Overview

This chapter contains the following topics:

About Cisco IMC Supervisor

Cisco IMC Supervisor is a management system that allows you to manage rack-mount servers on a large scale. It allows you to create groups of rack-mount servers for monitoring and inventory purposes. If Cisco IMC Supervisor is installed as a connector for exiting UCS Director, then Cisco IMC Supervisor configuration supersede the default Cisco IMC installation and display only Cisco IMC Supervisor related menu options and tabs.

You can use Cisco IMC Supervisor to perform the following tasks:

  • Logically grouping servers and viewing summary per group

  • Collecting inventory for the managed servers

  • Monitoring servers and groups

  • Managing firmware including firmware download, upgrade, and activation

  • Provide Northbound REST APIs to discover, monitor and manage servers and perform firmware upgrades programmatically.

  • Managing standalone server actions including power control, LED control, log collection, KVM launch, and CIMC UI launch.

  • Restricting access using Role Based Access Control (RBAC)

  • Configuring email alerts

  • Configuring server properties using policies and profiles

  • Defining schedules to defer tasks such as firmware updates or server discovery

  • Diagnosing server hardware issues using UCS Server Configuration Utility

  • Cisco Smart Call Home provides proactive diagnostics, alerts, and remediation recommendations

Minimum System Requirements

Supported Server Models

  • UCS C-220 M3 and M4

  • UCS C-240 M3 and M4

  • UCS C-460 M4

  • UCS C-22 M3

  • UCS C-24 M3

  • UCS C-420 M3

  • UCS C3160

  • UCS EN120E M2

  • UCS EN120S M2

  • UCS E-140S M2

  • UCS E-160D M2

  • UCS E-180D M2

  • UCS E-140S M1

  • UCS E-140D M1

  • UCS E-160D M1

  • UCS E-140DP M1

  • UCS E-160DP M1

Important:

Cisco IMC Supervisor supports up to 1000 UCS C-Series and E-Series servers.

Minimum Firmware Versions

Servers

Minimum Firmware Version

UCS C-series Servers

1.5(4)

UCS E-series Servers

2.3.1

Supported PCiE Cards

  • Cisco UCS VIC 1225

  • Cisco UCS VIC 1225T

  • Cisco UCS VIC 1227

  • Cisco UCS VIC 1227T

  • Cisco UCS VIC 1385

Supported Hypervisor versions

  • ESXi 5.1

  • ESXi 5.5

  • ESXi 6.0

  • Windows 2008 R2 with Hyper-V Manager version 6.1.7
  • Windows 2012 R2 with Hyper-V Manager version 6.3.9

Minimum Hardware Requirements

The Cisco IMC Supervisor environment must meet at least the minimum system requirements listed in the following table.

Element Minimum Supported Requirement

vCPU

4

Memory

12 GB

Hard Disk

100 GB

Minimum write speed for storage

10 MB/sec

Supported Firewall Ports

The list of applicable services and ports are listed in the following table.

Service

Port Number

Servers

Minimum Firmware Version

SSH Port

22

HTTP (S)

80/443

DHCP

UDP 67 & 68

Active Directory

TCP / UDP 389/636 & TCP 3268/3269

DNS

TCP/UDP 53

NTP

TCP/UDP 123

MySQL

3306

Cisco IMC Supervisor ↔ IMC Connectivity

TCP 80/443


Note

If these ports and protocols are blocked by a firewall, you may experience timeouts or internal error when you are upgrading Cisco IMC Supervisor.

About Licenses

Cisco IMC Supervisor requires you to have the following valid licenses:

  • A Cisco IMC Supervisor base license.

  • A Cisco IMC Supervisor bulk endpoint enablement license that you install after the Cisco IMC Supervisor base license.

  • A Cisco IMC Supervisor advanced license. You can add, edit, and delete policies and profiles with the base license but you cannot apply a policy or a profile to a server without the advanced license. An error occurs if this license is unavailable when you apply a policy.

  • A default embedded Cisco IMC Supervisor evaluation license. The evaluation license is generated automatically when the end user installs Cisco IMC Supervisor and all the services start for the first time. It is applicable for 50 servers.

Important:

If you are using an evaluation license for Cisco IMC Supervisor, note that when this license expires (90 days from the date the license is generated), retrieving inventory and system health information, such as faults, will not work. You will not be able to refresh system data, or even add new accounts. At that point, you must install a perpetual license to use all features of Cisco IMC Supervisor.

The process for obtaining and installing the licenses is the same. For obtaining a license, perform the following procedures:

  1. Before you install Cisco IMC Supervisor, generate the Cisco IMC Supervisor license key and claim a certificate (Product Access Key).

  2. Register the Product Access Key (PAK) on the Cisco software license site, as described in Fulfilling the Product Access Key.

  3. After you install Cisco IMC Supervisor, update the license as described in Updating the License.

  4. After the license has been validated, you can start to use Cisco IMC Supervisor.

For various other licensing tasks you can perform, see Licensing Tasks.

Fulfilling the Product Access Key

Perform this procedure to register the Product Access Key (PAK) on the Cisco software license site.

Before You Begin

You need the PAK number.

Procedure
    Step 1   Navigate to the Cisco Software License website.
    Step 2   If you are directed to the Product License Registration page, you can take the training or click Continue to Product License Registration.
    Step 3   On the Product License Registration page, click Get New Licenses from a PAK or Token.
    Step 4   In the Enter a Single PAK or TOKEN to Fulfill field, enter the PAK number.
    Step 5   Click Fulfill Single PAK/TOKEN.
    Step 6   Complete the additional fields in License Information to register your PAK:

    Field

    Description

    Organization Name

    The organization name.

    Site Contact Name

    The site contact name.

    Street Address

    The street address of the organization.

    City/Town

    The city or town.

    State/Province

    The state or province.

    Zip/Postal Code

    The zip code or postal code.

    Country

    The country name.

    Step 7   Click Issue Key.

    The features for your license appear, and an email with the Digital License Agreement and a zipped license file is sent to the email address you provided.

    Licensing Tasks

    You can use the License menu to view the license details and the usage of resources. The following licensing procedures are available from Administration > License menu.

    Tab

    Description

    License Keys

    This tab displays the details of the license used in Cisco IMC Supervisor. You can also use this tab to upgrade the license. You can upgrade the license when a new version of Cisco IMC Supervisor is available,

    License Utilization

    This tab shows the licenses in use and details about each license, including license limit, available quantity, status, and remarks. License audits can also be run from this page.

    Resource Usage Data

    This tabs displays the details of the various resources used.