The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
This chapter includes the following sections:
| Step 1 |
In the Overall Server Status area of the Navigation pane, click the blue health report link to refresh the Server Summary pane. |
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| Step 2 |
(Optional) Review the following information in the Server Status area of the Server Summary pane:
|
You can view a server utilization only on some UCS C-Series servers.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
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| Step 3 |
Review the following information in the Server Utilization area of the Server Summary pane:
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You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Turn On Locator LED. The LED indicator in the Locator LED field lights up and the physical locator LED on the server turns on and blinks. |
| Step 4 |
In the Actions area, click Turn Off Locator LED. The locator LED turns off. |
This option is available only on some UCS C-Series servers.
You must log in as a user with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Turn On Front Locator LED button. The LED indicator in the Locator LED field lights up and the physical locator LED on the chassis turns on and blinks. |
| Step 4 |
In the Actions area, click Turn Off Front Locator LED. The front locator LED turns off. |
This option is available only on some UCS C-Series servers.
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Sensors. |
| Step 3 |
In the Sensors pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Storage table, find the hard disk drive (HDD) whose locator LED you want to change. |
| Step 5 |
In the LED Status column for that HDD, select the desired locator LED state from the drop-down list. If you select Turn On, the LED status indicator in this column lights up and the physical locator LED on the associated HDD turns on and blinks. |
Selecting a Time Zone
Selecting a time zone helps you choose a local time zone so that you can view the local time rather than the default machine time. Cisco IMC Web UI and the CLI provide you options to choose and set a time zone of your choice.
Setting the time zone to your local time will apply the time zone variable to all the services that utilize the system timing. This impacts the logging information and is utilized in the following applications of the Cisco IMC:
Fault summary and fault history logs
Cisco IMC log
rsyslog
When you set a local time, the timestamp on the applications that you can view are updated with the local time that you have chosen.
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (Cisco IMC) Information area, click Select Timezone. Select Timezone screen appears. |
| Step 4 |
In the Select Timezone pop-up screen, mouse over the map and click on the location to select your time zone or choose your time zone from the Timezone drop-down menu. |
| Step 5 |
Click Save. |
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Server Properties area, update the Asset Tag field. |
| Step 4 |
Click Save Changes. |
Managing the Server Boot Order
Using Cisco IMC, you can configure the order in which the server attempts to boot from available boot device types. In the legacy boot order configuration, Cisco IMC allows you to reorder the device types but not the devices within the device types. With the precision boot order configuration, you can have a linear ordering of the devices. In the web UI or CLI you can change the boot order and boot mode, add multiple devices under each device types, rearrange the boot order, set parameters for each device type.
When you change the boot order configuration, Cisco IMC sends the configured boot order to BIOS the next time that server is rebooted. To implement the new boot order, reboot the server after you make the configuration change. The new boot order takes effect on any subsequent reboot. The configured boot order remains until the configuration is changed again in Cisco IMC or in the BIOS setup.
 Note |
The actual boot order differs from the configured boot order if either of the following conditions occur:
|
Note |
When you create a new policy using the configure boot order feature, BIOS tries to map this new policy to the devices in the system. It displays the actual device name and the policy name to which it is mapped in the Actual Boot Order area. If BIOS cannot map any device to a particular policy in Cisco IMC, the actual device name is stated as NonPolicyTarget in the Actual Boot Order area. |
Note |
When you upgrade Cisco IMC to the latest version 2.0(x) for the first time, the legacy boot order is migrated to the precision boot order. During this process, previous boot order configuration is erased and all device types configured before updating to 2.0 version are converted to corresponding precision boot device types and some dummy devices are created for the same device types. you can view these devices in the Configured Boot Order area in the web UI. To view these devices in the CLI, enter show boot-device command. During this the server's actual boot order is retained and it can be viewed under actual boot order option in web UI and CLI. |
When you downgrade Cisco IMC prior to 2.0(x) verison the server's last legacy boot order is retained, and the same can be viewed under Actual Boot Order area. For example:
If you configured the server in a legacy boot order in 2.0(x) version, upon downgrade a legacy boot order configuration is retained.
If you configured the server in a precision boot order in 2.0(x), upon downgrade the last configured legacy boot order is retained.
Important |
|
You must log in as a user with admin privileges to configure server the boot order.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure Boot Order. A dialog box with boot order instructions appears. |
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| Step 4 |
Review the instructions, and then click OK. The Configure Boot Order dialog box is displayed. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Configure Boot Order dialog box, update the following properties:
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| Step 6 |
Click Save. Additional device types might be appended to the actual boot order, depending on what devices you have connected to your server. |
Reboot the server to boot with your new boot order.
You must log in as a user with admin privileges to add device type to the server boot order.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Action area, click Configure Boot Order. A dialog box with boot order instructions appears. |
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| Step 4 |
Review the instructions, and then click OK. The Configure Boot Order dialog box is displayed. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Configure Boot Order dialog box, from the Add Boot Device table, choose the device that you want add to the boot order. To add the local HDD device, click Add Local HDD, and update the following parameters:
To add the PXE device, click Add PXE, and update the following parameters:
To add the SAN boot device, click Add SAN, and update the following parameters:
To add the iSCSI boot device, click Add iSCSI, and update the following parameters:
To add the SD card, click Add SD Card, and update the following parameters:
To add the USB device, click Add USB, and update the following parameters:
To add the virtual media, click Virtual Media, and update the following parameters:
To add the PCH storage device, click PCH Storage, and update the following parameters:
To add the UEFI shell device, click Add UEFI Shell, and update the following parameters:
|
You can use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) secure boot to ensure that all the EFI drivers, EFI applications, option ROM or operating systems prior to loading and execution are signed and verified for authenticity and integrity, before you load and execute the operating system. You can enable this option using either web UI or CLI. When you enable UEFI secure boot mode, the boot mode is set to UEFI mode and you cannot modify the configured boot mode until the UEFI boot mode is disabled.
Note |
If you enable UEFI secure boot on a nonsupported OS, on the next reboot, you cannot boot from that particular OS. If you try to boot from the previous OS, an error is reported and recorded the under system software event in the web UI. You must disable the UEFI secure boot option using Cisco IMC to boot from your previous OS. |
Important |
Also, if you use an unsupported adapter, an error log event in Cisco IMC SEL is recorded. The error messages is displayed that says: System Software event: Post sensor, System Firmware error. EFI Load Image Security Violation. [0x5302] was asserted . |
| Components | Types |
|---|---|
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Supported OS |
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Broadcom PCI adapters |
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Intel PCI adapters |
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QLogic PCI adapters |
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Fusion-io |
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LSI |
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| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the BIOS Properties area, check UEFI Secure Boot checkbox.
If you enable UEFI secure boot on a nonsupported OS, on the next reboot, you cannot boot from that particular OS. If you try to boot from the previous OS, an error is reported and recorded under the system software event in the web UI. You must disable the UEFI secure boot option by using Cisco IMC to boot from your previous OS. |
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| Step 4 |
Click Save Changes. |
Reboot the server to have your configuration boot mode settings take place.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
| Step 3 |
In the BIOS Properties area, uncheck the UEFI Secure Boot check box. |
| Step 4 |
Click Save Changes. |
Reboot the server to have your configuration boot mode settings take place.
The actual server boot order is the boot order actually used by BIOS when the server last booted. The actual boot order can differ from the boot order configured in Cisco IMC.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actual Boot Order area of BIOS page, review the list of boot devices in the order actually used by BIOS when the server last booted. All devices present during the last boot are listed in a linear order. You can expand the device string name to view the attributes of that particular device.
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You can configure a server to boot from a particular device only for the next server boot, without disrupting the currently configured boot order. Once the server boots from the one time boot device, all its future reboots occur from the previously configured boot order.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the BIOS Properties area, select an option from the Configured One Time Boot Device drop-down.
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You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Hard Reset Server. A dialog box with the message Hard Reset the Server? appears. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Shut Down Server. A dialog box with the message Shut Down the Server? appears. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
Managing Server Power
Note |
If the server was powered off by any means other than through Cisco IMC, it will not become active immediately when powered on. The server will remain in standby mode until Cisco IMC completes initialization. |
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Power On Server. A dialog box with the message Power on the server? appears. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Power Off Server. A dialog box with the message There is an update available for Chassis Firmware, would you like to continue? appears. Clicking OK powers off the server and updates the system firmware. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
You must log in with user or admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Summary. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Power Cycle Server. A dialog box with the message Power Cycle the Server? appears. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
Configuring Power Policies
The power restore policy determines how power is restored to the server after a chassis power loss.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Power Policies. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Compute menu. |
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| Step 4 |
In the work pane, click the Power Policies tab. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Power Restore Policy area, update the following fields:
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| Step 6 |
Click Save Changes. |
Configuring Fan Policies
Fan Control Policies enable you to control the fan speed to bring down server power consumption and noise levels. Prior to these fan policies, the fan speed increased automatically when the temperature of any server component exceeded the set threshold. To ensure that the fan speeds were low, the threshold temperatures of components are usually set to high values. While this behavior suited most server configurations, it did not address the following situations:
Maximum CPU performance
For high performance, certain CPUs must be cooled substantially below the set threshold temperature. This required very high fan speeds which resulted in higher power consumption and increased noise levels.
Low power consumption
To ensure the lowest power consumption, fans must run very slowly, and in some cases, stop completely on servers that support it. But slow fan speeds resulted in servers overheating. To avoid this situation, it is necessary to run fans at a speed that is moderately faster than the lowest possible speed.
With the introduction of fan policies, you can determine the right fan speed for the server, based on the components in the server. In addition, it allows you to configure the fan speed to address problems related to maximum CPU performance and low power consumption.
Following are the fan policies that you can choose from:
Balanced
This setting can cool almost any server configuration, but may not be suitable for servers with PCIe cards, since these cards overheat easily.
Performance
This setting can be used for server configurations where maximum fan speed is required for high performance. With this setting, the fan speeds will run at the same speed or higher speed than that of the Balanced fan policy.
Note |
This option is available only on some C-Series servers. |
Low Power
This is the default policy. This setting is ideal for minimal configuration servers that do not contain any PCIe cards.
High Power
This setting can be used for server configurations that require fan speeds ranging from 60 to 85%. This policy is ideal for servers that contain PCIe cards that easily overheat and have high temperatures.
Maximum Power
This setting can be used for server configurations that require extremely high fan speeds ranging between 70% to 100%. This policy is ideal for servers that contain PCIe cards that easily overheat and have extremely high temperatures.
Acoustic
This setting can be used for configuring the fan noise level, thereby enabling noise reduction in the servers. Application of this policy might result in performance throttling impacting system performance. If excessive thermal or performance events are recorded in the event logs, select a standard fan control policy like Low Power, which is a non-disruptive change.
Note |
This option is available only on UCS C240 M5 servers. |
Note |
Although you set a fan policy in Cisco IMC, the actual speed that the fan runs at is determined by the configuration requirements of the server. For example, if you set the fan policy to Balanced, but the server includes PCIe cards that overheat easily, then the speed of the fans on the server is adjusted automatically to the required minimum fan speed to prevent the overheating. If you have set a fan speed configuration higher than required, the system retains the selected fan speed. The Applied Fan Policy displays the actual fan speed that runs on the server. |
The Configuration Status displays the status of the configured fan policy. This can be one of the following:
SUCCESS —The selected fan policy matches the actual fan speed that runs on the server.
PENDING —The configured fan policy is not in effect yet. This can be due to one of the following:
The server is powered off
The BIOS POST is not complete
FAN POLICY OVERRIDE—Overrides the specified fan speed with the actual speed determined by the configuration requirements of the server.
You can determine the right fan policy based on the server configuration and server components.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Power Policies. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Configured Fan Policy area, select a fan policy from the drop-down list. It can be one of the following:
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| Step 4 |
Click Save Changes. |
Currently the product ID (PID) catalog on a standalone rack server is updated only with a new Cisco IMC image, or a new container. This means that even if a new device is added to the server, the PID catalog remains outdated until a new Cisco IMC image is produced.
Effective with this release, you can update just the PID catalog, independently, without having to update the Cisco IMC or container. You can download a signed PID update package using FTP, TFTP, SFTP, HTTP, and SCP. Once downloaded, the signed PID update package is verified, and a new 'pid-update-catalog.xml' is generated. This XML file replaces the existing catalog.xml when you use the show* - pid command.
Creation of PID update package
Security and signing of the package
Secure generic update of the catalog
You must log in as a user with admin privileges to upload a PID catalog.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Inventory. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Inventory pane, click the PID Catalog tab. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Actions area, click the Upload PID Catalog link. The Upload PID Catalog dialog box appears. Depending on the location of the catalog file, choose one of the options. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Upload PID Catalog from Local File dialog box, click Browse and use the Choose File to Upload dialog box to select the catalog file that you want to upload.
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| Step 6 |
In the Upload PID Catalog from Remote Server dialog box, complete the following fields:
|
You must log in as a user with admin privileges to activate a PID catalog.
The Upload Status of a PID catalog must be displayed as Yes.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click Inventory. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Inventory pane, click the PID Catalog tab. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Actions area, click the Activate PID Catalog link. A confirmation box appears. Select Yes or No to activate the PID catalog or cancel activation.
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Managing the Flexible Flash Controller
On the M5 servers, Flexible Flash Controller is inserted into the mini storage module socket. The mini storage socket is inserted into the M.2 slot on the motherboard. M.2 slot also supports SATA M.2 SSD slots.
Note |
M.2 slot does not support NVMe in this release. |
Some C-Series Rack-Mount Servers support an internal Secure Digital (SD) memory card for storage of server software tools and utilities. The SD card is hosted by the Cisco Flexible Flash storage adapter.
The SD storage is available to Cisco IMC as a single hypervisor (HV) partition configuration. Prior versions had four virtual USB drives. Three were preloaded with Cisco UCS Server Configuration Utility, Cisco drivers and Cisco Host Upgrade Utility, and the fourth as user-installed hypervisor. A single HV partition configuration is also created when you upgrade to the latest version of Cisco IMC or downgrade to the prior version, and reset the configuration.
For more information about installing and configuring the M.2 drives, see the Storage Controller Considerations (Embbeded SATA RAID Requirements) and Replacing an M.2 SSD in a Mini-Storage Carrier For M.2 sections in the Cisco UCS Server Installation and Service Guide for the C240 M5 servers at this URL:
For information about the Cisco software utilities and packages, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/c-series-doc
The Cisco Flexible Flash controller supports management of both single and two SD cards as a RAID-1 pair. With the introduction of card management, you can perform the following tasks:
Note |
|
|
Action |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Reset Cisco Flex Flash |
Allows you to reset the controller. |
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Reset Partition Defaults |
Allows you to reset the configuration in the selected slot to the default configuration. |
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Synchronize Card Configuration |
Allows you to retain the configuration for an SD card that supports firmware version 253 and later. |
|
Configure Operational Profile |
Allows you to configure the SD cards on the selected Cisco Flexible Flash controller. |
Non-RAID partitions are always enumerated from the primary card and the enumeration does not depend on the status of the primary card.
Following is the behavior of the RAID partition enumeration when there are two cards in the Cisco Flexible Flash controller:
| Scenario | Behavior |
|---|---|
|
Single card |
RAID partitions are enumerated if the card is healthy, and if the mode is either Primary or Secondary-active. |
|
Dual paired cards |
RAID partitions are enumerated if one of the cards is healthy. When only one card is healthy, all read/write operations occur on this healthy card. You must use UCS SCU to synchronize the two RAID partitions. |
|
Dual unpaired cards |
If this scenario is detected when the server is restarting, then neither one of the RAID partitions is enumerated. If this scenario is detected when the server is running, when a user connects a new SD card, then the cards are not managed by the Cisco Flexible Flash controller. This does not affect the host enumeration. You must pair the cards to manage them. You can pair the cards using the Reset Partition Defaults or Synchronize Card Configuration options. |
You can upgrade from a single card mirroring to dual card mirroring with FlexFlash in one of the following methods:
Add an empty FlexFlash card to the server, and then upgrade its firmware to the latest version.
Upgrade the FlexFlash firmware to the latest version and then add an empty card to the server.
Prior to using either of these methods, you must keep in mind the following guidelines:
To create RAID1 mirroring, the empty card that you want to add to the server must be of the exact size of the card that is already in the server. Identical card size is a must to set up RAID1 mirroring.
Ensure that the card with valid data in the Hypervisor partition is marked as the primary healthy card. You can determine this state either in the Cisco IMC GUI or from the Cisco IMC CLI. To mark the state of the card as primary healthy, you can either use the Reset Configuration option in the Cisco IMC GUI or run the reset-config command in the Cisco IMC CLI. When you reset the configuration of a particular card, the secondary card is marked as secondary active unhealthy.
In a Degraded RAID health state all read-write transactions are done on the healthy card. In this scenario, data mirroring does not occur. Data mirroring occurs only in the Healthy RAID state.
Data mirroring is only applicable to RAID partitions. In the C-series servers, only Hypervisor partitions operate in the RAID mode.
If you have not configured SD cards for use with prior versions, then upgrading to the latest version loads the latest 253 firmware and enumerates all four partitions to the host.
While upgrading versions of the FlexFlash, you may see the following error message:
Unable to communicate with
Flexible Flash controller: operation ffCardsGet, status
CY_AS_ERROR_INVALID_RESPONSE”
In addition, the card status may be shown as missing. This error occurs because you accidently switched to an alternate release or a prior version, such as 1.4(x). In this scenario, you can either revert to the latest version, or you can switch back to the FlexFlash 1.4(x) configuration. If you choose to revert to the latest Cisco IMC version, then the Cisco FlexFlash configuration remains intact. If you choose to switch back to the prior version configuration, you must reset the Flexflash configuration. In this scenario, you must be aware of the following:
If multiple cards are present, and you revert to a prior version, then the second card cannot be discovered or managed.
If the card type is SD253, then you must run the reset-config command twice from the Cisco IMC CLI - once to reload the old firmware on the controller and to migrate SD253 to SD247 type, and the second time to start the enumeration.
After you upgrade to the latest verison of Cisco IMC or downgrade to a prior version, and reset the configuration, the server will access HV partition only.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure Firmware Mode. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK in the confirmation box. Switches the controller firmware mode from the current firmware mode to the other. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure Cards. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Configure Cards dialog box, update the following fields:
|
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| Step 5 |
Click Save. |
You can specify a bootable virtual drive on the Cisco Flexible Flash card that overrides the default boot priority the next time that the server is restarted, regardless of the default boot order defined for the server. The specified boot device is used only once. After the server has rebooted, this setting is ignored. You can choose a bootable virtual drive only if a Cisco Flexible Flash card is available. Otherwise, the server uses a default boot order.
Note |
Before you reboot the server, ensure that the virtual drive that you select is enabled on the Cisco Flexible Flash card. Go to the Storage tab, choose the card, and then go to the Virtual Drive Info subtab. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure Boot Override Priority. The Boot Override Priority dialog box appears. |
| Step 4 |
From the Boot Override Priority drop-down list, choose a virtual drive to boot from. |
| Step 5 |
Click Apply. |
In normal operation, it should not be necessary to reset the Cisco Flexible Flash. We recommend that you perform this procedure only when explicitly directed to do so by a technical support representative.
Note |
This operation will disrupt traffic to the virtual drives on the Cisco Flexible Flash controller. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
| Step 1 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 2 |
In the Cisco FlexFlash pane, click the Controller Info tab. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Reset FlexFlash Controller. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK to confirm. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, click Enable/Disable Virtual Drive(s). |
| Step 5 |
In the Enable/Disable VD(s) dialog box, select the virtual drives that you want to enable. |
| Step 6 |
Click Save. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, click Erase Virtual Drive(s). |
| Step 5 |
In the Erase Virtual Drive(s) dialog box, select the virtual drives that you want to erase. |
| Step 6 |
Click Save. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Cards must be in mirror mode.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, click Sync Virtual Drive. |
| Step 5 |
Click OK in the confirmation dialog box. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
The cards must be configured in Util mode.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, select the virtual drive for which you want to add an image, click Add Image. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Add Image dialog box, update the following fields:
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| Step 6 |
Click Save. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
This task is available only when the cards are configured in Util mode.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, select the virtual drive on which you want to update the image, click Update Image.
|
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
Cisco Flexible Flash must be supported by your platform.
Note |
This task results in the host re-scanning all the virtual drives, and a loss of virtual drive connectivity. We recommend that you configure the Cisco Flexible Flash controller properties before using any virtual drives, or power down the host prior to starting this task. |
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Storage tab, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
| Step 3 |
Click the Virtual Drive Info tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Virtual Drive Info tab, select the virtual drive for which you want to un map the image, click Unmap Image. |
The card in the selected slot is marked as primary healthy.
The card in the other slot is marked as secondary-active unhealthy.
One RAID partition is created.
The card read/write error counts and read/write threshold are set to 0.
Host connectivity could be disrupted.
If you upgrade to the latest version and select reset configuration option, a single hypervisor (HV) partition is created, and the existing four partition configurations are erased. This may also result in data loss. You can retrieve the lost data only if you have not done any data writes into HV partition, and downgrade to prior version.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 2 |
In the Cisco FlexFlash pane, click the Controller Info tab. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Reset Partition Defaults. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Reset Partition Defaults dialog box, update the following fields:
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| Step 5 |
Click Yes. |
There are two unpaired FlexFlash
The server is operating from a single FlexFlash, and an unpaired FlexFlash is in the other slot.
One FlexFlash supports firmware version 253, and the other FlexFlash is unpartitioned.
The configuration for the FlexFlash in the selected slot is copied to the other card.
The card in the selected slot is marked as primary healthy.
The card in the secondary slot is marked as secondary-active unhealthy.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 2 |
In the Cisco FlexFlash pane, click the Controller Info tab. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Synchronize Card Configuration. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Synchronize Card Configuration dialog box, update the following fields:
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| Step 5 |
Click Yes. |
| Step 1 |
Insert the empty SD card into SLOT-2 of the server. |
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| Step 2 |
Upgrade the Cisco IMC software version to release 1.5(4) and reboot Cisco IMC. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
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| Step 4 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Controller Info tab, determine the state displayed for the Internal State field. The state should be displayed as WAIT_ON_USER. |
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| Step 6 |
Click Reset FlexFlash Controller.
When you reset the FlexFlash controller, the card in SLOT-1 is automatically marked as primary healthy, and the empty card in SLOT-2 is marked as secondary active unhealthy card. RAID health is indicated as Degraded. In this situation, all data transactions are written on the healthy card and data mirroring does not occur |
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| Step 7 |
(Optional) To change the RAID health to healthy, launch Cisco UCS Server Configuration Utility (Cisco UCS SCU) on the host, and click Hypervisor Sync. This option mirrors data from the healthy card to the unhealthy card. |
SD storage is available to Cisco IMC version 1.5(4) as a single HV partition configuration, and it support firmware version 257. Prior releases had four-partition configuration, and supported firmware versions 247, 248, and 253. Cisco IMC version 1.5(4) supports all the SD card firmware versions prior to 257. For SD card with firmware version 253 and later, if you select Reset FlexFlash Controller option, the firmware version of these cards are upgraded to 257 automatically.
Upgrading from Cisco IMC Version 1.4(x) to 1.5(4)
The partition layout for the release 1.4(x) is significantly different from the release 1.5(4) so, automatic upgrades from Cisco IMC version 1.4(x) to 1.5(4) is not possible. If you upgrade Cisco IMC version 1.4(x) to 1.5(4) directly, then you are prompted to select Reset Partition Default option. If you select this option, a single HV partition configuration is created. This may result in data loss stored in the SD card. To retain the four partition configuration and the data stored on the SD card, Cisco recommends that you first upgrade the Cisco IMC version to 1.5(2) or 1.5(3) and then upgrade to 1.5(4) version. Select Reset FlexFlash Controller option.
The size of the empty card that you are adding should match the size of the existing card to successfully create a RAID1 mirror.
Ensure that the SD card with the valid data in the HyperVisor partition is marked as a primary healthy card. To mark a specific SD card as healthy, you can click Reset Partition Defaults. This results in the other card being marked as secondary active unhealthy card.
| Step 1 |
Upgrade the Cisco IMC software version to release 1.5(4) and reboot Cisco IMC. |
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| Step 2 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Storage tab. |
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| Step 3 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
||
| Step 4 |
In the Controller Info tab, determine the state displayed for the Internal State field. The state should be displayed as WAIT_ON_USER. |
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| Step 5 |
Click Reset FlexFlash Controller.
When you reset the FlexFlash controller, the card in SLOT-1 is automatically marked as primary healthy, and the empty card in SLOT-2 is marked as secondary active unhealthy card. RAID health is indicated as Degraded. In this situation, all data transactions are written on the healthy card and data mirroring does not occur |
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| Step 6 |
On the Storage Adapters pane, click Cisco FlexFlash. |
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| Step 7 |
In the Controller Info tab, click Reset Partition Defaults, and select SLOT-1 are the primary slot. The card in SLOT-1 is automatically marked as primary healthy, and the empty card in SLOT-2 is marked as secondary active unhealthy card. RAID health is indicated as Degraded |
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| Step 8 |
(Optional) To change the RAID health to healthy, launch Cisco UCS Server Configuration Utility (Cisco UCS SCU) on the host, and click Hypervisor Sync. This option mirrors data from the healthy card to the unhealthy card. |
Configuring DIMM Blacklisting
In Cisco IMC, the state of the Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) is based on SEL event records. A DIMM is marked bad if the BIOS encounters a non-correctable memory error or correctable memory error with 16000 error counts during memory test execution during BIOS post. If a DIMM is marked bad, it is considered a non-functional device.
If you enable DIMM blacklisting, Cisco IMC monitors the memory test execution messages and blacklists any DIMM that encounters memory errors at any given point of time in the DIMM SPD data. This allows the host to map out those DIMMs.
DIMMs are mapped out or blacklisted only when Uncorrectable errors occur. When a DIMM gets blacklisted, other DIMMs in the same channel are ignored or disabled, which means that the DIMM is no longer considered bad.
Note |
DIMMs do not get mapped out or blacklisted for 16000 Correctable errors. |
You must be logged in as an administrator.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Compute menu. |
| Step 2 |
In the Compute menu, select a server. |
| Step 3 |
In the work pane, click the Inventory tab. |
| Step 4 |
In the Memory pane's DIMM Black Listing area, click the Enable DIMM Black List check box. |
Configuring BIOS Settings
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box, click the Main tab. |
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| Step 5 |
Specify whether the server should be rebooted after you save your changes. If you want your changes applied automatically after you click Save Changes, check the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC immediately reboots the server and applies your changes. If you want to apply your changes at a later time, clear the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC stores the changes and applies them the next time the server reboots.
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| Step 6 |
In the Main tab, update the BIOS settings fields. The BIOS parameters available depend on the model of the server that you are using. For descriptions and information about the options for each BIOS setting, see: |
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| Step 7 |
(Optional) You can reset the parameters or restore the default values using the buttons at the bottom of the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box. The available options are:
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| Step 8 |
Click Save Changes. |
Note |
Depending on your installed hardware, some configuration options described in this topic may not appear. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box, click the Advanced tab. |
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| Step 5 |
Specify whether the server should be rebooted after you save your changes. If you want your changes applied automatically after you click Save Changes, check the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC immediately reboots the server and applies your changes. If you want to apply your changes at a later time, clear the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC stores the changes and applies them the next time the server reboots.
|
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| Step 6 |
In the Advanced tab, update the BIOS settings fields. The BIOS parameters available depend on the model of the server that you are using. For descriptions and information about the options for each BIOS setting, see: |
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| Step 7 |
(Optional) You can reset the parameters or restore the default values using the buttons at the bottom of the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box. The available options are:
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| Step 8 |
Click Save Changes. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS. |
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| Step 4 |
In the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box, click the Server Management tab. |
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| Step 5 |
Specify whether the server should be rebooted after you save your changes. If you want your changes applied automatically after you click Save Changes, check the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC immediately reboots the server and applies your changes. If you want to apply your changes at a later time, clear the Reboot Host Immediately check box. Cisco IMC stores the changes and applies them the next time the server reboots.
|
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| Step 6 |
In the Server Management tab, update the BIOS settings fields. The BIOS parameters available depend on the model of the server that you are using. For descriptions and information about the options for each BIOS setting, see: |
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| Step 7 |
(Optional) You can reset the parameters or restore the default values using the buttons at the bottom of the Configure BIOS Parameters dialog box. The available options are:
|
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| Step 8 |
Click Save Changes. |
The server must be powered on.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Enter BIOS Setup. |
| Step 4 |
Click Enable. |
In instances where the components of the BIOS no longer function as desired, you can restore the BIOS set up tokens and parameters to the customized manufacturing default values.
Note |
This action is only available for some C-Series servers. |
The server must be powered off.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Restore Manufacturing Custom Defaults. |
| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
On the Cisco UCS server, default token files are available for every server platform, and you can configure the value of these tokens using the Graphic User Interface (GUI), CLI interface, and the XML API interface. To optimize server performance, these token values must be configured in a specific combination.
Configuring a BIOS profile helps you to utilize pre-configured token files with the right combination of the token values. Some of the pre-configured profiles that are available are virtualization, high-performance, low power, and so on. You can download the various options of these pre-configured token files from the Cisco website and apply it on the servers through the BMC.
You can edit the downloaded profile to change the value of the tokens or add new tokens. This allows you to customize the profile to your requirements without having to wait for turnaround time.
You can upload a BIOS profile either from a remote server location or through a browser client.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS Profile. |
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| Step 4 |
To upload the BIOS profile using a remote server location, in the BIOS Profile area, click the Upload button. |
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| Step 5 |
In the Upload BIOS Profile dialog box, update the following fields:
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| Step 6 |
To upload the BIOS profile using a browser client, in the BIOS Profile area, click the Upload button. |
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| Step 7 |
In the Upload BIOS Profile dialog box, update the following fields:
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Activate a BIOS profile.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS Profile. |
| Step 4 |
In the BIOS Profile area click Activate. |
| Step 5 |
At the prompt, click Yes to activate the BIOS profile. |
Delete an existing BIOS profile.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS Profile. |
| Step 4 |
In the BIOS Profile area click Delete. |
| Step 5 |
At the prompt, click OK to delete the BIOS profile. |
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS Profile. |
| Step 4 |
In the BIOS Profile area click Take Backup. |
| Step 5 |
At the prompt, click Yes to take a backup of the BIOS profile. |
Activate a BIOS profile.
You must log in with admin privileges to perform this task.
| Step 1 |
In the Navigation pane, click the Server tab. |
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| Step 2 |
On the Server tab, click BIOS. The BIOS page appears. |
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| Step 3 |
In the Actions area, click Configure BIOS Profile. |
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| Step 4 |
In the BIOS Profile area click Details. |
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| Step 5 |
Review the following information in the BIOS Profile Details window:
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