during the BIOS power-on self-test (POST), or while you are accessing the BIOS Setup utility or the EFI shell.

Step 2. Connect a USB keyboard and VGA monitor by using the supplied Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) cable connected to the KVM connector on the front panel. You can use the VGA and USB ports on the rear panel. However, you cannot use the front-panel VGA and the rear-panel VGA at the same time. If you are connected to one VGA connector and you then connect a video device to the other connector, the first VGA connector is disabled.

Step 3. Open the Cisco IMC Configuration Utility as follows:

Press the Power button to boot the server. Watch for the prompt to press F8.

During bootup, press F8 when prompted to open the Cisco IMC Configuration Utility, as shown in Figure 12-36.

Figure 12-36 Standalone UCS CIMC Configuration Utility

Note

The first time that you enter the Cisco IMC Configuration Utility, you are prompted to change the default password. The default password is password.

Fabric interconnect ports configured as uplink ports are used to connect to upstream network switches. You can connect these uplink ports to upstream switch ports as individual links or as links configured as port channels. Port channel configurations provide bandwidth aggregation as well as link redundancy.

You can achieve northbound connectivity from the fabric interconnect through a standard uplink, a port channel, or a virtual port channel configuration. The port channel name and ID configured on the fabric interconnect should match the name and ID configuration on the upstream Ethernet switch.

It is also possible to configure a port channel as a vPC, where port channel uplink ports from a fabric interconnect are connected to different upstream switches. After all uplink ports are configured, you can create a port channel for these ports.

Downlink Connectivity

Each fabric interconnect is connected to I/O modules in the Cisco UCS chassis, which provides connectivity to each blade server. Internal connectivity from blade servers to IOMs is transparently provided by the Cisco UCS Manager using the 10BASE-KR Ethernet standard for backplane implementations, and no additional configuration is required. You must configure the connectivity between the fabric interconnect server ports and IOMs. Each IOM, when connected with the fabric interconnect server port, behaves as a line card to fabric interconnect; hence, IOMs should never be cross-connected to the fabric interconnect. Each IOM is connected directly to a single fabric interconnect.

The Fabric Extender (also referred to as the IOM, or FEX) logically extends the fabric interconnects to the blade server. The best analogy is to think of it as a remote line card that’s embedded in the blade server chassis, allowing connectivity to the external world. IOM settings are pushed via the Cisco UCS Manager and are not managed directly. The primary functions of this module are to facilitate blade server I/O connectivity (internal and external), multiplex all I/O traffic up to the fabric interconnects, and help monitor and manage the Cisco UCS infrastructure. You should configure fabric interconnect ports that should be connected to downlink IOM cards as server ports. You need to make sure there is physical connectivity between the fabric interconnect and IOMs. You must also configure the IOM ports and the global chassis discovery policy.