Chassis and Fabric Extender Discovery and Actions
Chassis and Fabric Extender Discovery
Chassis and Fabric Extenders (FEX) that are connected to a Fabric Interconnect are automatically discovered in Cisco Intersight. To discover chassis and FEX connected to a Fabric Interconnect, ensure that the Fabric Interconnect is claimed in Cisco Intersight.
After the Fabric Interconnect is claimed, do the following:
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Connect the server ports to both Fabric Interconnects. For example, ports 1 and 2 to FI-A and ports 3 and 4 to FI-B.
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Configure the server ports on both Fabric Interconnects by using a UCS Domain profile. Creating a UCS Domain Profile provides detailed information about creating a UCS Domain profile and assigning it to a UCS Fabric Interconnect Domain.
After the server ports are configured and applied, all the chassis and FEX that are connected to the Fabric Interconnect are automatically discovered. During discovery, the chassis and FEX will auto sync firmware with the Fabric Interconnect if their firmware versions do not match the firmware version of the Fabric Interconnect. Because of this, it may take 25-30 minutes for the chassis and FEX to appear in the GUI. You can check the chassis and FEX status through the nxos CLI by using the show fex command.
Chassis Actions
From the left navigation panel, click Chassis for the Chassis table view. You can perform the following operations to manage one or more chassis.
Chassis Actions
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Rediscover—Initiates the chassis discovery process and then the chassis inventory process.
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Decommission—Removes the chassis and IOM inventories. A decommissioned chassis is likely to be eventually recommissioned, a part of the chassis information, including the chassis ID, is retained by Cisco Intersight. Decommissioning is performed when a chassis is physically present and connected, but you want to temporarily remove it from the Cisco Intersight configuration.
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Remove—Removes the configuration of a physically removed chassis from Cisco Intersight.
Before physically removing a chassis from the system, ensure that you unconfigure the server ports to which the chassis is connected.
If you need to add a chassis, which was earlier removed, back to the Cisco Intersight configuration, the chassis must be reconnected and then rediscovered. During rediscovery Cisco Intersight will assign the chassis a new ID that may be different from ID that it was assigned earlier.
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Recommission—Brings the chassis and IOM back online and initiates the chassis discovery process and then the chassis inventory process. After this action is complete, you can access the chassis and any servers in it.
A list of decommissioned chassis is available in the Devices area under .
When you recommission the chassis, you have the option to configure the chassis ID.
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Turn On/Off Locator—Turns on/off the LED Locator.
Note
This option is available only for Intersight Managed Mode servers.
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Power Cycle Chassis Slot—Power cycling a chassis slot is an attempt to recover a non-responding device. This operation can be initiated from Chassis Table View and Chassis Connections View by clicking on the Ellipsis (…) icon.
Note
Power cycling a server slot will bring down the server, potentially impacting the application services. Therefore, this option should be utilized with caution to debug any issues with a server in that chassis slot.
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Upgrade Firmware—This action is supported only for Cisco UCS S3260 chassis.
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Collect Tech Support Bundle—Collects the tech support bundle. An account administrator can select the device and collect the tech support bundle file for the selected device. The downloaded file can be accessed by navigating to Admin > Tech Support Bundles section. This file can be shared with the TAC team for troubleshooting any issue.
FEX Actions
From the left navigation panel, click FEX table view. You can perform the following operations to manage one or more FEX.
for theFEX Actions
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Decommission—Decommissioning is performed when a FEX is physically present and connected, but you want to temporarily remove it from the Cisco Intersight configuration. This action takes the FEX offline and removes the FEX inventory. Because it is expected that a decommissioned FEX will be eventually recommissioned, a portion of the FEX information is retained by Cisco Intersight.
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Remove—Removing a FEX involves physically removing a FEX from the system. After the physical removal of the FEX is completed, the configuration for that FEX is removed from Cisco Intersight.
To add a removed FEX back to the Cisco Intersight configuration, it must be reconnected to server ports that are configured on the Fabric Interconnect. The FEX is automatically discovered. During discovery Cisco Intersight will assign the FEX a new ID that may be different from ID that it was assigned earlier.
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Recommission—Recommissioning a FEX brings the FEX back online, initiates the FEX discovery process and then the FEX inventory process. After this action is complete, you can access the FEX.
A list of decommissioned FEX is available in the Devices area under .
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Turn On Locator—Turn on the LED Locator on the selected FEX. Locators are indicators that help direct administrators to specific nodes in large data center environments.
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Turn Off Locator—Turn off the LED Locator on the selected FEX. Locators are indicators that help direct administrators to specific nodes in large data center environments.