Server Profiles
In Cisco Intersight, a Server Profile enables resource management by streamlining policy alignment, and server configuration. To view the Server Profiles table view, from the Service Selector drop-down list, choose Infrastructure Service. Navigate to Configure > Profiles. You can create Server Profiles using the Server Profile wizard or you can import the configuration details of C-series servers in standalone mode and FI-attached servers in Intersight Managed Mode (IMM), directly from Cisco IMC. You can create Server Profiles using the Server Profile wizard to provision servers, create policies to ensure smooth deployment of servers, and eliminate failures that are caused by inconsistent configuration. The Server Profiles wizard groups the server policies into the following four categories to provide a quick Summary View of the policies that are attached to a profile:
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Compute Policies—BIOS, Boot Order, and Virtual Media.
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Network Policies—Adapter Configuration, iSCSI Boot, LAN Connectivity, and SAN Connectivity policies.
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The LAN Connectivity policy allows you to create Ethernet Network Policy, Ethernet Network Control Policy, Ethernet Network Group Policy, Ethernet Adapter Policy, or Ethernet QoS Policy. When you attach a LAN Connectivity policy to a server profile, the addresses of the MAC address Pool, or the static MAC address, are automatically assigned.
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A LAN Connectivity policy that has a static MAC address can be attached to only one server profile.
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The SAN Connectivity policy requires you to create Fibre Channel Network Policy, Fibre Channel Adapter Policy, or Fiber Channel QoS Policy. When you attach a SAN Connectivity policy to a server profile, the addresses of the WWPN and WWNN Pools, or the static WWPN and WWNN addresses, are automatically assigned.
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A SAN Connectivity policy that has a static WWPN, or a static WWNN can be attached to only one server profile.
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Storage Policies—SD Card and Storage policies
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Management Policies—Device Connector, IPMI Over LAN, LDAP, Local User, Network Connectivity, SMTP, SNMP, SSH, Serial over LAN, Syslog, NTP, Certificate Management, and Virtual KVM policies
For more information and descriptions of the policies, see the Server Policies section. For an example of the policy creation workflow, see Creating Network Policies.
Server Profile List View
When you select Profiles > UCS Server Profiles in the Intersight UI, the UCS server profile list view is seen.
The list view shows the following details in a tabular format:
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Name – The name of the server profile.
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Status – The deployment status of the server profile.
The Status of the profiles can have any of the following values:
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Not Assigned—Policies are not assigned to the server profile.
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Once you deploy policies to the server profile, the status changes automatically from Not Assigned to the new status depending on the outcome. You may need to refresh your screen to view the updated status.
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You must do the Power Cycle/Power ON after each profile deployment.
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OK—Policies deployed successfully on the server profile
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In Progress—Deployment of policies to the server profile is in progress
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Failed—Server profile validation, configuration, or deployment has failed.
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Inconsistent—Indicates that the policy configuration has changes that have not yet been deployed or activated. It may also indicate that the policy configuration at the endpoint is not in sync with the last deployed policy configuration in the server profile. If the endpoint settings are altered manually after a server profile is deployed, Intersight automatically detects the configuration changes and they will be shown on the server profile as Inconsistent. For more information, see the Server Profile Drift and the Deploying and Activating a Server Profile sections.
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Inconsistency Reason – The reason for the status being shown as Inconsistent. Example - Not Deployed, Not Activated, Out of Sync
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Target Platform – Indicates if the platform for which the profile is applicable is a Standalone UCS server or FI-attached UCS server.
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UCS Server Template – The template attached to the server profile or from which the profile has been derived.
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Server – The name of the server to which the profile is attached.
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Resource Pool – The pool to which the profile belongs.
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User Label – A user label is an identifier that helps in filtering the server profiles. It must be between 1 and 64 alphanumeric characters, containing only the following special characters: ! # $ % & * + , ( ) [ ] { } | / . ? @ _ : ; ~
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Last Update – The date on which the profile was last updated.
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Organization – The name of the organization.
Note |
Some of the columns are disabled by default, such as, User Label. To view such columns in the server profiles table view, you need to enable them while customizing the table view. |
Server Profile Actions
After creating server profiles, actions that can be performed on a server profile are as follows:
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Deploy – Deploy the profile to the attached server
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Activate – Activate the profile on the attached server. The server gets power cycled on activation.
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Edit – Edit the profile
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Clone – Clone the profile
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Attach to Template – Attach the server profile to any of the available templates.
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While template creation, if you toggle ON the Attach UCS Server Profile to Profile Template button, the selected profile gets attached to the template under creation.
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If you keep the toggle button OFF, the selected profile's properties are carried to the template but the profile does not get attached to it.
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Create a Template – A server profile can be used to create a template. This template can then be used to create multiple profiles with same configurations and deployed on multiple servers.
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Detach from Template – Detach the profile from the template.
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Create a Template and Attach to Template actions can be performed only if a server profile is not attached to any template.
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A server profile can be attached to an existing template. This attachment overrides the config properties of the profile and replaces them with the template properties.
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A server profile attached to a template cannot be modified. The modifications can be done in the associated template.
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A server profile can be detached from a template and modified as per the requirements.
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A detached server profile can always be reattached to a template.
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Unassign Server – Unassign the server from the profile.
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Set User Label – You can also set, update, or delete user labels for each server profile through the Set User Label action.
Server Profile Details View
Clicking on a profile redirects to the Server Profile Details View that displays the configuration details of the profile under General, Server, and Inventory tabs.
Server Profile Drift
A server profile drift occurs when the policy configuration at the endpoint is not in sync with the last deployed policy configuration in the Server Profile.
Cisco Intersight supports Server Profile Drift detection for standalone servers and Intersight Managed Mode servers. For Intersight Managed Mode servers, the firmware versions required for drift detection are:
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For 4.2 release, the Cisco IMC version must be 4.2(1b) or above.
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For 4.1 release, the Cisco IMC versions must be:
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For rack servers - 4.1(3d) or above
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For blade servers - 4.1(33e) or above
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The check to look up for any configuration change at the endpoint is performed every 30 min.
To see the policy configurations that have changed at the endpoint relative to the currently deployed policy configuration in Intersight, navigate to server profile details view and click View Changes. You can choose to view the Changes Only or All the policy configuration details.
Property |
Essential Information |
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Saved Settings |
Displays the policy settings in Intersight. |
Last Deployed Settings |
Displays the latest policy settings deployed on the server profile. |
Endpoint Settings |
Displays the configuration at the endpoint. |
To move the Server Profile status back to OK, you can either redeploy the profile or change the values at the endpoint. You can use the Device Connector Policy in Intersight to control configuration changes allowed from Cisco IMC. In the Device Connector Policy, choose Configuration from Intersight only to stop allowing configuration changes from Cisco IMC directly.
Limitations of Server Profile Drift - Standalone Servers
For standalone servers, configuration changes at the endpoint will not be detected for the following policies under the specified conditions:
Policy |
Configuration at the endpoint |
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SD Card Policy |
If an SD card is removed. |
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Storage Policy |
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Boot Order Policy |
If the Power Cycle is not done after every deployment. In SAN boot devices, Intersight does not detect drift for Interface Name and Target WWPN
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Local User, SNMP, LDAP, and IPMI over LAN Policy |
If there are changes to the Password at the endpoint. |
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Virtual Media policy |
If there are changes to the Password, Mount Options, or Authentication Protocols at the endpoint. |
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BIOS Policy |
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IPMI over LAN policy |
'Privilege Level’ field will not be considered. |
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Network Connectivity Policy |
‘Preferred IPv6 DNS Server’ and ‘Alternate IPv6 DNS Server’ fields in the policy will not be considered. Server Profile may move to Out of Sync status temporarily. |
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Adapter Configuration Policy |
This policy will not be considered for drift calculation. |
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Ethernet Adapter Policy |
If a usNIC or VMMQ has a different Ethernet Adapter policy, then the configuration changes will not be calculated for usNIC or VMMQ attached Ethernet Adapter policy. Due to VMQ configuration restrictions, VMQ Number of Interrupts will override the value of Interrupts in Ethernet Adapter Policy, and VMQ Number of Virtual Machine Queues will override the value of Receive Queue Count, Transmit Queue Count, and Completion Queue Count (Receive+Transmit) of Ethernet Adapter Policy. Drift will not be detected for Number of Interrupts, Number of Virtual Machine Queues, Receive Queue Count, Transmit Queue Count, and Completion Queue Count. Intersight does not detect drift for `Number of Interrupts', 'Number of Virtual Machine Queues', 'Receive Queue Count', 'Transmit Queue Count', and 'Completion Queue Count'. |
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LAN Connectivity Policy |
‘CDN’ field will not be considered. |
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IMC Access Policy |
If both In-Band IPv6 and IPv4 configurations are available, the IPv6 DNS configuration is prioritized. |
Limitations of Server Profile Drift - Intersight Managed Mode Servers
For Intersight Managed Mode servers, server configuration changes at the endpoint will not be detected for the following policies under the specified conditions:
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The Name field is not supported for any policy because Name is not an endpoint setting. |
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Drift detection is not supported for pools and IDs. |
Policy |
Configuration at the endpoint |
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SD Card Policy |
Drift detection is not supported if an SD card is removed. |
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Storage Policy, Boot Order Policy, BIOS Policy, Virtual Media Policy |
Drift detection is not supported for Storage policy, Boot Order Policy, BIOS Policy, and Virtual Media Policy on Intersight Managed Mode servers. |
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Local User Policy, SNMP Policy, Certificate Management Policy |
Drift detection is not supported if there are changes to secure fields such as Password, Community Strings, and Private Key at the endpoint. |
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LAN Connectivity Policy |
Drift detection is not supported for:
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IMC Access Policy |
Drift detection is not supported for Out-of-Band configuration. | ||
SAN Connectivity Policy |
Drift detection is not supported for Auto vNICs Placement IDs.
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Power Policy |
Drift detection is not supported for the Power Priority property. |
Server Profile Import
Intersight provides the capability to import configuration details of C-series servers in standalone mode and FI-attached servers in Intersight Managed Mode (IMM), directly from Cisco IMC. The Server Profile import enables you to migrate the configuration of your existing servers to Intersight without having to create a profile and the policies manually. The Server Profile import operation creates a profile and the associated policies based on the server configuration. You can create a golden configuration profile and clone it and apply to another server already claimed in Intersight.
You can import a server profile configuration from the following locations in Intersight:
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Servers table view—Select a Cisco UCS C-Series Standalone server or any FI-attached server in Intersight Managed Mode (IMM) from the table view and click the ellipses (…) and select Import Server Profile.
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Click a C-series server in standalone mode or any FI-attached server in Intersight Managed Mode (IMM) in the Servers table view to access the Server details page. Click Actions on the top-right corner and select Import Server Profile. This option is enabled only when no server profile is associated with the server.
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A partially imported server profile cannot be attached to a template or cannot be used for creating a template. |
For more information on how to import a Server Profile Import and about the detection of manual configuration changes at the endpoint, see Importing a Server Profile in Resources.
Estimate Impact
The Estimate Impact workflow, for standalone and Intersight Managed Mode servers, analyzes the disruptions that would be caused by the various policies attached to a server profile, when the server profile is deployed. The analyze impact workflow is triggered when a policy is attached, detached, or updated. The Disruption is indicated against each policy. The disruptions, which could be caused by the policies, are:
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Immediate reboot is required for standalone server policies such as Persistent Memory policy or Adapter policy. In such cases, the disruption indicated against the policy is Immediate Reboot.
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An Activate action on the server profile needs the server to reboot and activate the policy configuration on the server. In such cases, the disruption indicated against the policy is Activate Requires Reboot.
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Some policies, such as IMC Access policy, cause a brief outage of the server management network. In such cases, the disruption indicated against the policy is Network Management Outage.
Deploying and Activating a Server Profile
Deploy and Activate are two explicit actions that can be performed on server profiles. Policy configuration staging happens as a part of server profile deployment. Policy staging allows you to stage the policy configurations and get an idea of the pending actions for activating the policies. You can activate the policy by rebooting servers manually or using the Activate action of the Server Profile during a maintenance window. Policy activation failures are identified when the Activate action is triggered.
The Status widget in the Server Profiles table view shows the number of profiles in Inconsistent state. A server profile will be in the Inconsistent state when it has policy changes that have not yet been deployed or activated. The Inconsistency Reason widget shows the reason why a profile is in the Inconsistent state. A server profile could be in an Inconsistent state because:
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There are changes in the policies attached to the server profile assigned to the server.
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The policy configuration is out-of-sync with the configuration deployed in the endpoints.
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The policy is in Not Activated state.
You can use Deploy action to stage the configuration changes. During Deploy, you can choose to enable a toggle button to Reboot Immediately. If enabled, the server reboots and the server profile is activated immediately. If disabled, the policy configuration changes are activated at the next reboot.
The Activate action in the Server Profile details, reboots the server and activates the configuration on the server. You can trigger Deploy to stage the configuration changes and later trigger Activate, during the maintenance window, to activate the deployed configuration.
The Update and Deploy option in the policy edit page allows you to modify a policy configuration and deploy the changes on multiple server profiles to which the policy is attached.