Packaged CCE UCS B-Series Fabric Interconnects Validation Tool



This is the approved revision of this page, as well as being the most recent.

The information in this page applies to Cisco Packaged CCE releases 10.5(1) and 11.0(x).

Note: For Release 11.5(1) and later, this information can be found in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide at www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-installation-guides-list.html.

This tool performs checks on currently deployed UCS B-Series Fabric Interconnect clusters to determine compliance with Packaged CCE requirements. If Packaged CCE will be deployed on two separate UCS B Series Fabric Interconnect clusters, run the tool for each cluster. 

Note: To run this tool, the Java version applicable to the version of the tool you are using must be installed.

Java 8 and later releases are not supported. 

In addition to running this tool, see Virtualization for Cisco Packaged CCE, the Packaged_CCE_Design_Guide and the Packaged_CCE_Install_Guide to ensure full compliance.

To begin, download this file: 

 UCSValidatorTool-<version>.zip

Where <version> indicates the version of the tool. For example, for Packaged CCE Release 10.5(1), download UCSValidatorTool-10.5.1.zip.

Once downloaded, follow these instructions to run the tool:

  1. Unzip the UCSValidatorTool zip file to create a UCSValidatorTool directory.
  2. Change to the UCSValidatorTool directory.
  3. Run "java -jar UCSValidatorTool.jar".

The tool requests the following information (as shown below): 

Welcome to the Unified Computing System Verification Utility (version 11.0.1.0).
This tool will validate the UCS Fabric Interconnects for Packaged CCE requirements.
Enter company name: Cisco Systems Inc.
Enter UCS Manager cluster IP address: <ip-address-of-UCS-manager>
Use HTTPS? Yes/No: > (n[o]=80; y[es]=443)y
Port: [443]<port-number>
Enter UCS Manager access information with read privilege:
Username: <your-username>
Password: ****
Processing ........

Once the validation process is complete, a summary of the pass/fail test results is displayed on the console, and output as both a log file (results/ucsValidation.log) and as a PDF (Company-Name-date.pdf).

The following table provides a detailed explanation of each tool validation rule check run against the UCS B-Series Fabric Interconnects.


Requirement Validation Rules
Category Type Requirements
Fabric Interconnect Count Two matching Fabric Interconnects (HA)

Ethernet Mode

Mode must be End Host


UCS Manager

Version 2.2(1) or later


Ethernet uplinks

The Fabric Interconnect rule:

Checks all Ethernet uplinks for one set that passes the following requirement validation rules.

  • Uplink Ethernet interface speed must be 10, 20, or 40 Gbps
  • For Uplink Eth Interfaces:
    • Two or more (even, by two's) per Fabric Interconnect with common VLAN(s) (for grouping of ports across Fabric Interconnects - differentiate grouping if disjoint-L2)
    • Four or more (even, by four's) per Fabric Interconnect pair grouped by common VLAN(s)
  • For Port Channels:
    • One or more Port Channels per Fabric Interconnect
    • Two or more Port Channels (even by two's) per Fabric Interconnect pair matched by common VLAN(s)
      • Two or more member Ethernet ports (even, by two's) per Port Channel
      • VLAN matched Port Channel pairs must have 4 or more (even, by four's) member Ethernet interfaces in total


Caveats:

  • Even though Packaged CCE does not support splitting the Public and Private VLANs over disjoint-L2 uplinks, this tool examines each disjoint-L2 uplink set and provides pass/fail results. If any one set of uplinks is found to meet the requirements, the rule will pass even if others fail. In this case (as the tool is pre-deployment), if an uplink set that failed the rule is intended for Packaged CCE VLANs, it must be corrected to meet requirements for support.
  • The tool does not connect to or inspect the upstream data center switches to confirm the following requirements:
    • Fabric Interconnect pair cross-connected to upstream data center switch pair
    • Data center switch pair Ethernet interface ports properly configured for standard, EtherChannel, vPC, or VSS uplink designs
    • Data center switch pair Ethernet interface ports properly configured for Virtual Switch VLAN Tagging (802.1q)
IO Model (Fabric Extender) Count

The IO Model (Fabric Extender) rule:

  • Checks for two matching IO Modules on each blade chassis (minimum one required),

Caveats:

  • This rule does not validate whether or not the two IO Modules are correctly connected to different Fabrics Interconnects (one to A and the other to B). However, the tool and output PDF does include the connection information for each IO Module (ash shown in the example below). 
Rule: IO Module count and models should match design.

Result: Pass

Details: --- Supported Chassis Configuration ---

     Chassis 1 PID N20-C6508 Serial FOX1721GCRG

       IO Module 1 PID UCS-IOM-2208XP Fabric ID A

       IO Module 2 PID UCS-IOM-2208XP Fabric ID B
  • This rule does not validate that each IO Module has a minimum of two ports connected to its paired Fabric Interconnect as required.
SAN Hardware and Transport Type and Data Rate

The SAN Hardware and Transport rule:

Checks all FC uplink types for one set of FC uplinks that pass the following requirement validation rules.

  • FC port speed must be 2, 4, or 8 Gbps
  • FCoE port speed must be 10, 20, or 40 Gbps
  • For FC ports:
    • One or more per Fabric Interconnect
  • For FCoE ports:
    • Two or more (even, by two's) per Fabric Interconnect
  • Number of FC and/or FCoE port channels must match on Fabric Interconnect pair (must be symmetrical)
    • Two or more FC member ports per Fabric Interconnect
    • Two or more FCoE member ports (even, by two's) per Fabric Interconnect


Caveats:

  • This rule does not match FC or FCoE port counts between Fabric Interconnects (though this may be required for a given SAN design).
  • It does not validate any specific Cisco UCS and SAN switch and SAN controller supported designs.
  • It does not inspect FC or FCoE VSAN memberships for uplink grouping.
  • It does not inspect the FC Mode to validate uplinks for internal versus external NPV/NPIV designs.


The following table provides a detailed explanation of the UCS B-Series requirements not validated by this tool.


Requirements Not Validated by the Tool
Category Requirement
UCS Blade Server
  • UCS blade specification must match one of the following:
  • Storage and Ethernet interface requirements:
    • Two vHBAs, alternately pinned to Fabric A and B
    • Two vNICs, alternately pinned to Fabric A and B
    • No Fabric Failover enabled on vNICs
UCS SAN HCL The following SAN components (as applicable) must be on the UCS HCL for the version of UCS Manager firmware used:
  • FC SAN switch
  • SAN controller

UCS HCL resources:
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/unified-computing-system/products-technical-reference-list.html
SAN LUN SAN LUNs must:
  • Meet the IOPS requirements
  • Meet the storage latency requirement
VMware vSphere ESXi The tool does not connect to or check any vSphere ESXi specific requirements.



For more information on UCS B-Series, see: