Cisco has introduced software application versions from the Cisco® Unified Communications portfolio (Versions 8.0(2) and later) that are supported for production use on specific configurations of VMware vSphere (ESXi), Cisco Unified Communications Virtualization Foundation, Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS™) servers, and various storage configurations:
• Tested reference configurations are provided for the following servers and described as follows:
– Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers with third-party Fibre Channel SAN-attached disk arrays are supported (including diskless servers for VMware "boot from SAN" option).
– Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers with a specific configuration of either direct attached storage (DAS) or Fibre Channel SAN is supported (including a diskless server for VMware "boot from SAN" option).
• Other server and storage options are available via an alternative support model called "specifications-based VMware support.
Cisco Unified Communications applications require use of VMware vSphere (ESXi) or Cisco Unified Communications Virtualization Foundation to support Cisco Unified Computing System hardware. No applications run or install directly on the server hardware; all applications run only as virtual machines. Cisco Unified Communications does not support a physical, bare-metal, or nonvirtualized installation on this server hardware.
Cisco Unified Computing System configurations for Cisco Unified Communications must follow the criteria listed at http://www.cisco.com/go/uc-virtualized to be supported, including hardware configuration rules and specific minimum versions of Cisco Unified Communications applications.
Server part numbers are ordered independent of the Cisco Unified Communications applications and virtualization software.
For additional details about platform support for the following Cisco Unified Communications products, please consult the following references:
Additionally, note that a Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server deployment contains several components (blade server, blade server chassis, fabric extender, and fabric interconnect switch) without which you do not have a complete solution. For Cisco Unified Communications application deployments you plan to run on this hardware, you must ensure that all solution components are in place. You must use Cisco Commerce Workspace or the Netformx DesignXpert ordering tool UCS Advisor to ensure that all other required components in addition to the blade server are in place and correctly ordered. These solutions have several other components besides the server hardware, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking, Fibre Channel storage network access, and third-party disk arrays. You must follow solution design guidelines and prerequisites to help ensure a complete solution and customer success. Refer to http://www.cisco.com/go/uc-virtualized and http://www.cisco.com/go/ucsrnd for more details.
Both Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server and UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Server deployments require specific VMware software to support Cisco Unified Communications. Requirements are described at http://www.cisco.com/go/uc-virtualized.
Cisco Application Software Ordering Information
Virtualized deployment on the Cisco Unified Computing System does not change the pricing, licensing, or ordering models used for Cisco Unified Communications applications.
For example, applications priced and licensed under Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing or Cisco User Connect Licensing are configured the same way whether they are to be deployed on VMware with the Cisco Unified Computing System or the Cisco 7800 Series Media Convergence Servers.