This policy defines how a vNIC on a server connects to the LAN. This
policy is also referred to as a vNIC LAN connectivity policy.
You need to include this policy in a
service profile
for it to take effect.
Creating a vNIC Template
Before You Begin
This policy requires that one or more of
the following resources already exist in the system:
Named VLAN
MAC pool
QoS policy
LAN pin group
Statistics threshold policy
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies.
Step 3
Expand the node for the organization where you want to create the
policy.
If the system does not include multi-tenancy,
expand the
root node.
Step 4
Right-click the
vNIC Templates node and choose
Create vNIC Template.
Step 5
In the
Create vNIC Template dialog box:
In the General area, complete the following fields:
Name
Description
Name field
The name of the vNIC template.
Description
field
A user-defined description of the
template.
Fabric ID
field
The fabric
interconnect associated with the component.
If you want vNICs created from
this template to be able to access the second fabric interconnect if the
default one is unavailable, check the
Enable Failover check box.
Note
Do not select
Enable Failover if you plan to associate vNICs
created from this template with servers that have a
Cisco UCS 82598KR-CI 10-Gigabit
Ethernet Adapter.
If you do so,
Cisco UCS Manager
generates a configuration fault when you associate the
service profile
with the server.
Target list
box
A list of the possible targets for
vNICs created from this template. This can be:
Adapter—The vNICs apply to all
adapters.
VM—The vNICs apply to all virtual
machines.
Template
Type field
This can be:
Initial Template—vNICs created
from this template are not updated if the template changes.
Updating Template—vNICs created
from this template are updated if the template changes.
In the VLANs area, use the table to select the VLAN to
assign to vNICs created from this template. The table contains the following
columns:
Name
Description
Select column
Check the check box in this column to associate the VLAN with the
vNIC template.
Name column
The name of the VLAN.
Native VLAN column
To designate one of the VLANs as the native VLAN, click the
radio button in this column.
Create VLAN link
Click this link if you want to create a VLAN.
In the Policies area, complete the following fields:
Name
Description
MAC Pool
drop-down list
The MAC address pool that vNICs
created from this vNIC template should use.
QoS Policy
drop-down list
The quality of service policy that vNICs
created from this vNIC template should use.
Network Control Policy drop-down list box
The network control policy that vNICs
created from this vNIC template should use.
Pin Group
drop-down list
The LAN pin group that vNICs created
from this vNIC template should use.
Stats Threshold
Policy drop-down list
The statistics collection policy
that vNICs created from this vNIC template should use.
Step 6
Click
OK.
What to Do Next
Include the vNIC template in a
service profile.
Deleting a vNIC Template
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies
> Organization_Name.
Step 3
Expand the
vNIC Templates node.
Step 4
Right-click the policy you want to delete and choose
Delete.
Step 5
If
Cisco UCS Manager
displays a confirmation dialog box, click
Yes.
Binding a vNIC to a vNIC Template
You can bind a vNIC associated with a
service profile
to a vNIC template. When you bind the vNIC to a vNIC template,
Cisco UCS Manager
configures the vNIC with the values defined in the vNIC template. If the
existing vNIC configuration does not match the vNIC template,
Cisco UCS Manager
reconfigures the vNIC. You can only change the configuration of a bound vNIC
through the associated vNIC template. You cannot bind a vNIC to a vNIC template
if the
service profile
that includes the vNIC is already bound to a
service profile
template.
Important:
If the vNIC is reconfigured when you bind it to a template,
Cisco UCS Manager
reboots the server associated with the
service profile.
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
Servers tab.
Step 2
On the
Servers tab, expand
Servers
> Service Profiles.
Step 3
Expand the node for the organization that includes the
service profile
with the vNIC you want to bind.
If the system does not include multi-tenancy, expand the
root node.
Step 4
Expand
Service_Profile_Name > vNICs.
Step 5
Click the vNIC you want to bind to a template.
Step 6
In the
Work pane, click the
General tab.
Step 7
In the
Actions area, click
Bind to a Template.
Step 8
In the
Bind to a vNIC Template dialog box, do the
following:
From the
vNIC Template drop-down list, choose the
template to which you want to bind the vNIC.
Click
OK.
Step 9
In the warning dialog box, click
Yes to acknowledge that
Cisco UCS Manager
may need to reboot the server if the binding causes the vNIC to be
reconfigured.
Unbinding a vNIC from a vNIC Template
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
Servers tab.
Step 2
On the
Servers tab, expand
Servers
> Service Profiles.
Step 3
Expand the node for the organization that includes the
service profile
with the vNIC you want to unbind.
If the system does not include multi-tenancy, expand the
root node.
Step 4
Expand
Service_Profile_Name > vNICs.
Step 5
Click the vNIC you want to unbind from a template.
Step 6
In the
Work pane, click the
General tab.
Step 7
In the
Actions area, click
Unbind from a Template.
Step 8
If
Cisco UCS Manager
displays a confirmation dialog box, click
Yes.
Configuring Ethernet Adapter Policies
Ethernet and Fibre Channel Adapter Policies
These policies govern the host-side behavior of the adapter, including
how the adapter handles traffic. For example, you can use these policies to
change default settings for the following:
Queues
Interrupt handling
Performance enhancement
RSS hash
Failover in an cluster configuration with two fabric interconnects
By default, Cisco UCS provides a set of Ethernet adapter policies and Fibre Channel adapter policies. These policies include the recommended settings for each supported server operating system. Operating systems are sensitive to the settings in these policies. Storage vendors typically require non-default adapter settings. You can find the details of these required settings on the support list provided by those vendors.
Note
For Fibre Channel adapter policies, the values displayed by Cisco UCS Manager may not match those displayed by applications such as QLogic SANsurfer. For example, the following values may result in an apparent mismatch between SANsurfer and Cisco UCS Manager:
Max LUNs Per Target—SANsurfer has a maximum of 256 LUNs and does not display more than that number. Cisco UCS Manager supports a higher maximum number of LUNs.
Link Down Timeout—In SANsurfer, you configure the timeout threshold for link down in seconds. In Cisco UCS Manager, you configure this value in milliseconds. Therefore, a value of 5500 ms in Cisco UCS Manager displays as 5s in SANsurfer.
Max Data Field Size—SANsurfer has allowed values of 512, 1024, and 2048. Cisco UCS Manager allows you to set values of any size. Therefore, a value of 900 in Cisco UCS Manager displays as 512 in SANsurfer.
Creating an Ethernet Adapter Policy
Tip
If the fields in an area are not displayed, click the
Expand icon to the right of the heading.
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies.
Step 3
Expand the node for the organization where you want to create the
policy.
If the system does not include multi-tenancy,
expand the
root node.
Step 4
Right-click on
Adapter Policies and choose
Create Ethernet Adapter Policy.
Step 5
Enter a name and description for the policy in the following
fields:
Name
Description
Name
field
The name of the policy.
Description field
A description of the policy.
We recommend including information about where and when the policy should be
used.
Step 6
(Optional)
In the
Queues area, adjust the following values for
the transmit, receive, and completion queues:
Name
Description
Count field
The number of queue resources to allocate.
For transmit and receive queues, enter an integer between 1
and 256. For completion queues, enter an integer between 1 and 521. In general,
the number of completion queues equals the number of transmit queues plus the
number of receive queues.
Ring size field
The number of descriptors in each queue.
Enter an integer between 64 and 4096.
Step 7
(Optional)
In the
Interrupt Handling area, adjust the following
values:
Name
Description
Coalescing
Time field
The time to wait between interrupts or the idle period that
must be encountered before an interrupt is sent.
Enter a value between 1 and 65535. To turn off coalescing,
enter 0 (zero) in this field.
Coalescing Type field
This can be:
min—The system waits for the time
specified in the
Coalescing Time field before
sending another interrupt event.
idle—The system does not send an
interrupt until there is a period of no activity lasting as least as long as
the time specified in the
Coalescing Time field.
Count field
The number of interrupt resources to allocate.
Enter an integer between 1 and 514. In general, you should
allocate one interrupt resource for each completion queue.
Step 8
(Optional)
In the
Performance Enhancement area, adjust the
following values:
Name
Description
Receive Checksum Offload field
This can be:
disabled—The CPU validates all
packet checksums.
enabled—The CPU sends all packet
checksums to the hardware for validation. This option may reduce CPU overhead.
Transmit Checksum Offload field
This can be:
disabled—The CPU calculates all
packet checksums.
enabled—The CPU sends all packets
to the hardware so that the checksum can be calculated. This option may reduce
CPU overhead.
TCP Segment Offload field
This can be:
disabled—The CPU segments large
TCP packets.
enabled—The CPU sends large TCP
packets to the hardware to be segmented. This option may reduce CPU overhead
and increase throughput rate.
Note
This option is also known as Large Send Offload (LSO).
TCP Large Receive Offload field
This can be:
disabled—The CPU processes all
large packets.
enabled—The hardware reassembles
all segmented packets before sending them to the CPU. This option may reduce
CPU utilization and increase inbound throughput.
Step 9
In the
RSS Hash area, adjust the following values for
the appropriate protocols:
Name
Description
Receive Side Scaling field
Receive-side Scaling (RSS) enables the efficient
distribution of network receive processing across multiple CPUs in
multiprocessor systems. This can be:
disabled—The system does not use
RSS.
enabled—The system uses RSS.
Note
The setting of this field applies to all enabled
protocols.
IP field
Whether IP is enabled for IPv4.
TCP field
Whether TCP is enabled for IPv4.
Step 10
In the
Failover area, adjust the value for the
following field:
Name
Description
Failback Timeout field
After a vNIC has started using its secondary interface, this
setting controls how long the primary interface must be available before the
system resumes using the primary interface for the vNIC.
Enter a number of seconds between 0 and 600.
Step 11
Click
OK.
Deleting an Ethernet Adapter Policy
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies
> Organization_Name.
Step 3
Expand the
Adapter Policies node.
Step 4
Right-click the Ethernet adapter policy that you want to delete
and choose
Delete.
Step 5
If
Cisco UCS Manager
displays a confirmation dialog box, click
Yes.
Configuring Network Control Policies
Network Control Policy
This policy configures the network control settings for the Cisco UCS instance, including the following:
Whether the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is enabled or disabled
How the VIF behaves if no uplink port is available in end-host mode
Creating a Network Control Policy
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies.
Step 3
Expand the node for the organization where you want to create the
policy.
If the system does not include multi-tenancy,
expand the
root node.
Step 4
Right-click the Network Control Policies node and select Create Network Control Policy.
Step 5
In the Create Network Control Policy dialog box, complete the following fields:
Name
Description
Name
field
The name of the policy.
This name can be between 1 and 16
alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters, and
you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.
CDP field
This option determines whether Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is enabled on servers associated with a service profile that includes this policy. This can be:
disabled
enabled
Action on Uplink Fail field
This option determines how the VIF behaves is no uplink port is available when the fabric interconnect is in end-host mode. This can be:
link-down— Changes the operational state of a vNIC to down when uplink connectivity is lost on the fabric interconnect, and facilitates fabric failover for vNICs.
warning— Maintains server-to-server connectivity even when no uplink port is available, and disables fabric failover when uplink connectivity is lost on the fabric interconnect.
The default is link-down.
Step 6
Click OK.
Deleting a Network Control Policy
Procedure
Step 1
In the
Navigation pane, click the
LAN tab.
Step 2
On the
LAN tab, expand
LAN
> Policies
> Organization_Name.
Step 3
Expand the
Network Control Policies node.
Step 4
Right-click the policy you want to delete and select
Delete.
Step 5
If
Cisco UCS Manager
displays a confirmation dialog box, click
Yes.
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