Launching UCS Server Configuration Utility

Introduction

UCS Server Configuration Utility (SCU) is a bootable image based on a 64-bit Linux kernel and can be used to perform operations such as configure RAID logical volume, install operating systems on Cisco rack servers. It is designed to run on one server at a time.

Obtaining ISO Image From cisco.com

Perform this procedure to find the ISO file for your server.

Before you begin

You must have valid Cisco login credentials to perform this procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Go to Software Download.

Note

 

Log in using your Cisco credentials.

Step 2

Click Select a Product > Browse All.

Step 3

Click Servers - Unified Computing in the first column.

Step 4

Click Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Standalone Server Software in the middle column.

Step 5

Click the name of your server model from the last column.

A new page is displayed with the list of available software.

Step 6

Under Select a Software Type list, select Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Configuration Utility.

The Download Software page appears listing the release version and the UCS-SCU image.

Step 7

Select the desired release from the left pane.

Step 8

Click the Download icon on the right pane.

Step 9

Continue through the subsequent screens to accept the license agreement and browse to a location where you want to save the ISO file.

Booting UCS-SCU

You can launch the UCS-SCU application using one of the following options:

Using vKVM Mapped vDVD

Before you begin

Download the UCS-SCU ISO image file from cisco.com. For information on how to download the image, refer Obtaining ISO Image From cisco.com.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco IMC.

Step 2

From top right hand menu, click Launch KVM.

Note

 

Depending on your browser settings, you may need to accept KVM server certificate and click the KVM viewer.

Virtual KVM Console displays the server console.

Step 3

Select Virtual Media > vKVM-Mapped vDVD.

The Map Virtual Media - CD/DVD window is displayed.

Step 4

Navigate to and select the ISO file and click Open to mount the image.

Step 5

Select Map Drive from the Map Virtual Media - CD/DVD window.

The following message is displayed in the virtual KVM console:

Successfully inserted media into device "vKVM Mapped DVD".

Step 6

Select Power > Power Cycle System.

Step 7

Press F6 when the server starts to select a boot device.

The boot selection menu appears.

Step 8

Use the arrow keys to select vKVM Mapped DVD and then press Enter.

The server boots using the UCS-SCU image and launches the application in the KVM tab.

Using Cisco FlexMMC vDVD

Before you begin

Download the UCS-SCU ISO image file from cisco.com. For information on how to download the image, refer Obtaining ISO Image From cisco.com.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco IMC.

Step 2

In the Navigation pane, click the Storagemenu.

Step 3

In the Storage menu, select Cisco FlexMMC.

Step 4

In the Files Copied area of the Cisco FlexMMC pane, click the Upload Files tab.

The Cisco FlexMMC Upload File dialog box is displayed.

Step 5

In the Cisco FlexMMC Upload File dialog box, enter the following details:

Field

Description

Partition drop-down list

Type of partition. This can be:

  • IMC Images—Cisco .iso file.

  • User Files—Any .iso, image or any other file format.

    Only one .iso file can be uploaded.

    Note

     

    If you choose any other file format, Cisco IMC converts the file into an image file.

    In case of any other file format, the file size should be more than 10MB. It also takes extra space due to conversion.

Mount Type drop-down list

The type of mapping. This can be one of the following:

Note

 

Ensure that the communication port of the mount type that you choose is enabled on the switch. For example, when you are using CIFS as your mount type, ensure port 445 (which is its communication port) is enabled on the switch. Similarly, enable ports 80 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS and 2049 for NFS when you use them.

  • NFS—Network File System.

  • CIFS—Common Internet File System.

  • WWW(HTTP/HTTPS)—HTTP-based or HTTPS-based system.

Remote Share field

The URL of the image to be mapped. The format depends on the selected Mount Type:

  • NFS—Use serverip:/share

  • CIFS—Use //serverip/share.

  • WWW(HTTP/HTTPS)—Use http[s]://serverip/share.

Remote File field

The name and location of the .iso or .img file in the remote share.

Mount Options field

Industry-standard mount options entered in a comma separated list. The options vary depending on the selected Mount Type.

If you are using NFS, leave the field blank or enter one or more of the following:

  • ro

  • nolock

  • noexec

  • soft

  • port=VALUE

If you are using CIFS, leave the field blank or enter one or more of the following:

  • ro

  • nounix

  • noserverino

  • port=VALUE

  • Ntlm—NT LAN Manager (NTLM) security protocol. Use this option only with Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2.

  • vers=VALUE

    Note

     

    The format of the VALUE should be x.x

If you are using WWW(HTTP/HTTPS), leave the field blank or enter the following:

  • noauto

    Note

     

    Before mounting the virtual media, Cisco IMC tries to verify reachability to the end server by pinging the server.

  • username=VALUE

  • password=VALUE

User Name field

The username for the specified Mount Type, if required.

Password field

The password for the selected username, if required.

Step 6

From top right hand menu, click Launch KVM.

Note

 

Depending on your browser settings, you may need to accept KVM server certificate and click the KVM viewer.

Virtual KVM Console displays the server console.

Step 7

Select Power > Power Cycle System (boot).

Step 8

Press F6 when the server starts to select a boot device.

The boot selection menu appears.

Step 9

Use the arrow keys to select vKVM-Mapped vDVD and then press Enter.

The server boots using the UCS-SCU image and launches the application in the KVM tab.

Using CIMC Mapped vDVD

Before you begin

Download the UCS-SCU ISO image file from cisco.com. For information on how to download the image, refer Obtaining ISO Image From cisco.com.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco IMC.

Step 2

In the Compute menu, click Remote Management > Virtual Media.

Step 3

In the Virtual Media tab > Current Mappings area, check for the required mapping.

Step 4

From top right hand menu, click Launch KVM.

Note

 

Depending on your browser settings, you may need to accept KVM server certificate and click the KVM viewer.

Virtual KVM Console displays the server console.

Step 5

Select Virtual Media > CIMC-Mapped vDVD.

The Map Virtual Media - Removable Disk window is displayed.

Step 6

In the Map Virtual Media - Removable Disk window, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the desired name for the CIMC-mapped device.

  2. Select any of the following protocols:

    • NFS

    • CIFS

    • HTTP/S

    By default, HTTP/S is selected.

  3. Enter the file location in the format:

    [http[s]://server-IP|DNS-name:Port/path-to-file.img

  4. Enter the username and password.

  5. Enter the desired name for the CIMC mapped device.

  6. (Optional) Select the Auto-remap.

Step 7

Click Save.

Step 8

Select Map Drive.

After the host ejects this media, Cisco IMC will automatically re-map this device.

Step 9

Navigate to and select the ISO file and click Open to mount the image.

The following message is displayed in the virtual KVM console:

Successfully inserted media into device "CIMC-Mapped vDVD".

Step 10

Select Power > Power Cycle System (boot).

Step 11

Press F6 when the server starts to select a boot device.

The boot selection menu appears.

Step 12

Use the arrow keys to select CIMC-Mapped vDVD and then press Enter.

The server boots using the UCS-SCU image and launches the application in the KVM tab.

Using Physical Media

Before you begin

  • Download the UCS-SCU ISO image file from cisco.com. For information on how to download the image, refer Obtaining ISO Image From cisco.com.

  • Create an .iso CD using an application that burns .iso CDs.

Procedure

Step 1

Connect the USB DVD drive to the server through the USB port.

Step 2

Insert the physical media on to your DVD drive.

Step 3

Restart the server and press F6 to enter the boot selection menu. Select CDROM drive as the boot device.

The server boots using the UCS-SCU image and starts the application.

Using Network Boot Support

Prerequisites

  • A minimum of two systems is required for a PXE installation

  • A server - a system running a DHCP server, a TFTP server, HTTP or FTP server to provide boot files. Theoretically, each of the servers can run on a different physical system; procedures in this section assume a single system runs all of them for simplicity

  • A client - the system which you are booting SCU ISO. When the installation begins, the client will query the DHCP server, obtain boot files from the TFTP server

PXE Legacy Boot


Note

The following files can be obtained from the mounted SCU ISO:

  • initrd

  • bzImage

  • rootfs.img

  • ucs-scu-container-xxx.squash.fs

  1. Copy bootloader Pxelinux.0 under /var/lib/tftpboot directory.

  2. Copy Pxelinux.cfg under /var/lib/tftpboot directory.

  3. Copy initrd and bzImage files from mounted SCU ISO under /var/lib/tftpboot directory.

  4. Copy rootfs.img, ucs-scu-container-xxx.squashfs and drivers folder under /var/www/html directory or /var/ftp/pub directory.

PXE UEFI Boot

  1. Copy bootx64.efi under /var/lib/tftpboot directory from extracted SCU ISO (which will be found in (EFI/BOOT) directory.

  2. Copy rootfs.img, ucs-scu-container-xxx.squashfs and drivers folder under /var/www/html directory or /var/ftp/pub directory.

    niosscubootmedium=pxe #type of the boot pxe/http/ipxe

Exiting UCS-SCU

Procedure

Step 1

Remove the .iso disk from the disk drive.

Step 2

Click Reboot and then click Yes to confirm reboot of your server.