Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnect Migration Considerations
Cisco UCS Manager provides support for migrating Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect with B-Series servers, C-Series, or S-Series servers.
To migrate from Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect, both the Fabric Interconnect must be loaded with the same Infrastructure Firmware version.
Prerequisites
Before performing the migration from Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect, ensure that the following prerequisites are met for a successful migration:
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Back up and export Cisco UCS Manager configuration before initiating the upgrade.
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Take an inventory of the Cisco UCS domain and remove any unsupported hardware.
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Ensure to enable the cluster failover.
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Do not attempt to implement new software features from the new Cisco UCS software version until all required hardware is installed.
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Make sure both Cisco UCS 6400 series Fabric Interconnects are on the same UCSM build before migration.
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Standalone installations should expect down time. In a cluster configuration, migrating the Fabric Interconnects can result in a small traffic disruption when the traffic fails over from one Fabric Interconnect to another. To avoid that there is no permanent traffic loss during migration, ensure that there is redundancy in the UCS domain on both Fabric Interconnects before migration and test the redundancy before starting the migration.
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Ensure the latest firmware bundle is downloaded and upgraded through GUI or CLI. Incase of attempting to upgrade the firmware bundle using other methods (loader prompt/erase configuration) can result in missing package version.
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Before migration, make sure that the FC Speed is 8Gbps on Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects or the connected switch supports 8Gbps speed.
Note
Post migration, you can configure the FC Port (Scalability Port) speed on Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnects.
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Migrating to different IOM models can result in peer communication issue between IOMs of the Primary and Secondary Fabric Interconnects.
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Make a detailed record of the cabling between FEX and fabric interconnects. You must preserve the physical port mapping to maintain the server pinning already configured and minimize down time.
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For a cluster configuration, both fabric interconnects must have symmetrical connection topologies between fabric interconnect and FEX.
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Use the same speed cables on all the adapter ports that are connected to same Fabric Interconnect. Cisco UCS VIC adapter ports connected to Cisco UCS 64108 fabric interconnect through a mix of 10G and 25G cables can result in UCS rack-mount server discovery failure and ports moving to suspended state.
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A WWN pool can include only WWNNs or WWPNs in the ranges from 20:00:00:00:00:00:00:00 to 20:FF:00:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF or from 50:00:00:00:00:00:00:00 to 5F:FF:00:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. All other WWN ranges are reserved. When fibre channel traffic is sent through the UCS infrastructure the source WWPN is converted to a MAC address. You cannot use WWPN pool which can translate to source multicast MAC addresses. To ensure the uniqueness of the Cisco UCS WWNNs and WWPNs in the SAN fabric, Cisco recommends using the following WWN prefix for all blocks in a pool: 20:00:00:25:B5:XX:XX:XX
Recommendations
Following are the best practices for a successful migration:
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For minimal disruption during migration, ensure that there is redundancy for Ethernet and FC traffic from the servers in the UCS domain across both 6454 Fabric Interconnects before migration.
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Changes to the topology, such as the number of servers or uplink connections, should be performed after the fabric interconnect migration is complete.
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During the migration of Fabric Interconnects, ensure the Cluster ID is not changed.
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During the migration, image synchronization between fabric interconnects is not allowed. This is done to prevent incompatible images from getting synchronized. It is necessary to download B-Series, C-Series, and S-Series server software bundles again after migration is complete.
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Unconfigure the fibre channel ports on the migrating subordinate Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect and reconfigure on the Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect.
Note
For more information on migrating Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect with UCS Central, see Considerations for migrating Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnects with Cisco UCS Central.
Validating Feature Configurations for Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnect before Upgrade
Feature |
Remediation |
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Chassis and fabric extender I/O port channel |
Select a port channel to the I/O module (IOM). |
Multicast optimization |
Verify that multicast optimization is not enabled under the LAN quality-of-service (QoS) system classes |
Fabric forwarding mode for Ethernet |
Verify that the Ethernet forwarding mode is set to End Host Mode Only. |
Fabric forwarding mode for Fibre Channel |
Verify that Fibre Channel forwarding mode is set to End Host Mode or FC Switching Mode. |
Cisco NetFlow |
Unconfigure NetFlow. |
MAC Security |
Select Allow for MAC security. |
VM-FEX |
Remove port profiles and Cisco UCS Manager ESXi or SCVMM related configurations. |
Dynamic vNIC connection policies |
Set the dynamic vNIC connection policy in the vNIC profile to Not set. |
Cisco Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) |
Use receive (RX) direction only. The installer will change SPAN to the RX direction and send an alert indicating that this setting is being changed. |
Failure to comply with these remediation steps will result in a migration warning alert during the migration process and prevent the fabric interconnects from synchronizing.
Considerations for migrating Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects to Cisco UCS 64108 Fabric Interconnects with Cisco UCS Central
In addition to Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnect Migration Considerations, consider the following prerequisites when migrating with Cisco UCS Central:
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Before initiating the migration, ensure to have a complete backup of Cisco UCS Manager and UCS Central configurations.
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To avoid any configuration issues during migration, make sure the following policies on Policy Resolution Control is set to Local in UCS Central:
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Infrastructure and Catalog Firmware Policy
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Equipment Policy
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Port Configuration Policy
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