Configure Cisco IMC Supervisor for C-Series and E-Series Servers

Introduction

This document describes how to configure Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) Supervisor for C-Series and E-Series Servers.

Prerequisites

Requirements

Cisco recommends that you have knowledge of these topics:

• Cisco C-Series Servers
• Cisco E-Series Servers 

Components Used

The information in this document is based on these software and hardware versions:

• Internet Explorer 8 or higher
• Google Chrome 4.1 or higher
• Firefox 3.5 or higher
• Safari 4.0 or higher (for Apple MAC or Microsoft Windows)
• Browsers require the Adobe Flash Player plug-in version 11 or higher.

UCS C-Series Servers

• Cisco UCS C-220 M3
• Cisco UCS C-240 M3
• Cisco UCS C-220 M4
• Cisco UCS C-240 M4
• Cisco UCS C-22 M3
• Cisco UCS C-24 M3
• Cisco UCS C-420 M3
• Cisco UCS C-460 M4

UCS E-Series Servers

• Cisco UCS E-140S M2
• Cisco UCS E-160D M2
• Cisco UCS EN120E M2
• Cisco UCS EN120S M2
• Cisco UCS E-180D M2
• Cisco UCS E-140S M1
• Cisco UCS E-140D M1
• Cisco UCS E-160D M1
• Cisco UCS E-140DP M1
• Cisco UCS E-160DP M1

Minimum Firmware Versions

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, make sure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Background Information

Cisco IMC Supervisor is a management system that allows you to manage rack mount servers on a large scale.

You can use Cisco IMC Supervisor in order to perform these tasks for a rack mount server:

• Support for logical grouping of servers and summary views per group
• Collect inventory for the servers
• Provide monitoring capabilities for servers and groups
• Firmware management which includes firmware download, upgrade, and activation
• Manage standalone server actions which includes power control, LED control, log collection, Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) launch, CIMC User Interface launch and e-mail alerts
• Role Based Access Control (RBAC) in order to restrict access and capabilities

Configure

Deploy Cisco IMC Supervisor

1. Complete these steps in order to deploy Cisco IMC Supervisor.

Step 1. In order to download the zip file for Cisco IMC Supervisor from Cisco.com, navigate to Products > Servers-Unified Computing > Integrated Management Controller (IMC) Supervisor as shown in the image.

Step 2. Select IMC Supervisor 1.0 as shown in the image.

Step 3. Click Download as shown in the image.

Step 4. In order to deploy the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA), navigate to File >Deploy OVF Template as shown in the image.

Step 5. Continue through the step-by-step process in order to deploy the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Template as shown in the images.

In the Disk Format pane, choose one of the radio buttons and click Next as shown in the image.

• Thin Provision - In order to allocate storage on demand as data is written to disk
• Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed - In order to allocate storage immediately in thick format
• Thick Provision Eager Zeroed - In order to allocate storage in thick format. It might take longer to create disks with this option 

Step 6. Select the appropriate port-group for the Virtual Machine (VM) Network as shown in the image.

Step 7. Click Finish as shown in the image.

Step 8. Open the console of the VM and Accept the License agreement as shown in the image.

Step 9. Once done, enter y in order to configure a static IP as shown in the image.

Step 10. If you want to use DHCP, enter n in order to ensure that IP addresses are assigned automatically.  

Step 11. If you want to use static IP address, enter y and then you are prompted to select IPv4 or IPv6. Enter V4 in order to configure IPV4 and then enter the information as shown in the images:

• • IP address
  • Netmask
  • Gateway

Note: Currently, only IPv4 is supported in order to configure static IP addresses.

Step 12. After the appliance has booted up, transfer the Cisco IMC Supervisor IP address into a supported web browser in order to access the login page.

On the Login page, enter admin as the Username and admin as Password.

Note: You can change your admin password after this initial login.

The User Interface (UI) of Cisco IMC Supervisor is as shown in the image.

Change Default Password

2. Complete these steps in order to change the default password.

Step 1. Navigate to Administration > Users.

Step 2. Click the Login Users tab.

Step 3. From the list of users, select the user role for which you want to change the password as shown in the image. 

Step 4. After you specify the new password, click Save and Click OK on the Submit Result as shown in the image.

Licensing Information

3. Cisco IMC Supervisor requires you to have this valid licenses:

• A Cisco IMC Supervisor base license.
• A Cisco IMC Supervisor bulk endpoint enablement license that you install after the Cisco IMC Supervisor base license as shown in the image.

Note: Unless you have these licenses, tasks like grouping servers into a Rack Account etc., cannot be performed.

Discover Server

4. Perform these actions in order to discover server(s).

Step 1. Navigate to System > Physical Accounts > Discovered Devices as shown in the image.

Step 2. Click Configure.

Step 3. In the Discovery Configuration Criteria dialog box, you can either create a new profile or edit an existing profile.

Step 4. Creation of a New profile is as shown in the image.

Step 5. In the Search Criteria, you could choose the appropriate method in order to discover the servers.

Step 6. Choose IP Address List, for this example.

Step 7. Enter the IP Address of the server that you want to discover.

Step 8. Enter the User Name and the Password that you use to login to the server (CIMC credentials) as shown in the image.

  

Step 9. Once the profile is created, click Discover and Select Profile from the drop-down list as shown in the image.

Step 10. After you select the appropriate profile, click Submit and click OK on Submit Result as shown in the image.

Step 11. If the device(s) in your profile do not match the minimum supported criteria, the reason for the device not discovered is as listed in the Status section as shown in the image.

  

Add Rack Group

5. Perform this procedure when you want to add a new Rack Group in Cisco IMC Supervisor.

Step 1. Navigate to Systems > Physical Accounts > Rack Groups.

Step 2. Click Create.

Step 3. Specify a Group Name and a Description in the Create Rack Group Box.

Step 4. Click Create as shown in the image.

Step 5. Once created, the group name must show up as shown in the image.

Add Rack Account

6. Perform this procedure when you want to add a new Rack Group in Cisco IMC Supervisor.

Step 1.	From the menu bar, choose System.
Step 2.	Click the tab.
Step 3.	Click.
Step 4.	In the Create Account dialog box, complete these fields: Field Description field A descriptive name for the Rack Account field The IP address of the rack mount server Description field (Optional) A description of the Rack Account check box (Optional) If you have already created credential policies, then check this box in order to select the policy from the drop-down list. If you check the check box drop-down list Choose a policy from the drop-down list If you uncheck the check box field Log in ID for the rack mount server Password field Password for the login ID for the rack mount server Protocol drop-down list Choose https or http from the list Port field The port number associated with the selected protocol Rack Group drop-down list Choose a rack group from the list. Contact field (Optional) The contact email address for the account Location field (Optional) The location of the account

Step 1. In the drop down list for Rack Group, you can either choose the Default Group or the Group that was defined earlier as shown in the image.

Step 2. Once this action is complete, the specified servers must fall under the Rack Group you select.

Mail Setup Configuration

7. Perform this procedure in order to configure your setup mail.

Step 1. Navigate to Administration > Mail Setup.

Step 2. Enter the details requested.

Step 3. You could select the Send Test Email check box and check if you have received the test mail on the Email Address you have provided, as shown in the image.

Step 4. You must then receive the test mail as shown in the image.

Step 5. In the same section, navigate to Email Alert Rules Settings and check the Enable Alert check box as shown in the image.

Note: At this point in time (with release 1.0 of Cisco IMC Supervisor), notifications for only critical and higher level faults are supported.

Step 6. If your system encounter a critical fault, you must receive a mail as shown in the image, provided your mail setup works fine.

Firmware Upgrade

8. Perform this procedure when you want to upgrade the firmware.

Step 1. Navigate to Systems > Physical Accounts.

Step 2. Click the tab.

Step 3. Click Configure Profile.

Step 4. In the Download Firmware dialog box, you can either create a new profile or edit an existing profile.

Field	Description
drop-down list	Select New from the drop-down list.
Field	A descriptive name for the profile.
drop-down list	Choose one of these options: Local HTTP Server - The .iso image is stored in the local Cisco IMC Supervisor. Network Path - The .iso image is stored in the network.
field	Enter your Cisco login user name.
field	Enter your Cisco login password.
checkbox	(Optional) Check this checkbox in order to enable proxy configuration and complete these fields: Host Name field - Enter a host name for the proxy configuration Port field - Enter the port for the proxy configuration
Enable Proxy Authentication checkbox	(Optional) Check this checkbox in order to enable proxy authentication and complete these fields: Proxy User Name field - Enter a proxy user name for the proxy authentication Proxy Password field - Enter the password for the proxy user name
Platform drop-down list	Choose a platform from the drop-down list.
drop-down list	Choose the .iso image from the drop-down list.

Step 5. Configure a New profile as shown in the image.

Step 6. Choose Network Path as the Download Option for this example. (You have CIFS and NFS as options)

Step 7. Click Submit as shown in the image.

Step 8. Click Upgrade Image.

Step 9. Click Select... in order to select the servers that you want to upgrade as shown in the image.

Step 10. A single server is selected for this example.

Step 11. Click Select as shown in the image.

Step 12. The selected server is shown.

Step 13. Click Submit as shown in the image.

Note: If you upgrade Cisco IMC version 2.0(x), you must change the default Cisco IMC password.

Step 14. In order to check the status of the upgrade, navigate to System > Inventory and Fault Status as shown in the image.

Step 15. Expand Rack Groups, choose the appropriate group into which the servers were populated earlier.

Step 16. Click Rack Servers and choose the appropriate server.

Step 17. Once this is done, an additional row with remote options must pop up.

Step 18. Click KVM Console from this row and you can see the upgrade in action as shown in the image.

Export Technical Support Data to Remote Server

9. Perform these actions in order to extract Technical Support Data.

Step 1. Navigate to Systems > Inventory and Fault Status for Default Group.

Step 2. Expand Rack Groups and select the Rack Group which contains the server(s).

Step 3. Select Rack Servers tab as shown in the image.

Step 4. Double-click the server from the list in order to view the details or click the server from the list, then from the down arrow on the far right, click View Details as shown in the image.

Step 5. Click Tech Support tab.

Step 6. Choose the appropriate Network Type in order to upload the files as shown in the image.

Step 7. Choose TFTP for this example.

Step 8. Click Submit as shown in the image.

Step 9. The snap shot here shows that the logs were successfully uploaded to the specified location.

Verify

There is currently no verification procedure available for this configuration.

Troubleshoot

There is currently no specific troubleshooting information available for this configuration.