Overview

This chapter includes the following sections:

Overview of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Server

The Cisco UCS C3260 is a modular, dense storage server with dual M3 or M4 server nodes, optimized for large datasets used in environments such as big data, cloud, object storage, and content delivery.

The UCS C3260 chassis is a modular architecture consisting of the following modules:

  • Base chassis: contains four redundant, hot-pluggable power supplies, eight redundant, hot-pluggable fans, and a rail kit.

  • Server Node: one or two M3 or M4 server nodes, each with two CPUs, 128, 256, or 512 GB of DIMM memory, and a pass-through controller or a RAID card with a 1 GB or 4 GB cache.

  • System I/O Controller (SIOC): one or two System I/O Controllers, each of which includes an integrated 1300-series virtual interface capability.

  • Optional Drive Expansion Node: Large Form Factor (LFF) 3.5-inch drives in a choice of capacities.

  • Hard Drives: Up to 56 top-loading Large Form Factor (LFF) HDDs of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 10TB capacities.

  • Solid State Drives: Optionally up to 28 solid-state disks (SSDs) of 400GB, 800 GB, 1.6TB, and 3.2 TB capacities.

  • Solid-State Boot Drives: up to two SSDs per M3 or M4 server node.

  • I/O Expander: provides two PCIe expansion slots and accommodates up to two NVMe SSDs.

The enterprise-class UCS C3260 storage server extends the capabilities of Cisco's Unified Computing System portfolio in a 4U form factor that delivers the best combination of performance, flexibility, and efficiency gains.


Note
An M3 Server Node has Intel E5-2600 V2 CPUs and DDR-3 DIMMs. An M4 Server Node has Intel E5-2600 v4 CPUs and DDR-4 DIMMs

Overview of the Server Software

The Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Server ships with the Cisco IMC firmware.

Cisco IMC Firmware

Cisco IMC is a separate management module built into the motherboard. A dedicated ARM-based processor, separate from the main server CPU, runs the Cisco IMC firmware. The system ships with a running version of the Cisco IMC firmware. You can update the Cisco IMC firmware, but no initial installation is needed.

Server OS

The Cisco UCS C-Series rack servers support operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Oracle and so on. For more information on supported operating systems, see the Hardware and Software Interoperability for Standalone C-series servers at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​en/​US/​products/​ps10477/​prod_​technical_​reference_​list.html. You can use Cisco IMC to install an OS on the server using the KVM console and vMedia.


Note

You can access the available OS installation documentation from the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​unifiedcomputing/​c-series-doc.

Cisco Integrated Management Controller

The Cisco IMC is the management service for the C-Series servers. Cisco IMC runs within the server.


Note

The Cisco IMC management service is used only when the server is operating in Standalone Mode. If your C-Series server is integrated into a UCS system, you must manage it using UCS Manager. For information about using UCS Manager, see the configuration guides listed in the Cisco UCS B-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​unifiedcomputing/​b-series-doc.

Management Interfaces

You can use a web-based GUI or SSH-based CLI or an XML-based API to access, configure, administer, and monitor the server. Almost all tasks can be performed in either interface, and the results of tasks performed in one interface are displayed in another. However, you cannot do the following:

  • Use Cisco IMC GUI to invoke Cisco IMC CLI

  • View a command that has been invoked through Cisco IMC CLI in Cisco IMC GUI

  • Generate Cisco IMC CLI output from Cisco IMC GUI

Tasks You Can Perform in Cisco IMC

You can use Cisco IMC to perform the following chassis management tasks:

  • Power on, power off, power cycle, reset and shut down the server

  • Toggle the locator LED

  • Configure the server boot order

  • View server properties and sensors

  • Manage remote presence

  • Create and manage local user accounts, and enable remote user authentication through Active Directory

  • Configure network-related settings, including NIC properties, IPv4, VLANs, and network security

  • Configure communication services, including HTTP, SSH, IPMI Over LAN, and SNMP.

  • Manage certificates

  • Configure platform event filters

  • Update Cisco IMC firmware

  • Monitor faults, alarms, and server status

  • Set time zone and view local time

  • Install and activate Cisco IMC firmware

  • Install and activate BIOS firmware

  • Install and activate CMC firmware

You can use Cisco IMC to perform the following server management tasks:

  • Manage remote presence

  • Create and manage local user accounts, and enable remote user authentication through Active Directory

  • Configure network-related settings, including NIC properties, IPv4, VLANs, and network security

  • Configure communication services, including HTTP, SSH, IPMI Over LAN, and SNMP.

  • Manage certificates

  • Configure platform event filters

  • Update Cisco IMC firmware

  • Monitor faults, alarms, and server status

  • Set time zone and view local time

No Operating System or Application Provisioning or Management

Cisco IMC provisions servers, and as a result, exists below the operating system on a server. Therefore, you cannot use it to provision or manage operating systems or applications on servers. For example, you cannot do the following:

  • Deploy an OS, such as Windows or Linux

  • Deploy patches for software, such as an OS or an application

  • Install base software components, such as anti-virus software, monitoring agents, or backup clients

  • Install software applications, such as databases, application server software, or web servers

  • Perform operator actions, including restarting an Oracle database, restarting printer queues, or handling non-Cisco IMC user accounts

  • Configure or manage external storage on the SAN or NAS storage

Overview of the Cisco IMC User Interface

The Cisco IMC user interface is a web-based management interface for Cisco C-Series servers. The web user interface is developed using HTML5 with the eXtensible Widget Framework (XWT) framework. You can launch the user interface and manage the server from any remote host that meets the following minimum requirements:

  • Sun JRE 1.8.0_45 or Sun JRE 1.8.0_51

  • HTTP and HTTPS enabled

  • Adobe Flash Player 10 or later


Note

In case you lose or forget the password that you use to log in to Cisco IMC, see the password recovery instructions in the Cisco UCS C-Series server installation and service guide for your server. This guide is available from the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​unifiedcomputing/​c-series-doc.

Cisco IMC Home Page

When you first log into Cisco IMC GUI, the user interface looks similar to the following illustration:



Navigation and Work Panes

The Cisco Integrated Management Controller GUI comprises the Navigation pane on the left hand side of the screen and the Work pane on the right hand side of the screen. Clicking links on the Server, Chassis, Compute, Networking, Storage or Admin menu in the Navigation pane displays the associated tabs in the Work pane on the right.

The Navigation pane header displays action buttons that allow you to view the navigation map of the entire GUI, view the index, or select a favorite work pane to go to, directly. The Pin icon prevents the Navigation pane from sliding in once the Work pane displays.

The Favorite icon is a star shaped button which allows you to make any specific work pane in the application as your favorite. To do this, navigate to the work pane of your choice and click the Favorite icon. To access this work pane directly from anywhere else in the application, click the Favorite icon again.

The GUI header displays information about the overall status of the chassis and user login information.

The GUI header also displays the total number of faults (indicated in green or red), with a Bell icon next to it. However, clicking this icon displays the summary of only the critical and major faults of various components. To view all the faults, click the View All button to display the Fault Summary pane.

The Navigation pane has the following menus:

  • Chassis Menu

  • Compute Menu

  • Networking Menu

  • Storage Menu

  • Admin Menu

Chassis Menu

Each node in the Chassis menu leads to one or more tabs that display in the Work pane. These tabs provides access to the following information:

Chassis Menu Node Name Work Pane Tabs Provide Information About...

Summary

Chassis properties, Chassis status, Cisco IMC firmware version, Management IP address, and IP addresses of CMC 1 and CMC 2.

Inventory

Servers, power supplies, Cisco VIC adapters, and Dynamic Storage management information.

Sensors

Power supply, fan, temperature, voltage, current, and LED readings.

Faults and Logs

Fault summary, fault history, system event log, Cisco IMC logs, and logging controls.

Compute Menu

The Compute menu contains information about the server, and the following information is displayed in the Work pane.

Compute Menu Node Name Work Pane Tabs Provide Information About...

General

Server properties, product name, serial number, product ID, UUID, BIOS version, hostname, Cisco IMC firmware version, IP address, and MAC address and description.

Inventory

Installed CPUs, memory cards, PCI adapters, Cisco VIC adapters, vNICs, storage information and trusted platform module (TPM).

Sensors

Temperature, voltage, LEDs, and storage sensor readings.

Remote Management

KVM, virtual media, and Serial over LAN settings.

BIOS

The installed BIOS firmware version and the server boot order.

Troubleshooting

Bootstrap processing, Crash recording, and a player to view the last saved bootstrap process.

Power Policies

Power restore policy settings.

Networking Menu

Each node in the Networking menu leads to one or more tabs that display in the Work pane. These tabs provides access to the following information:

Networking Menu Node Name Work Pane Tabs Provide Information About...

General

Adapter card properties, firmware, external ethernet interfaces, and actions to export or import configurations, and reset status.

vNICs

Host ethernet interfaces information such as name, CDN, MAC address, MTU and individual vNIC properties.

VM FEXs

Virtual FEXs information such as name, MTU, CoS, VLAN and more.

vHBAs

Host fibre channel interfaces information such as name, WWPN, WWNN, boot, uplink, port profile, channel number, and individual vHBA properties.

Storage Menu

Each node in the Storage menu corresponds to the LSI MegaRAID controllers or Host Bus Adapters (HBA) that are installed in theCisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers. Each node leads to one or more tabs that display in the Work pane and provide information about the installed controllers.

Storage Menu Node Name Work Pane Tabs Provide Information About...

Controller Info

General information about the selected LSI MegaRAID controller or HBA.

Physical Drive Info

General drive information, identification information, and drive statusl

Virtual Drive Info

General drive information, RAID information, and physical drive information.

Battery Backup Unit

Backup battery information for the selected MegaRAID controller.

Storage Log

Storage messages.

Admin Menu

Each node in the Admin menu leads to one or more tabs that display in the Work pane. These tabs provides access to the following information:

Admin Menu Node Name Work Pane Tabs Provide Information About...

User Management

Locally-defined user accounts, Active Directory settings, and current user session information.

Network

NIC, IPv4, IPv6, VLAN, and LOM properties, along with network security settings.

Communication Services

HTTP, SSH, XML API, IPMI over LAN, and SNMP settings.

Certificate Management

Security certificate information and management.

Firmware Management

Cisco IMC and BIOS firmware information and management.

Utilities

Technical support data collection, system configuration import and export options, and restore factory defaults settings.

Toolbar

The toolbar displays above the Work pane.

Button Name Description

Refresh

Refreshes the current page.

Host Power

Launches the Server Power Management pop-up window.

Launch KVM Console

Launches the Launch KVM pop-up window.

Ping

Launches the Ping Details pop-up window.

Reboot

Enables you to reboot BMC 1, BMC 2, CMC 1 and CMC 2 depending on the option you choose from the drop-down menu.

Locator LED

Launches the Locator LED pop-up window.

Cisco Integrated Management Controller Online Help Overview

The GUI for the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (Cisco IMC) software is divided into two main sections, a Navigation pane on the left and a Work pane on the right.

This help system describes the fields on each Cisco IMC GUI page and in each dialog box.

To access the page help, do one of the following:

  • In a particular tab in the Cisco IMC GUI, click the Help icon in the toolbar above the Work pane.

  • In a dialog box, click the Help button in that dialog box.


Note

For a complete list of all C-Series documentation, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap available at the following URL: http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​unifiedcomputing/​c-series-doc.

Logging into Cisco IMC

Before You Begin

If not installed, install Adobe Flash Player 10 or later on your local machine.

Procedure
    Step 1   In your web browser, type or select the web link for Cisco IMC.
    Step 2   If a security dialog box displays, do the following:
    1. 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.
    Tip   

    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 IMC 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.

    Logging out of Cisco IMC

    Procedure
      Step 1   In the upper right of Cisco IMC, click Log Out.

      Logging out returns you to the Cisco IMC log in page.

      Step 2   (Optional)Log back in or close your web browser.