- Preface
- Overview of Cisco Unified Computing System
- Overview of Cisco UCS Manager
- Overview of Cisco UCS Manager CLI
- Configuring the Fabric Interconnects
- Configuring Ports and Port Channels
- Configuring Communication Services
- Configuring Authentication
- Configuring Organizations
- Configuring Role-Based Access Control
- Configuring DNS Servers
- Configuring System-Related Policies
- Managing Licenses
- Managing Virtual Interfaces
- Registering Cisco UCS Domains with Cisco UCS Central
- VLANs
- Configuring LAN Pin Groups
- Configuring MAC Pools
- Configuring Quality of Service
- Configuring Network-Related Policies
- Configuring Upstream Disjoint Layer-2 Networks
- Configuring Named VSANs
- Configuring SAN Pin Groups
- Configuring WWN Pools
- Configuring Storage-Related Policies
- Configuring Fibre Channel Zoning
- Configuring Server-Related Pools
- Setting the Management IP Address
- Configuring Server-Related Policies
- Configuring Server Boot
- Deferring Deployment of Service Profile Updates
- Service Profiles
- Configuring Storage Profiles
- Managing Power in Cisco UCS
- Managing Time Zones
- Managing the Chassis
- Managing Blade Servers
- Managing Rack-Mount Servers
- CIMC Session Management
- Managing the I/O Modules
- Backing Up and Restoring the Configuration
- Recovering a Lost Password
Managing Licenses
This chapter includes the following sections:
- Licenses
- C-Direct Rack Licensing Support
- Obtaining the Host ID for a Fabric Interconnect
- Obtaining a License
- Installing a License
- Viewing the Licenses Installed on a Fabric Interconnect
- Viewing License Usage for a Fabric Interconnect
- Uninstalling a License
Licenses
Each Cisco UCS fabric interconnect comes with several port licenses that are factory installed and shipped with the hardware. Fabric interconnects can be purchased fully licensed or partially licensed. Additional licenses can also be purchased after delivery.
At a minimum, each fabric interconnect ships with the following counted licenses pre-installed:
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Cisco UCS 6120XP fabric interconnect—pre-installed licenses for the first eight Ethernet ports enabled in Cisco UCS Manager and any Fibre Channel ports on expansion modules
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Cisco UCS 6140XP fabric interconnect—pre-installed licenses for the first sixteen Ethernet ports enabled in Cisco UCS Manager and any Fibre Channel ports on expansion modules
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Cisco UCS 6248 fabric interconnect—pre-installed licenses for the first twelve unified ports enabled in Cisco UCS Manager. Expansion modules come with eight licenses that can be used on the expansion module or the base module.
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Cisco UCS 6296 fabric interconnect—pre-installed licenses for the first eighteen unified ports enabled in Cisco UCS Manager. Expansion modules come with eight licenses that can be used on the expansion module or the base module.
 Note | The eight default licenses that come with a 6200 series fabric interconnect expansion module can be used to enable ports on the base module, but will travel with the expansion module if it is removed. Upon removal of an expansion module, any default expansion module licenses being used by the base module are removed from the ports on the base module, resulting in unlicensed ports. |
Port licenses are not bound to physical ports. When you disable a licensed port, that license is then retained for use with the next enabled port. If you want to use additional fixed ports, you must purchase and install licenses for those ports.
Licenses are not portable across product generations. Licenses purchased for 6100 series fabric interconnects cannot be used to enable ports on 6200 series fabric interconnects or vice-versa.
Grace Period
Note | Each physical port has its own grace period. Initiating the grace period on a single port does not initiate the grace period for all ports. |
If a licensed port is unconfigured, that license is transferred to a port functioning within a grace period. If multiple ports are acting within grace periods, the license is moved to the port whose grace period is closest to expiring.
High Availability Configurations
To avoid inconsistencies during failover, we recommend that both fabric interconnects in the cluster have the same number of ports licensed. If symmetry is not maintained and failover occurs, Cisco UCS enables the missing licenses and initiates the grace period for each port being used on the failover node.
C-Direct Rack Licensing Support
Each Cisco UCS fabric interconnect is shipped with a default number of port licenses that are factory licensed and that are shipped with the hardware. C-direct support is only applicable on ports that are connected to the rack servers. The C-direct feature implementation requires new license files to be installed to add the additional ports that currently use 10 Gig licenses but are enforced on ports that are only connected to the rack servers.
As part of C-Direct rack licensing support, a new license, ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG is added to the existing license package and has all the same properties as the existing licensing feature. A new property, Subordinate Quantity is added to the license that keeps a track of the rack servers using the ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG licenses.
The new license and the Subordinate Quantity for the license are displayed under the License Tab in Cisco UCSM GUI. In the CLI, use show feature and show usage under scope license to view the license feature, the vendor version type, and the grace period for each license.
You can connect the rack servers to the existing ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG if it is available or not in use. Or else an additional ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG needs to be purchased to avoid the feature being in grace period.
Configuration and Restrictions
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The C-Direct rack licensing feature accounts for the rack server ports that are directly connected to the FI but not to a CIMC port. The default quantity for ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG is always 0. The subordinate port quantity in the ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG keeps a track of the C-Direct rack units that are connected.
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If a port is enabled as a server administrator without any connection, it is considered to consume a full license and it increments the used quantity under the ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG. If a rack server is connected on the same port after a time lag, the used quantity under the ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG decreases and the used count for the rack server is incremented.
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When you enable a port, a rack is connected, and the ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG license files are installed, the used count is increased if the licenses are available in ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG. If the ports are not available in ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG, the system checks if the ports are available in ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG. If they are, the used count for the Ethernet port is increased. Or else the used count for C-direct is increased and the entire feature goes to a grace period.
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When you enable a port, a rack is connected, and the ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG license files are not installed, the subordinate used count is increased if the licenses are available in ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG. If the ports are not available in ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG, the used quantity under ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG feature is increased and the entire feature goes to a grace period.
Obtaining the Host ID for a Fabric Interconnect
The host ID is also known as the serial number.
| Command or Action | Purpose |
|---|
The following example obtains the host ID for a fabric interconnect:
UCS-A# scope license
UCS-A /license # show server-host-id
Server host id:
Scope Host Id
----- -------
A VDH=SSI12121212
B VDH=SSI13131313
UCS-A /license #
Obtain the required licenses from Cisco.
Obtaining a License
Note | This process may change after the release of this document. If one or more of these steps no longer applies, contact your Cisco representative for information on how to obtain a license file. |
Obtain the following:
What to Do Next
Install the license on the fabric interconnect.
Installing a License
Note | In a cluster setup, we recommend that you download and install licenses to both fabric interconnects in matching pairs. An individual license is only downloaded to the fabric interconnect that is used to initiate the download. |
Obtain the required licenses from Cisco.
| Command or Action | Purpose |
|---|
The following example uses FTP to download and install a license:
UCS-A # scope license UCS-A /license # download license ftp://192.168.10.10/license/port9.lic UCS-A /license # install file port9.lic UCS-A /license #
Viewing the Licenses Installed on a Fabric Interconnect
| Command or Action | Purpose |
|---|
The following example displays the full details for the licenses installed on a fabric interconnect:
UCS-A# scope license
UCS-A /license # show file detail
License file: UCSFEAT20100928112305377.lic
Id: 1212121212121212
Version: 1.0
Scope: A
State: Installed
Features
Feature Name: ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG
Vendor: cisco
Version: 1.0
Quantity: 24
Lines
Line Id: 1
Type: Increment
Expiry Date: Never
Pak:
Quantity: 24
Signature: B10101010101
License file: UCSFEAT20100928112332175.lic
Id: 1313131313131313
Version: 1.0
Scope: B
State: Installed
Features
Feature Name: ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG
Vendor: cisco
Version: 1.0
Quantity: 24
Lines
Line Id: 1
Type: Increment
Expiry Date: Never
Pak:
Quantity: 24
Signature: F302020202020
UCS-A /license #
Viewing License Usage for a Fabric Interconnect
The following examples display full details of the licenses installed on a fabric interconnect:
UCS-A# scope license
UCS-A /license # show usage
Feat Name Scope Default Total Quant Used Quant Subordinate Quant State Peer Count Comparison Grace Used
------------ ----- ------- ----------- ---------- ----------------- ---------- -----------
ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG A 20 20 1 1 License Ok Matching 0
ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG B 16 40 1 1 License Ok Matching 0
UCS-A /license #
UCS-A# scope license
UCS-A /license # show feature
License feature:
Name Vendor Version Type Grace Period
------------------------- ------ ------- ------------------ ------------
ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG cisco 1.0 Counted 120
ETH_PORT_C_ACTIVATION_PKG cisco 1.0 Counted 120
UCS-A /license #
Uninstalling a License
Note | Permanent licenses cannot be uninstalled if they are in use. You can only uninstall a permanent license that is not in use. If you try to delete a permanent license that is being used, Cisco UCS Manager rejects the request with an error message. |
Back up the Cisco UCS Manager configuration.
| Command or Action | Purpose |
|---|
Cisco UCS Manager deactivates the license, removes the license from the list of licenses, and deletes the license from the fabric interconnect. The port is moved into unlicensed mode. In a cluster setup, you must uninstall the license from the other fabric interconnect.
The following example shows the uninstallation of port9.lic:
UCS-A # scope license
UCS-A /license # clear file port9.lic
Clearing license port9.lic:
SERVER this_host ANY
VENDOR cisco
INCREMENT ETH_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG cisco 1.0 permanent 1 \
VENDOR_STRING=<LIC_SOURCE>UCS_SWIFT</LIC_SOURCE><SKU>N10-L001=</SKU> \
HOSTID=VDH=FLC12360025 \
NOTICE="<LicFileID>20090519200954833</LicFileID><LicLineID>1</LicLineID> \
<PAK></PAK>" SIGN=C01FAE4E87FA
Clearing license ........done
UCS-A /license #
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