Managing Cisco UCS S3260 Servers

About Cisco UCS S3260 Dense Storage Rack Server

The Cisco UCS S3260 is a dense storage rack server that supports dual server nodes. It can also have one optimized for large datasets used in environments such as Big data, cloud, object storage, and content delivery. It belongs to the Cisco UCS C-Series rack-mount servers product family.

The Cisco UCS S3260 Dense Storage Rack Server is designed to operate in a standalone environment and as part of the Cisco Unified Computing System with Cisco UCS Director integration. The Cisco UCS S3260 Dense Storage Rack Server includes the following features:

  • Enterprise-class redundancy with full featured Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) plus Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD)

  • Standalone management interface (Cisco Integrated Management Controller)

  • No data migration required when replacing or upgrading server nodes

  • No need for extended depth racks

For more information about Cisco UCS S3260 dense storage rack server, see Cisco UCS S3260 Rack Server.

Cisco UCS S3260 Server Management in Cisco UCS Director

Managing Cisco UCS S3260 servers using Cisco UCS Director is largely the same as managing other rack-mount servers. Several of the features and tasks that are supported on other c-series servers are applicable to UCS S3260 servers as well. However, there are a few minor differences while performing these tasks. These include:

  • While adding a rack account, you can specify a virtual management IP address and not a Chassis Management Controller (CMC) IP address. If you specify a CMC IP address, an error message appears. For more information, see Adding a Rack Account.

    After the inventory collection task, you can view the servers managed by the Cisco UCS S3260 Rack Server from the Rack Servers tab.

  • While adding or applying a policy, you can now specify if the policy is specifically for Cisco UCS S3260 servers. Also, you can now create a Zoning policy which is applicable only for this server.

    Legacy Boot Order and Flex Flash policies are not available for Cisco UCS S3260 Rack Server.

  • You can perform a firmware upgrade at the server level. But during a server upgrade, the chassis components and the disk drive components associated with the server are also upgraded. For more information, see Upgrading the Firmware Image.

Managing a Chassis

Tagging Assets for a Cisco UCS S3260 Server

An asset tag is a user-defined label for a rack server. Using the Asset Tag option you can set a user-defined label for a chassis or a rack-server. For information on adding a asset tag to a rack server, see Tagging Assets for a Rack Server.

Important:

Asset tagging is supported on C-series and S-series servers that are running firmware versions of 3.0(1c) and above. For E-series and ENCS servers, asset tagging is supported on servers running firmware versions 3.2.1 and above.

Before You Begin

The server is added as a rack account under a rack group

Procedure
    Step 1   Choose Physical > Compute.
    Step 2   On the Compute page, choose the account under Pods.
    Step 3   Click Chassis.
    Step 4   Choose the chassis that you want to set a tag to.
    Step 5   From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Asset Tag.
    Step 6   In the Set Asset Tag page, enter the name of the asset tag in the Asset Tag field.
    Step 7   Click Submit.

    Rebooting a Chassis

    Perform this procedure when you want to restart a chassis.

    Procedure
      Step 1   Choose Physical > Compute.
      Step 2   On the Compute page, choose the pod.
      Step 3   On the Compute page, choose the account under Pods.
      Step 4   Click Chassis.
      Step 5   From the list, choose a chassis and click Reboot CMC.
      Step 6   In the Reboot Chassis Management Controller screen, select either CMC1 or CMC2.
      Step 7   Click Submit.

      Managing Tags for a Chassis

      Tagging is used to assign a label to an object, such as a resource group or a rack server. Tags can be used to provide information such as rack locations, responsible support groups, purpose, or operating system. Perform this procedure to add tags or modify tags for a chassis. For adding tags for a rack-mount server, see Adding Tags for a Rack-Mount Server.

      Before You Begin

      The server is already added as a rack account under a rack group.

      Procedure
        Step 1   Choose Physical > Compute.
        Step 2   On the Compute page, choose the pod.
        Step 3   On the Compute page, choose the account under Pods.
        Step 4   Click Chassis.
        Step 5   From the list, choose a chassis and click Manage Tags.
        Note   

        You cannot see the Manage Tags option till you select the server from the list.

        Step 6   Click + to add an entry to the Manage Tags table.
        Step 7   In the Add Entry to Tag screen, complete the following:

        Field

        Description

        Tag Name

        Select the tag name from the drop-down list and click Submit or create a new tag.

        1. Click the + icon.

        2. In the Create Tag window, do the following:

          1. In the Name field, enter a descriptive name for the tag.

          2. In the Description field, enter a description of the tag.

          3. In the Type field, select String or Integer from the drop-down list.

          4. In the Possible Tag Values field, enter a possible value for the tag.

          5. Click Next.

          6. In the Applicability Rules pane, click the + icon to add a new entry to the Taggable Entities table.

        3. In the Add Entry to Entities window, from the Category drop-down list, choose the category. It can be one of the following:

          • Physical_Compute category creates tag entities for a Rack Server.

          • Administration category creates tag entities for users.

        4. Check the Chassis check box.

        5. Click Submit.

          Note    The tags are displayed under the respective category according to the set taggable entities.

        6. In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

        Tag Value

        Select the tag value from the drop-down list.

        Step 8   Click Submit.
        Step 9   Select a tag in the Manage Tags screen and click Edit.
        Step 10   Choose the Tag Name and Tag Value to modify the tags.
        Step 11   Click Submit.

        Adding Tags for a Chassis

        Tagging is used to assign a label to an object, such as a resource group or a rack server. Tags can be used to provide information such as rack locations, responsible support groups, purpose, or Operating System. Perform this procedure to add tags to a Cisco UCS S3260 Rack Server.

        Before You Begin

        The server is already added as a rack account within a rack group.


        Note

        You can also select multiple rack servers.

        Procedure
          Step 1   Choose Physical > Compute.
          Step 2   On the Compute page, choose the pod.
          Step 3   On the Compute page, choose the account under Pods.
          Step 4   Click Chassis.
          Step 5   From the list, choose a chassis and click Add Tags.
          Note   

          The Add Tags option is displayed only after you select the server from the list.

          Step 6   Choose a name from the Tag Name drop-down list.

          If there are no tags available, you can create a new tag at this point.

          Step 7   Choose a value for the tag from the Tag Valuedrop-down list.
          Step 8   Click Submit.

          Setting Front Locator LED

          A server locator LED helps you to identify a specific server among many servers in a data center. Perform this procedure when you want to turn on or turn off the front locator LED for a selected chassis.

          Procedure
            Step 1   Choose Physical > Compute.
            Step 2   On the Compute page, choose the pod.
            Step 3   On the Compute page, choose the account under Pods.
            Step 4   Click Chassis.
            Step 5   From the list, choose a chassis and click Front Locator LED.
            Step 6   From the Turn the Front Locator LED for selected chassis on/off drop-down list, choose ON or OFF.
            Step 7   Click Submit.