First Published: November 6, 2023

Last Updated: November 24, 2023

About Cisco UCS Manager Plug-In for VMware vSphere HTML Client

Cisco UCS Manager plug-in is a VMware vSphere HTML client plug-in, which enables the virtualization administrator to view, manage and monitor the Cisco UCS physical infrastructure. The plug-in provides a physical view of the UCS hardware inventory on the HTML client.

Revision History

Release

Date

Description

4.0(0)

November 24, 2023

Updated the System Requirements section in the release notes for the release 4.0(0)

November 6, 2023

Created the release notes for the release 4.0(0)

System Requirements

Ensure that the system meets the following requirements:

  • 4 vCPUs and 8GB memory

  • 4GB datastore thin provisioned / 100GB datastore thick provisioned

  • Single static IP address details on management network

  • VMware vCenter 7.0u1 or higher

    Please check VMware vSphere HTML Client Releases.

VMware vSphere HTML Client Releases

Cisco UCS Manager plug-in is compatible with the following vSphere HTML Client releases:

VMware vSphere HTML Client Version

Cisco UCS Manager Plugin for VMware vSphere Version

7.0

3.0(4), 3.0(5), 3.0(6)

7.0u1, 7.0u2

3.0(5), 3.0(6), 4.0(0)

7.0u3

3.0(5), 3.0(6), 4.0(0)

8.0, 8.0u1, 8.0u2

4.0(0)

Note

  • VMware vSphere HTML Client Version 7.0u3 is supported partially with Cisco UCS Manager plug-in release 3.0(6) version.

  • VMware vSphere HTML Client Version 8.0u1 - After the deployment of UCS Manager Plug-in 4.0 OVA package, the following fields are missing in the Configuration tab in the UI.

    • IP Address

    • Gateway

    • Netmask

    For more details, see CSCwi01422 in Known Limitations.

Supported Cisco UCS Manager Releases

Cisco UCS Manager plug-in is compatible with the following UCS Manager releases:

  • Release 3.2 and later

Features of Cisco UCS Manager Plug-In

New Features of Cisco UCS Manager Plug-In

This section provides an overview of the significant features in this release. This section does not provide an exhaustive list of all enhancements included in this release.

Release 4.0(0)

The following new software features are supported in Release 4.0(0):

  • Plug-in registration using Cisco UCS manager plug-in appliance

  • Register multiple VMware vCenter servers.

  • View support bundle logs - VMware vCenter server and appliance logs

  • Add or delete custom faults

  • List of Proactive HA faults

Features of Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in

This section provides an overview of all the features in Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in.

  • Cisco UCS Manager plug-in registration using UCS manager plug-in appliance

  • Register multiple VMware vCenter servers

  • View support bundle logs - VMware vCenter server and appliance logs

  • Add or delete custom faults

  • Cisco UCS physical hierarchy view

  • Overall health of server and other infrastructure components

  • Maps UCS servers to ESX hosts

  • Inventory, installed firmware, faults, power, and temperature statistics for each server or ESX host

  • KVM launch for all Managed and Unmanaged servers

  • Switch on and off locater LED and launch Cisco UCS Manager GUI for each server

  • Support for Cisco UCS Mini

  • Perform key actions on Managed, Unmanaged servers, and other UCS components

  • View service profile, service profile templates, server pools, and host firmware packs for each UCS domain

  • Server firmware management using host firmware pack

  • Firmware Management for blades and rack servers in UCS domain. You can perform the following operations:

    • Upload firmware

    • Modify firmware package version for the host firmware packs with option to move the affected ESX host into maintenance mode before triggering the firmware upgrade.

    • Acknowledge pending activities

    • Delete firmware package

    • Delete firmware upload task

    • View VIF paths for servers

    • Monitor UCS domain, chassis, fabric interconnect, fabric extender, Managed, and Unmanaged servers

    • View faults with ability to filter based on the severity

    • Support for In-Band access with IPv4, and IPv6 addresses

    • Enhancement to allow registered domains to be globally visible

  • Support for Proactive High Availability (HA) - Cisco UCS Provider supports the Proactive HA feature which allows you to protect the hosts within a vCenter cluster from potential failures

  • These are the list of available actions in the Web UI:

    • Support for the following actions on both Managed and Unmanaged servers in UCS domains:

    • Create hardware or template-based service profile

    • Associate and disassociate service profiles

    • Manage associated BIOS Policy and modify BIOS settings

    • Manage host firmware pack

    • Launch KVM

    • Launch UCSM GUI

    • Support for the following UCS domain actions:

    • Refresh UCS Domain

    • Associate server pool to server pool templates

    • Associate host firmware pack to server pool templates

    • Create service profile from a server pool template

    • Associate host firmware pack to service profile

Installation and Upgrade Notes

Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for vSphere HTML Client enables you to register and manage Cisco UCS domains. When you install Cisco UCS Manager plug-in, register the UCS domains individually using UCS Manager user account. Depending on the UCS Manager user privileges you used while registering the UCS domain you can perform the actions. Also, each plug-in action supports the same privileges as Cisco UCS Manager.

For installation instructions, see Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for VMware vSphere HTML Client User Guide, Release 4.x.

Known Limitations

The following table lists the known limitations for the UCS Manager plug-in for VMware vSphere HTML Client:

Defect ID

Symptom

Workaround

First Affected Release

CSCwi01415

Cisco UCS Manager plug-in failed with 7.0GA vCenter version.

Upgrade the vCenter server to 7.0 u1 or later to be able to use the UCS Manager plug-in for VMware vSphere.

4.0(0)

CSCwi01416

In the Cisco UCS Manager plug-in appliance UI, the number of rack-mount servers in the Rack Mounts tab is displayed incorrectly as 1.

  1. Login to the UCS Manager plug-in appliance UI.

  2. Navigate to the Rack-mounts tab.

    You can view the correct number of rack-mount servers and the FEX count.

4.0(0)

CSCwi01417

You cannot register UCS Manager domains on Cisco UCS Central if the domains are already registered with the plug-in.

The following error messages displayed while trying to register the domain on Cisco UCS Central:

  • Not able to login into UCS Authentication failed or Reason: Connection refused

  • Error response for XML request, Authentication required, Try re-registering UCS domain.

You must unregister and then register the UCS domain again from the UCS Manager plug-in.

4.0(0)

CSCwi01420

After deploying the UCS Manager plug-in on a vCenter server using different ports other than 443, the plug-in does not launch and displays an error message.

The plug-in is also unable to register the UCS domains.

Use the port 443 to deploy the UCS Manager plug-in on vCenter server.

4.0(0)

CSCwi01422

While deploying the OVA file on vSphere Client version 8.0.1, the following fields are missing in the Configuration tab in the UI:

  • IP address

  • Gateway

  • Netmask

This issue is observed only on vSphere Client version 8.0.1.

This issue is not found on vSphere Client version 8.0.

To provide the IP address, Net Mask, and Gateway after the deployment of the OVA is successful, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to Inventory.

  2. Click on the name of the deployed Virtual Machine.

  3. Click on the Configure tab.

  4. Select vApp Options from the side navigation under Settings.

  5. Select the property for which the user wants to set the value.

  6. Click on the Set Value button at the top.

  7. Enter the new value and click OK.

    The new value is displayed in the property list.

4.0(0)

CSCwi01423

Unable to unregister multiple UCS domains when selected together.

Unregister a single UCS domain at a time.

4.0(0)

CSCwi03516

Plug-in registration fails while registering vCenter with FQDN. The registration also fails while registering the appliance without FQDN.

Add DNS suffix in the /etc/resolv.config file.

Example:

search test.com

4.0(0)

Resolved Bugs

Defect ID

Symptom

First Affected in Release

Resolved in Release

CSCwe39265

In Cisco UCS vCenter plug-in, all the ESXi servers are not visible under ESXi servers. And all the servers are listed as non ESXi servers.

This issue is now resolved.

3.0(6)

4.0(0)

Cisco UCS Communities

Cisco UCS Communities is a platform to discuss, share, and learn about the Cisco Products and Technologies. For blogs, discussion forums and documents related to UCS integrations with partner ecosystem, visit Cisco UCS Integrations.

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

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Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses. Any examples, command display output, and figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental