Introduction

Overview of the Cisco UCS C845A M8 Rack Server

The Cisco UCS C845A M8 Rack Server is a highly scalable, flexible, and customizable AI system based on the NVIDIA MGX reference design for accelerated computing. With support for two to eight NVIDIA PCIe GPUs and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, it delivers high performance for a wide range of AI workloads – including Generative AI fine-tuning and inference.

Cisco UCS C845A M8 servers can be configured with two to eight GPUs. Depending on the configuration, customers can choose between the PCIe-based NVIDIA H100 NVL, H200 NVL, L40S, RTX6000 Pro, or AMD GPU MI210. Thanks to the sophistication of the MGX design, other next-generation NVIDIA GPUs are planned to be introduced on this same platform as these GPUs become available.

With a compute node powered by AMD’s new high-end Turin (5th Gen) CPUs, designed specifically for AI workloads, the Cisco UCS C845A M8 provides a no-compromise solution for CPU or GPU performance required to avoid bottlenecks within an AI server. Another benefit is the ability to configure the server with the NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NIC and/or NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs to handle data traffic in and out of the server.

Systems equipped with NVIDIA H100 NVL or H200 NVL GPU come with a five-year license for NVIDIA AI Enterprise, a cloud-native software platform that streamlines development and deployment of production-grade AI solutions, including AI agents, generative AI, computer vision, speech AI, and more. Easy-to-use microservices optimize model performance with enterprise-grade security, support, and stability, ensuring a smooth transition from prototype to production for enterprises that run their businesses on AI. For more information, see Cisco UCS C845A M8 Rack Server Data Sheet.

Cisco UCS C845A M8 servers ship with the Cisco Baseboard Management Controller 2.0 (Cisco BMC 2.0) firmware. Cisco BMC 2.0 is a separate management module built into the motherboard. A dedicated ARM-based processor, separate from the main server CPU, runs the Cisco BMC 2.0 firmware. The system ships with a running version of the Cisco BMC 2.0 firmware. You can update the Cisco BMC 2.0 firmware, but no initial installation is needed.

The Cisco UCS C-Series rack server supports operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Oracle and so on. For more information on supported operating systems, see the UCS Hardware and Software Compatibility. You can use Cisco BMC 2.0 to install an OS on the server using the KVM console and vMedia.

Overview of the Server Software

The Cisco Baseboard Management Controller 2.0 (Cisco BMC 2.0) is the management service for the Cisco UCS C845A M8 servers. Cisco BMC 2.0 runs within the server.


Note

The Cisco BMC 2.0 management service is used only when the server is operating in Standalone Mode. If your server is integrated into a UCS system, you must manage it using Cisco Intersight. You may see Cisco Intersight Help Center to get more information on how to manage the server.

You can use a web-based GUI, an SSH-based CLI, or a REST API to access, configure, administer, and monitor the server. Each interface offers different capabilities, and the tasks supported by each interface are described in their respective configuration guides. You cannot do the following:

  • Use Cisco BMC 2.0 GUI to invoke Cisco BMC 2.0 CLI.

  • View a command that has been invoked through Cisco BMC 2.0 CLI in Cisco BMC 2.0 GUI.

  • Generate Cisco BMC 2.0 CLI output from Cisco BMC 2.0 GUI.

Logging into Cisco BMC 2.0

Procedure

Step 1

In your web browser, type or select the web link for Cisco BMC 2.0.

Step 2

If a security dialog box displays, do the following:

  1. (Optional) (Optional) Check the check box to accept all content from Cisco.

  2. Click Yes to accept the certificate and continue.

Step 3

In the log in window, enter your username and password.

When logging in for the first time to an unconfigured system, use admin as the username and password as the password.

The following situations occur when you login to the Web UI for the first time:

  • You cannot perform any operation until you change default admin credentials on the Cisco BMC 2.0 Web UI.

  • You cannot close or cancel the password change pop-up window and opening it in a tab or refreshing the browser page will continue to display the pop-up window. This pop-up window appears when you login after a factory reset.

  • You cannot choose the word 'password' as your new password. If this creates problems for any scripts you may be running, you could change it to password by logging back into the user management options, but this is ENTIRELY at your own risk. It is not recommended by Cisco.

Step 4

Click Log In.

Dashboard

After logging into the Cisco BMC 2.0 GUI, you are directed to the Dashboard page. From this page, you can quickly access important features and information. Below are the key properties and sections of the Overview page:

System Information

Table 2. Server Properties

Name

Description

Product Name field

This field displays the product name of the server.

Serial Number field

This field contains the unique serial number assigned to the server.

UUID field

This field contains the UUID of the server.

BIOS Version field

This fields displays the running BIOS version.

Description field

This field provides a description of the system.

Asset Tag field

This field contains the asset tag of the server.
Table 3. Cisco BMC 2.0 Information

Name

Description

Hostname field

This field shows the hostname of the server.

IP Address field

This field provides the IP address of the server.

MAC Address field

This field shows the MAC address of the server.

Firmware Version field

This field indicates the firmware version of the server.

Current Time (Universal) field

This field displays the current universal time.

Timezone field

This field indicates the timezone setting of the server.

Select Timezone link

Allows you to change the timezone. See {place holder for timezone topic}.

Status Information

Table 4. Chassis Status

Option

Description

Power Status

Indicates whether the server is powered on or off.

Post Completion Status

Shows if the Power-On Self-Test (POST) process is completed.

Overall Server Status

Represents the general operational status of the server.

Temperatures

Displays the thermal status of the server components.

Overall DIMM Status

Indicates the health status of the memory modules.

Power Supplies

Reflects the operational status of the power supply units.

Fans

Shows the status of the cooling fans of the server.

Locator LED

Indicates whether the locator light of the server is activated.

Overall Storage Status

Represents the health and status of the storage devices.
Table 5. Inventory and LEDs

Name

Description

System identify LED toggle button

This field shows the status of the system identification LED, which can be toggled on or off to identify the system physically.

Server Ports

Following is a list of server ports and their default port numbers:

Table 6. Server Ports

Port Name

Port Number

LDAP Port 1

389

LDAP Port 2

389

LDAP Port 3

389

LDAP Port 4

3268

LDAP Port 5

3268

LDAP Port 6

3268

SSH Port

22

HTTP Port

80

HTTPS Port

443

SMTP Port

25

KVM Port

2068

Intersight Management Port

8889

Intersight Cloud Port

8888

SOL SSH Port

2400

SNMP Port

161

SNMP Traps

162

External Syslog

514