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This chapter includes the following sections:
This guide contains information and procedures for installing Cisco UCS Rack Mount Servers releases 1.4.3c, 1.4.4a and 1.4.5d for integration with Cisco UCS Manager release 2.0.2(2).
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers are managed by the built-in standalone software, Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) . When a C-Series Rack-Mount Server is integrated with Cisco UCS Manager, the CIMC does not manage the server anymore. Instead it is managed with the Cisco UCS Manager software. You will manage the server using the Cisco UCS Manager GUI or Cisco UCS Manager CLI.
If your server is not factory new, make sure to reset the CIMC to factory default settings before integrating the server with Cisco UCS Manager.
You can integrate Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers with Cisco UCS Manager in either one of the following setup:
The prerequisites for integration with Cisco UCS Manager are built into the C-Series Rack-Mount Server releases 1.4.3c, 1.4.4a and 1.4.5d. You can connect them to the Cisco UCS Manager 2.0.2 domain immediately. If your server is at a release that does not support integration with Cisco UCS Manager 2.0.2 or 2.0.3 , you must upgrade your server to the required release level for integration. For more information on required server CIMC version, see Required Items for Integration with Cisco UCS Manager 2.0(2) and 2.0(3). For more information on upgrading the CIMC release for integration, see Upgrading and Connection Procedures.
Note | The LOM ports on Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers integrated with Cisco UCS Manager can not be used for data traffic. |
See the following URLs for additional information about the equipment in this configuration.
For information about the Cisco Nexus 2232PP fabric extenders (FEXes) in the configuration, see the documentation at the following link:
Note | The hardware configuration will contain redundant network fabrics and paths for both management traffic and data traffic. |
A Cisco UCS system running Cisco UCS Manager software release 2.0(2) or 2.0(3).
Any of the Cisco UCS C-Series servers and corresponding Cisco UCS Manager release version:
Server |
CIMC Version |
Minimum UCS Manager Version |
---|---|---|
Cisco UCS C22 M3 Server |
1.4.5d |
2.0(3) |
Cisco UCS C24 M3 Server |
1.4.5d |
2.0(3) |
Cisco UCS C200 M2 Server |
1.4.3c |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C210 M2 Server |
1.4.3c |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C220 M3 Server |
1.4.4a |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C240 M3 Server |
1.4.4a |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C250 M2 Server |
1.4.3c |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C260 M2 Server |
1.4.3c |
2.0(2) |
Cisco UCS C460 M2 Server |
1.4.3c |
2.0(2) |
Note |
|
Two Cisco UCS 6100 Series or 6200 Series FIs. The switch ports that carry server traffic must be enabled as server ports.
Two Cisco Nexus 2232PP FEXes.
Two RJ-45 Ethernet cables.
Six 10-Gb SFP cables.
Do not mix SFP types on an uplink. If you mix the SFP types on an uplink, you will see Discovery Failed errors.
Two 1000BASE-T SFP transceivers (GLC-T)
You can connect the FEX to the FI in two ways. Cisco UCS Manager FI discovers the FEX based on the FEX/Chassis discovery mode. The FEX connection modes are:
Hard-Pinning mode: The server facing FEX ports are pinned to the connected uplink ports when the FEX is discovered. Cisco UCS Manager pins the server-facing ports to the uplink ports based on the number of acknowledged uplink ports. After the pinning, if you add a new uplink or delete an existing uplink, you must manually acknowledge the FEX to apply the changes.
Port-Channel mode: Port-Channel mode does not have pinning. A single port channel works as the uplink to all server-facing ports. And all uplink ports are members of this single port channel. If one of the uplink ports go down, the traffic is automatically distributed to another available uplink port.
Note | Port channel mode applies only to the 6200 series FIs. |
When port-channel uplinks from the FEX are connected only within a set of eight ports managed by a single chip, Cisco UCS Manager maximizes the number of VIFs used in service profiles deployed on the servers.
If uplink connections are distributed across ports managed by separate chips, the VIF count is decreased. For example, if you connect seven members of the port channel to ports 1–7, but the eighth member to port 9, this port channel can only support VIFs as though it had one member.
The Cisco UCS 6200 Series FI has six sets of eight contiguous ports. Each set of ports is managed by a single chip. For more information on FEX discovery policies and port-channel allocation, see the appropriate Cisco UCS Manager Configuration Guide.
The following table describes maximum configurable vNICs/vHBAs based on number of FEX uplinks:
Acknowledged link between FEX and FI |
Maximum configurable vNICs/vHBA per VIC adapter |
---|---|
1 |
Not supported |
2 |
4 |
4 |
10 |
8 |
22 |
Acknowledged link between FEX and FI |
Maximum configurable vNICs/vHBA per VIC adapter |
---|---|
1 |
13 |
2 |
28 |
4 |
58 |
8 |
118 |
Note | For a non-VIC adapter the maximum number of vNICs are 2 and the maximum number of vHBAs are 2. |
Only servers without expanders can have more than one RAID controllers in the Cisco UCS Manager integrated mode. The following servers are allowed to have more than one RAID controllers in the Cisco UCS Manager integrated mode:
Cisco UCS C24 M3 (UCSC-C24-M3S2)
Cisco UCS C420 M3 (UCSC-C420-M3)
Cisco UCS C240 M3 (UCSC-C240-M3S2)
Cisco UCS C240 M3 NEBS (UCSC-C240-SNEBS)
Cisco UCS C260 M2 (C260-BASE-2646)
Any server not on this list that has more than one RAID controllers installed fails discovery.
Before connecting the server with the Cisco UCS domain, make sure you have the recommended card-firmware level for the integration. The card-firmware level for Cisco UCS P81E Virtual Interface Card must be a minimum 2.0(2g) for the integration. If you do not have this card-firmware level, update the server firmware in stand alone mode before the integration. If you connect a card with earlier firmware version to Cisco UCS Manager 2.0(2x), during the discovery process, you will get discovery and association/disassociation failures. If you encounter these problems, see the upgrade procedure and upgrade the card firmware level.
To view illustrations on the connectivity for each C-Series Rack-Mount Server, see Physical Connectivity Illustrations for Cluster Setup.
Make sure the server CIMC is set to factory default settings to integrate with Cisco UCS Manager.
Step 1 | Install the server in the rack. See the Install and Upgrade Guide for the server that you are using. The install guides are available at the following url: Install and Upgrade Guides. |
Step 2 | To connect the management traffic paths, do the following:
|
Step 3 | To connect the data traffic paths, do the following: |
Step 4 | Connect the paths from the FEXes to the FIs. These paths carry both data and management traffic. |
Step 5 | Attach a power cord to each power supply in your server, and then attach the power cord to a grounded AC power outlet. |
Step 6 | Reboot the server. |
Step 7 | To view and configure settings for the server from within the Cisco UCS Manager software, see the information and instructions in the Cisco UCS Manager Configuration Guide for Release 2.0. |
The following image shows a samples of the physical connectivity for C-Series Rack-Mount Server with Cisco UCS Domain, Cisco UCS Manager, release 2.0(2) and above.
This image shows the cabling configuration for Cisco UCS Manager integration with a C-Series Rack-Mount Server. The paths shown in blue carry management traffic. The paths shown in gold carry data traffic.
1 |
Cisco UCS 6100 Series or 6200 FI (Fabric A) |
6 |
Cisco Nexus 2232PP FEX (Fabric B) |
2 |
GLC-T transceiver in FEX port (Fabric A) |
7 |
C-Series Rack-Mount Server |
3 |
Cisco Nexus 2232PP FEX (Fabric A) |
8 |
1-Gb Ethernet LOM ports |
4 |
Cisco UCS 6100 Series or 6200 FI (Fabric B) |
9 |
10-Gb Adapter card in supported PCIe slot |
5 |
GLC-T transceiver in FEX port (Fabric B) |
You can manage and monitor all rack-mount servers that have been integrated with a Cisco UCS domain through Cisco UCS Manager. After the integration, you will perform all rack-mount server management tasks only through the service profiles from Cisco UCS Manager GUI or Cisco UCS Manager CLI. The C-Series Rack-Mount Server Cisco IMC is not accessible when you start managing the server with Cisco UCS Manager.
Cisco UCS Manager provides information, errors, and faults for each rack-mount server that it has discovered.
For more information on managing C-Series Rack-Mount Servers from Cisco UCS Manager, see the chapter on Managing Rack-Mount Servers in your release specific Cisco UCS Manager Configuration Guide.
When you manage a Cisco UCS C-Series server with Cisco UCS Manager software, a UCS Manager service profile is associated with the server. If you want to revert a C-Series server to standalone mode (so that it can be managed by CIMC software), you must do the following actions in UCS Manager: