Managing Rack Server Discovery

This chapter discusses the following topics:

Discovering and Importing Rack Servers

To discover rack servers in Cisco UCS Director, you can specify configuration criteria and save it as a rack server discovery profile. Using this profile, you can discover multiple rack servers simultaneously and import them into Cisco UCS Director.

With a discovery profile, you can choose to discover rack servers with one of the following options:

  • IP address range—Discovers all rack servers with IP addresses within the specified range.

  • Subnet range—Discovers all rack servers within the specified subnet range.

  • IP Address CSV file—Discovers rack servers with IP addresses that match those specified in the uploaded CSV file.

  • Specific IP addresses—Discovers rack servers with IP addresses that match the IP addresses you specify.

Perform this procedure when you want to discover and import rack servers.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Configure a rack server discovery profile.
  2. Discover servers using the profile.
  3. Import the servers.
  4. (Optional) Delete a discovery profile.
  5. (Optional) Clear a server from the auto discovered list.

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

Configure a rack server discovery profile.

Refer Configuring a Rack Discovery Profile.

Step 2

Discover servers using the profile.

Refer Performing Auto Discovery.

Step 3

Import the servers.

Refer Importing One or More Rack Servers.

Step 4

(Optional) Delete a discovery profile.

(Optional)

Refer Deleting Auto Discovery Profile.

Step 5

(Optional) Clear a server from the auto discovered list.

(Optional)

Refer Clearing Auto Discovery List.

Configuring a Rack Discovery Profile

You can configure a rack discovery profile using which the system can automatically discover rack mount servers. Perform this procedure when you want to add a rack discovery profile.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovery Profiles.
  3. Click Add.
  4. In the Add Discovery Profile screen, complete the required fields, including the following:
  5. Click Submit.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovery Profiles.

Step 3

Click Add.

Step 4

In the Add Discovery Profile screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Profile Name field

A descriptive name for the profile.

Search Criteria drop-down list

Select IP Address Range, Subnet Mask Range, IP Address CSV File or IP Address List from the drop-down list.

If you select IP Address Range

Starting IP field

Valid IP address

Ending IP field

Valid IP address

If you select Subnet Mask Range

Network Address field

Valid IP address

Subnet Mask drop-down list

Select a value from the drop-down list.

This drop-down list shows the available subnets in the network.

If you select IP Address CSV File

Select a file for upload field

Click Select a File and navigate to a .csv file which contains the IP addresses.

Sample CSV File field

Click File Template to download a sample CSV file.

If you select IP Address List

IP Addresses field

Enter multiple IP addresses separated by comma.

Use Credential Policy check box

If you have already created credential policies, then check this box to select the policy from the drop-down list.

If you check Use Credential Policy check box

Credential Policy drop-down list

Choose a policy from the drop-down list or click the + icon to create a new policy.

Description field

Enter a description for the server.

Contact field

Enter the contact details of the server administrator.

Location field

Enter the geographic location of the server.

Rack Group drop-down list

Choose a rack group or create a new rack group.

If you uncheck Use Credential Policy check box

User Name field

The login name.

Password field

The login password

Protocol drop-down list

Choose https or http from the list.

Port field

Enter a port number.

Note 

If you choose IP Address CSV File, you can specify additional fields such as IP, description, location, contact, rack group and tags in the CSV file in the following format:

  • <ip>

  • (optional) <description>

  • (optional) <location>

  • (optional) <contact>

  • (optional) <rack group>

  • (optional) <tag name:tag value>;<tag name:tag value>

You can specify either an existing value or a new value for the Rack Group field and the Tags field. Specifying a value for these fields is optional. If you do not specify a value for the Rack Group field in the CSV file, then the Default Group is used.

When you upgrade to the current Cisco UCS Director version, replace the existing CSV file with the CSV file you have created in the new format using the Select a File option.

The tag type will only be of type STRING.

Step 5

Click Submit.

What to do next

Click Discover to select a profile, and discover devices that match the profile.

Performing Auto Discovery

Perform this procedure when you want to perform auto discovery.

Before you begin

You should configure a profile based on which Cisco UCS Director can discover the rack servers.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.
  3. Click Discover.
  4. In the Discover Devices screen, expand the Select Profile list and check the check boxes of the profiles.
  5. (Optional) You can choose to schedule this task to run at a later point in time by checking the Schedule Later check box.
  6. Click Submit.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.

Step 3

Click Discover.

Step 4

In the Discover Devices screen, expand the Select Profile list and check the check boxes of the profiles.

Step 5

(Optional) You can choose to schedule this task to run at a later point in time by checking the Schedule Later check box.

If you check this check box, then you can either select a schedule that you previously created or create a new schedule. For information on creating a new schedule, see Creating Schedules.

Step 6

Click Submit.

Importing One or More Rack Servers

Perform this procedure when you want to import one or more rack servers that were discovered using the discovery profile.


Important

You cannot perform multiple account-related tasks, such as adding, modifying or importing accounts, simultaneously in Cisco UCS Director. We recommend that you wait for one task to complete, before initiating another task. For example, while importing discovered devices into a rack group, we recommend that you let you this task complete before you edit any other rack groups or rack accounts.

Before you begin

  • You should configure a profile based on which Cisco UCS Director can discover the devices.

  • You have already discovered rack servers using the discovery profile.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.
  3. Click Import.
  4. In the Import Discovered Devices screen, complete the required fields, including the following:
  5. Click Submit.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.

Step 3

Click Import.

Step 4

In the Import Discovered Devices screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Select Device(s) list

Expand the list of devices that have been discovered.

Check the check boxes of all the servers you want to import.

User Prefix field

Enter a prefix for the user.

Step 5

Click Submit.

Setting Properties for Discovered Devices

Perform this procedure when you want set specific properties for discovered devices.

Before you begin

You should have configured a discovery profile based on which devices can be discovered.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.

Step 3

Select a device and choose Set Properties.

Step 4

In the Set Properties screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Description field

Enter a description of the server.

Contact field

Enter the contact number of a person who can attend to the issues on the server.

Location field

Enter the address of the server.

Select Rack Group drop-down list

Choose a rack group from the list or create a new rack group.
Step 5

Click Submit.

Clearing Auto Discovery List

Perform this procedure when you want to delete a server or all the servers from the auto discovered list.

Before you begin

  • You should configure a profile based on which Cisco UCS Director can discover the devices.

  • You have already performed auto discovery.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.
  3. Click Clear.
  4. In the Clear Devices screen, click Delete.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovered Devices.

Step 3

Click Clear.

Step 4

In the Clear Devices screen, click Delete.

Deleting Auto Discovery Profile

Perform this procedure when you want to delete an automatic discovery profile.

Before you begin

You should configure a profile based on which Cisco UCS Director can discover the devices.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.
  2. On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovery Profiles.
  3. Select a profile from the table, and click Delete.
  4. In the Delete Discovery Profile screen, click Submit.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Rack Server Discovery Profiles.

Step 3

Select a profile from the table, and click Delete.

Step 4

In the Delete Discovery Profile screen, click Submit.