Configuring Cisco UCS Manager Accounts

This chapter contains the following sections:

Pods

A pod is a logical grouping of physical and virtual components, which includes one or more physical or virtual accounts. It is a module of network, compute, storage, and application components that work together to deliver networking services. The pod is a repeatable pattern, and its components maximize the modularity, scalability, and manageability of data centers.

If needed, you can group pods into sites. The sites display on the Converged tab on the menu bar. For more information, see the Cisco UCS Director Administration Guide.

Adding a Pod

Step 1   On the menu bar, choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
Step 2   Click the Pods tab.
Step 3   Click Add.
Step 4   In the Add Pod dialog box, complete the following fields:
Name Description

Name field

A descriptive name for the pod.

Site drop-down list

Choose the site where you want to add the pod. If your environment does not include sites, omit this step.

Type drop-down list

Choose the type of pod.

Description field

(Optional) A description of the pod.

Address field

The physical location of the pod. For example, includes the city or other internal identification used for the pod.

Hide POD check box

Check this check box to hide the pod if you do not want it to show in the Converged Check View. You can continue to add or delete accounts from the pod.

For example, check this check box to ensure that a pod that does not have any physical or virtual elements, is not displayed in the Converged Check View.

Step 5   Click Add.
What to Do Next

Add one or more accounts to the pod.

Adding a Cisco UCS Manager Account

Each Cisco UCS Manager account represents a single Cisco UCS domain that has to be managed by Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data.

Before You Begin

Add the pod to which this Cisco UCS Manager account belongs.

Step 1   On the menu bar, choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
Step 2   Click the Physical Accounts tab.
Step 3   Click Add.
Step 4   In the Add Account dialog box, complete the following fields:
Name Description

Pod drop-down list

Choose the pod to which this account belongs.

Category Type drop-down list

Choose the Computing category. This is the type of infrastructure for the account.

Account Type drop-down list

Choose the UCSM account.

Step 5   Click Sumit.
Step 6   In the Add Account dialog box, complete the following fields:
Name Description

Authentication Type drop-down list

Choose the type of authentication to be used for this account. This can be one of the following:

  • Locally Authenticated—A locally authenticated user account is authenticated directly through the fabric interconnect and can be enabled or disabled by anyone with admin or AAA privileges.

  • Remotely Authenticated—A remotely authenticated user account is any user account that is authenticated through LDAP, RADIUS, or TACACS+.

Server Management drop-down list

Choose how the servers in this account to be managed. This can be one of the following:

  • All Servers—All servers are managed by Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data. This option is the default. If you choose this option, all servers are added in the Managed state.

  • Selected Servers—Only selected servers are managed by Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data. You can add and remove servers from the managed servers list, as needed. If you choose this option, all servers are added in the Unmanaged state.

Account Name field

A unique name that you have assigned to this account.

Server Address field

The IP address of Cisco UCS Manager. For a cluster configuration, this is the virtual IP address.

Use Credential Policy check box

Check this check box to use a credential policy that you have previously created with a Policy Name, Description, Username, Password, Protocol, and the Port.

Credential Policy drop-down list

Choose the credential policy. If you do not have a Credential Policy, create a New Credential Policy in the Add Credential Dialog box.

User ID field

The username that this account uses to access Cisco UCS Manager. This username must be the name of a valid account in Cisco UCS Manager.

Password field

The password associated with the username.

UCS Authentication Domain field

The authentication domain for the remotely authenticated account.

This field is not displayed if you are using a locally authenticated account.

Transport Type drop-down list

Choose the transport type that you want to use for this account. This can be one of the following:

  • http

  • https

Port field

The port used to access Cisco UCS Manager.

Description field

(Optional) A description of this account.

Contact Email field

The email address of an administrator or other person responsible for this account.

Location field

The location of this account.

Service Provider field

(Optional) The name of the service provider, if any associated with this account.

Step 7   Click Add.

Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data tests the connection to Cisco UCS Manager. If the test is successful, it adds the Cisco UCS Manager account and discovers all infrastructure elements in Cisco UCS Manager that are associated with that account, including chassis, servers, fabric interconnects, service profiles, and pools. This discovery process and inventory collection cycle takes approximately five minutes to complete.

The polling interval configured on the System Tasks tab specifies the frequency of inventory collection.